Genesis 39 · The Lantern

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

And Joseph was brought down to Egypt. And Potiphar — an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian man — bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.

And the LORD was with Joseph, and he became a man who succeeded; and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.

Lowly servants have grounds on which they may glory; Joseph also was a servant. Those who have passed from freedom into slavery through some exigency have a source of consolation. They have something to imitate, so that they may learn that their status can change but not their character; that among household servants there is liberty; and that in servitude there is constancy.

What is the meaning of "the Lord was with Joseph"? Grace from on high stood by him, it is saying, and smoothed over all his difficulties. It arranged all his affairs; it made those traders well disposed to him and led them to sell him to the chief steward so that he should advance gradually and, by proceeding through those trials, manage to reach the throne of the kingdom.

And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that everything he did, the LORD made succeed in his hand.

And Joseph found favor in his eyes and served him; and he appointed him over his house, and all that he had he put in his hand.

And it happened, from the time he appointed him over his house and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had, in the house and in the field.

And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and gave no thought to anything with him there except the bread he ate. And Joseph was beautiful in form and beautiful to look at.

This holy Joseph, about whom your charity has heard in this reading, was beautiful in his body but even more beautiful in his soul, because he was chaste in his body and had a chaste soul. The beauty of his body shone in him, but that of his character even more so.

That wicked beast the devil, however, seeing the good man's standing and the fact that he emerged even more conspicuous from those very things thought to be adversities, gnashed his teeth and fell into a rage. He could not bear to see the good man becoming so much more commendable as each day passed.

However, let us now come to holy Joseph, so that we may be fed with the example of his chastity and purity as with a sort of heavenly food. This holy Joseph, then, of whom your charity heard in the present lesson, was handsome in body but more splendid in mind, because he was chaste in body and virtuous in mind.

And it happened after these things that his master’s wife lifted up her eyes to Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.”

But he refused, and said to his master’s wife, “Look — with me here, my master gives no thought to what is in the house, and all that he has he has put in my hand.

No one in this house is greater than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?”

And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her — to lie beside her, to be with her.

And it happened on a certain day that he came into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was there in the house.

And she seized him by his garment: “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got outside.

Joseph Falsely Imprisoned

And it happened, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside,

that she called the men of her house and said to them, “See — he has brought us a Hebrew man to laugh at us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I called out with a loud voice.

Indeed, Joseph went out of doors while she spread the news of the temptation that arose from her own adultery; she said in a loud voice that the Hebrew had fled and left his garment behind. Thus she revealed what she should have concealed, so as to do harm to an innocent man by inventing a crime.

But despite such a victory, despite such wonderful fortitude for which Joseph ought to have been rewarded, for which he ought to have been extolled, once more he endures countless troubles as though a guilty party. You see, the Egyptian woman did not take kindly at that stage to her shame and insult brought on herself by attempting the impossible.

When Joseph was still young and at the end of his adolescence, he overcame the impudence of the Egyptian woman, even though he was dragged with great force to commit what was not lawful. In fact, this woman arguing with him impudently took the clothes off him and urged him to sin against his will.

And when he heard that I raised my voice and called out, he left his garment beside me, and fled, and got outside.”

And she kept his garment beside her until his master came to his house.

And she spoke to him according to these words: “The Hebrew servant that you brought us came in to me, to laugh at me.

And when I raised my voice and called out, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”

And it happened, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him — “This is how your servant treated me” — that his anger burned.

And Joseph’s master took him and put him in the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were bound. And he was there in the prison.

Therefore I might say Joseph was happier when he was put into prison, because he was giving witness on behalf of chastity. For modesty is a good gift but one of lesser merit when it involves no risk. Where, however, it is maintained at the risk of one's safety, there it wins a more abundant crown.

Joseph was imprisoned. Our Joseph, that is, Christ, as Isaiah says, "was numbered with the transgressors." The innocent man is led among the guilty by the wisdom of God, who "went down with him"—as was written—"into the pit, and did not leave him in bonds." This Joseph of ours, Christ, claims, "I became as a man without help, free among the dead." What followed had to happen, t…

Now when Joseph was accused by his mistress, he refused to say that she was guilty, because as a just man he did not know how to accuse anyone; for this reason the unchaste woman acted with impunity.

But the LORD was with Joseph, and he extended loyal love to him, and gave him favor in the eyes of the keeper of the prison.

But why would it be surprising if Christ visits those in prison, since he himself mentioned being imprisoned in his own words, as it is written: "I was in prison, and you did not visit me." Where does divine mercy not penetrate?

You notice how even when Joseph encountered troubles he had no sense of distress; instead, the creative wisdom of God transformed all his distress. Just as a pearl reveals its peculiar beauty even if someone buries it in the mire, so too virtue, wherever you cast it, reveals its characteristic power, be it in servitude, in prison, in distress or in prosperity.

While his case was un-heard, Joseph was thrown into prison as if guilty of a crime, but the Lord did not desert him there. It is not a source of shame for the innocent when they are attacked by false charges and cast into prison because justice is crushed; the Lord visits his own even in prison, and therefore there is more help where the danger is greater.

And the keeper of the prison put in Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; and whatever was done there, he was the one doing it.

The keeper of the prison looked after nothing that was in his hand, because the LORD was with him — and whatever he did, the LORD made succeed.

Genesis39

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

Joseph Falsely Imprisoned