After the Ishmaelite traders brought Joseph down to Egypt, he was purchased by an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, whose name was Potiphar. YAHWEH’s presence was with Joseph and he became successful while living in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master realized that YAHWEH’s presence was with Joseph and caused everything he did to prosper, Joseph found favor with Potiphar. He was quickly promoted to become the overseer of Potiphar’s house and was put in charge of all that he had. From the moment Potiphar appointed Joseph over his household, YAHWEH blessed the Egyptian’s affairs for Joseph’s sake. The blessing of YAHWEH was upon everything Potiphar owned; his finances increased, his crops flourished, and his flocks and herds multiplied. So Potiphar placed all that he owned under Joseph’s oversight. And with Joseph in charge, Potiphar had nothing to worry about, except deciding on what to eat!
Now Joseph was strikingly handsome, very good-looking, and well-built. It wasn’t long before his master’s wife noticed Joseph. She demanded: “Come make love to me.”
“Never!” Joseph replied. “Don’t you realize that my master has nothing to worry about with me in charge, for he has put everything he has under my care? There is no one greater in his household than me, nor has he kept anything back from me except you, because you’re his wife. Why would I want to do such an immoral thing and sin against God?”
Yet day after day, she was determined to seduce him. But Joseph continually refused her advances and would not even go near her. Then one day, when he had to go into the house to do his work and no one else was there, she grabbed him by his robe and said, “Come on, sleep with me!” But he abruptly ran out of the house, leaving his robe in her hands! Realizing he had fled, and she was holding his robe in her hands, she called for her household servants and said to them, “See! My husband brings this Hebrew foreigner here to make fools of us! He barged into my house and tried to have sex with me, and I screamed; and when he heard me scream for help, he ran out of the house and left his robe!”
She kept the robe beside her until his master came home and she told him the same story: “This Hebrew foreigner you brought among us barged into the house and tried to violate me. As soon as I screamed out for help, he ran outside and left his robe here beside me.”
When his master heard his wife’s account about how his servant had treated her, he became furious. So Joseph’s master took him and threw him into prison, the place where the king’s prisoners are confined, and he was left there. But YAHWEH was with Joseph and demonstrated to him his faithful love by giving him great favor in the sight of the warden.
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