JOSEPH--Obedience Before "The Law"

In Old Testament Joseph’s time, life was hard, slavery was rife and consequently life was cheap.  Joseph was approximately 17 years of age when he was sold into slavery by his brothers.  With this betrayal, outside of his brothers, to whom could Joseph appeal?  No one.  That is, unless you discount a sovereign God who was watching this whole treacherous transaction.  In Egypt Joseph would have been auctioned as an automobile might be auctioned today.  It was a transaction—period, but a sovereign God was watching, even superintending.

Sold to Potiphar, Joseph early distinguished himself so that Potiphar, in decent good time, elevated Joseph to the complete care of his household.  Where before, Joseph would have had only his physical appearance to commend himself to Potiphar’s wife, he now had a certain amount of stature that only enhanced his physical attractiveness.  From the Book of Genesis we gather she was the aggressor, and began a campaign to seduce Joseph.  Early on she let her seductive intentions toward him be known by direct statement, “Lie with me” (Genesis 39:7b).

 Joseph refused and countered by saying, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand.  There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife.  How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God (Genesis 39:8, 9)?”  [Such a high stance without the guidance of “The Law”, even ante-dating it 250 to 450 years.]

She was relentless, even shameless in her pursuit of Joseph whose only defense was to keep from being alone with her in the household.  Then it happened—one day Joseph came to the house to do his work and no one else was there but Potiphar’s wife.  She struck and there was nothing left for Joseph to do but flee for his very life—but God was watching.

In this situation, to whom could Joseph have made appeal?  What would have been his defense to his master, Potiphar?  Joseph was a foreign slave, albeit a bright one, who had rapidly learned the language and customs of the people—but still, a slave.  Given this circumstance and probably any other slave, Potiphar would have had killed immediately, possibly by his own hand.

But Potiphar was no fool, he saw what a blessing Joseph had been to his household, he understood “. . . that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field” (Genesis 39:5b).  Deducing from this, there may well have been a little bit of godly fear upon Potiphar.

Everything that flowed to and from Joseph, Potiphar knew had to flow from Joseph’s God.  Though Joseph was without defense, he had every defense—because God was with him. Fearing God, “Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined.  And he was there in the prison” (Genesis 39:20).  And from that prison he stepped into history.

Do you despair in your present circumstance, don’t cast away your future by sin—God is watching.