The Book of Genesis

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Joseph, sold by his brothers, is bought by Potiphar, "an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard." His life has collapsed: from favored son to foreign slave. Yet the chapter's key phrase appears at once: "the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man." Even in bondage, God's presence made Joseph prosper, and it was so obvious that his pagan master "saw that the LORD was with him." Potiphar promotes Joseph to overseer of his entire household, trusting him with everything, and the text says "the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake." Joseph did not become bitter or lazy in his unjust situation; he served faithfully right where God had placed him, and God blessed both him and the household around him. He was a slave, but he was a slave the Lord was with, and that made all the difference.

Gospel Focus

"The LORD was with Joseph." This is the heartbeat of the whole chapter, and it is repeated at the beginning and the end. Notice where God's presence found Joseph: not in comfort and honor at home, but in slavery in a foreign land. God does not abandon His people when their circumstances fall apart. The same Lord who promised Jacob at Bethel, "I am with thee ... in all places whither thou goest," was now with his son in Egypt. And see what Joseph did with his hard place: he served faithfully. He could have sulked, cut corners, or nursed his wounds, but instead he worked with all his heart, and God prospered him and blessed others through him. This is the call to every believer stuck in a situation they did not choose: be faithful right there, and let the Lord's presence make you a blessing. Even a pagan master could see that God was with Joseph. When we walk with God through hardship with integrity and diligence, the people around us will notice, and God will be honored. His presence, not our circumstances, is our true prosperity.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Joseph is described as "a goodly person, and well favoured," and Potiphar's wife "cast her eyes upon Joseph" and demanded that he sin with her. Joseph refuses flatly. He reasons first from loyalty: his master has trusted him with everything and held back nothing "but thee, because thou art his wife." To betray that trust would be a deep wickedness against the man who trusted him. But then Joseph goes higher, to the real heart of the matter: "how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" For Joseph, the deepest reason not to sin was not fear of getting caught or even loyalty to Potiphar, but reverence for God. And this was no single heroic moment. The text says "she spake to Joseph day by day," and day by day "he hearkened not unto her." His purity was a settled, daily resolve, not a one-time feeling.

Gospel Focus

Joseph's words reveal the true nature of all sin. He could have listed many reasons to refuse, but the one that governed him was this: "sin against God." All sin, however it may wound other people, is first and finally an offense against God Himself. David understood this after his own fall, crying, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight" (Psalm 51:4). The person who truly grasps that sin is against God has a guard on his heart that no locked door can supply. Joseph had no human accountability in that empty house; only the awareness of God kept him. Notice too that he was tempted "day by day." Temptation is often not a single assault but a wearing, repeated pressure, and Joseph's answer was a steady, repeated no. Purity is built not in one grand decision but in a thousand daily ones. The believer who wants to stand in the hour of testing must settle the matter beforehand, as Joseph clearly had, resolving in advance that some things simply cannot be done, because they are sin against God.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The pressure finally comes to a head. One day when no other servants are in the house, Potiphar's wife catches Joseph by his garment and demands again that he sin with her. Joseph does not stay to argue or reason further; he simply runs, leaving his garment in her hand and getting himself out of the house. Fleeing was the wise and godly response; there are temptations we are not meant to negotiate with but to run from. But his flight costs him. Humiliated and spiteful, the woman keeps his garment and twists it into a weapon. She calls the household servants and then her husband, and accuses Joseph of attacking her, using his own garment as false proof: "he left his garment with me, and fled." The very evidence of Joseph's innocence, that he ran, is turned into a lie that makes him look guilty.

Gospel Focus

Joseph's response to seizing temptation is a model for us: he fled. The New Testament gives the same command in plain words: "Flee fornication" (1 Corinthians 6:18), and "Flee also youthful lusts" (2 Timothy 2:22). There is a kind of temptation we are not called to stand and reason with, but simply to run from, and there is no shame in the running. Joseph would rather lose his coat than lose his integrity, rather flee half-clothed than stay and fall. It is worth remembering that this is now the second garment torn from Joseph: his brothers took his coat of many colours, and now Potiphar's wife takes his cloak, and both were used to tell a lie about him. Joseph keeps losing his coat but keeps his character. That is the right trade. We may lose our reputation, our comfort, even our freedom for doing right, but if we keep a clean conscience before God, we have kept the thing that matters most. Better to flee and be falsely accused than to stay and be truly guilty.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Potiphar believes his wife and, in anger, has Joseph thrown into prison, "a place where the king's prisoners were bound." It is a bitter injustice: Joseph did the right thing and is punished as if he had done the wrong one. Yet the chapter ends exactly where it began, with the same steady refrain: "But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison." Even in the dungeon, God's presence did not leave him. The keeper soon trusts Joseph with all the prisoners, just as Potiphar had trusted him with his house, and once again "the LORD made it to prosper." Joseph has now gone from the pit, to slavery, to prison, sinking lower and lower through no fault of his own, and at every level the same truth holds: the LORD is with him.

Gospel Focus

The most important word in this whole chapter may be the little word "but" in verse 21: "But the LORD was with Joseph." Everything in Joseph's life had gone wrong, betrayed, enslaved, tempted, lied about, imprisoned, but God was still with him. Doing right does not guarantee an easy road. Joseph suffered precisely because he obeyed God, and Scripture honors exactly that kind of suffering: "if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God" (1 Peter 2:20). Here too Joseph is a picture of Christ, the truly innocent one, falsely accused and condemned though He had done no wrong. And behind the injustice, God was quietly at work, for this very prison would put Joseph in the exact place he needed to be to rise to Pharaoh's side and save the world from famine. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). When we are suffering unjustly for doing right, we must hold to that "but": whatever else is true, the Lord is with us, and He is working even our prisons into His good and saving plan.