Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #7 in Genesis 39, and we will read Genesis 39:7-16:

And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out. And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out. And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.

I will stop reading there.  We started to look at the spiritual meaning of this historical account.  Of course we know that it does have a spiritual meaning.  It has a parabolic meaning.  It is a historical parable, as all Bible history is, and it is true history.  These things did happen exactly as God recorded them, but they happened for a specific purpose and reason, and that is to teach aspects of the Gospel and truths of God’s program.

Here, we have started to see that Potiphar’s wife is very helpful in assisting us to discover the spiritual meaning of each of the characters.  If we just looked at her and her unfaithfulness in her marriage and her desire toward adultery, we could come up with the spiritual understanding that she represents national Israel.

She could not represent the corporate church, although that entity was spiritually adulterous and idolatrous, and yet they never married God.  But Potiphar’s wife is a married woman, and she is seeking to commit adultery against her husband.  Joseph resisted continually and always.  He did not give in, and of course that would direct us to the faithfulness and perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ.  For example, God tells us in Hebrews 4:15:

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Just think of Joseph in this situation.  Do we find he is tempted?  Yes, definitely.  He is being tempted repeatedly, day by day.  Did he commit sin and fall into the temptation to lie with his master’s wife?  Absolutely  not.  We see tremendous integrity, faithfulness, and obedience to the Law of God.  That is what Joseph said in Genesis 39:9:

There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

Joseph was aware that all sin, ultimately, is against God.  Remember King David fell into sin with Bathsheba.  He committed adultery, and he also committed murder, and the Lord convicted him of sin.  We read in Psalm 51:1-4:

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

David understood that sin is against God.  It is God’s Law.  Yes, we can sin against a person, and yet the sin is against God because God commanded us not to commit adultery.  And when someone commits adultery, he has sinned against God.

Joseph was fully aware of that, and he asked the question, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” He had a proper perspective on this particular sin as well as all sin.  Joseph understood that it was great wickedness, not just something that is a “little wicked.”  In our time at the time of the end of the world, the Holy Spirit has lifted His hand of restraint from the hearts of men and the whole society of mankind in every nation has been flooded with iniquity.  Iniquity has abounded to astronomical degrees, and it is everywhere!  We are still living in this world, and God has saved us by giving us a new heart and spirit just as Joseph had, and yet we are immersed, as it were, in these wicked things, just as Lot’s righteous soul was vexed day by day with their unlawful deeds.

 The world sees no problem with adultery, fornication, or any kind of sexual immorality, even the most horrendous and unspeakable things, things that in time past were not so much as mentioned among the Gentiles.  All is fine and good, and as good as anything else in this terribly corrupt civilization that the world has become at its end. 

So this is a good reminder for us of the true nature of sin.  It is ugly.  It is filthy.  It is dirty, and it is great wickedness against God.  So once we properly understand that this was great wickedness, Joseph’s reaction stands out.  It would not have been a little thing for him to have relented to her wishes as this woman came after him every day, and he could think, “She is bothering me so much, and this is going to make her mad.  After all, I am just a slave, and  my position is pretty good for being a slave in Egypt.  Things have gone so badly in my life.  I guess I will just give in to her.”   You know, Joseph was still in his fleshly body, just as all the saved in this world still have fleshly bodies that lust after sin.  He could have gone in that direction, but he did not.  He did not countenance the thought of it.  He did not contemplate it.  He did not even look at it as a possibility.  It was great wickedness to him.

What should we do when we come into contact with great wickedness?  Well, this is an example from real history.  This is a testimony to all of us today, as it says in Genesis 39:10:

And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

He was not listening.  He knew she was wrong.  She was doing something very evil, so he was thinking, “I am  not going to listen to her or her persuasive ways.”  We are just getting a little glimpse of this situation, and God is not telling us how she was dressed, or how she was trying to allure him, except to say that she wanted him to lie with her and be with her.  But now she was getting more aggressive: “And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me.”  This was his master’s wife, and she had authority over him as well.  I am sure she could have said to him, “Go get me this, or that,” and he would have no choice but to listen to her.  She had that kind of authority within the house as the master’s wife. 

Now she was commanding him to lie with her, and she grabbed him by his garment.  What was Joseph’s reaction?  It says, “…and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.”  He fled from her.  He ran away.  That is how much he feared the Lord.  He feared God more than he feared this woman.  He feared God more than he feared the potential consequences.  And as we will see, there were some very awful consequences for angering her in this matter by refusing her.  She was a woman of high position and status because of her husband, and she may have grown up in another rich and powerful family in Egypt, and she was used to getting what she wanted.

But this Hebrew slave would not hearken to her.  Not only that, but when she finally grabbed him and commanded him to lie with her, he ran away.  It was outright disobedience from her perspective, and she was furious because she viewed herself as a beautiful and desirable woman, but this young Hebrew slave was not responding to her pressure to be with her as so many others would.  So this lust for Joseph turned into hatred and anger, and she wanted vengeance upon him.  He had hurt her by refusing her, and she wanted to hurt him in return.

So she came up with a plan.  She had his garment in her hand, and held onto it, and she told the other servants of the house that he had come in unto her and tried to force himself on her.  She waited for her husband to get home, and she had her lie prepared.  She was going to tell her husband the exact opposite of what actually happened, and her husband will act upon it and throw Joseph into prison.  It was really a grievous situation. 

Joseph had done nothing wrong.  He is without sin, as we read of the Lord Jesus Christ who “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”  Joseph had been faithful to his earthly master, historically, and he had done well and right by Potiphar, as well as being faithful to his heavenly Master, God above.  Joseph was continuing to live a God-glorifying life, and he was living in such a way as God would have men to live by keeping His commandments.  Joseph was doing so.  He worked heartily as unto the Lord in his present situation.  He was not depressed and constantly complaining about his lot and situation and what his brothers had done to him.

Joseph had come from a rich family.  Joseph had a lofty position as the favored son of his father, and all of that was taken from him, and great evil was done to him.  But he made the best of all these circumstances.  He was in Potiphar’s house, and it would do no good to think back and ponder  past events  and become bitter.  That is all it would accomplish.  God tells us in the Bible: “…forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”  So Joseph’s thought was, “This is my present situation, and I will be the best servant possible for my master.”  Again, he was a faithful and obedient servant to Potiphar and to God, and being faithful and obedient had once more seemed to have gotten Joseph into a great problem.  We might think, “Well, it just does not pay to obey God.  It does not seem to be something that will work out well for us.  Based on the life of Joseph, it seems that faithfulness to God and obeying God’s Word will be ruinous and destroy my life.  I will have hardship, after hardship, and it will not be worth it.” 

We might reach that conclusion at this point in time, but we know the whole account of Joseph, and we know that God is faithful, and God had His eye on Joseph the entire time.  Joseph was being tried and tempted throughout his life, especially in these years of being a slave, and then he was thrown into prison.  What will be his reaction then?  We will look at that later, but we still have a lot of information to look at concerning this spiritual picture of Potiphar’s wife.

Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we will continue to look at this, and we will see how she is a picture of national Israel.