Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #10 in Genesis 39, and we will read Genesis 39:16-20:

And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home. And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me: And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out. And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.

We are now going to try to tie in this wife’s adulterous behavior to the nation of Israel.  We know that God was married to Israel.  He tells us that in a couple of places in the Old Testament.  For example, it says in Isaiah 50:1:

Thus saith JEHOVAH, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

And God also makes reference to this  in Jeremiah 3:8:

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

In our passage Potiphar is a type and figure of God, and God was married to Israel, an unfaithful wife.  We see that she was constantly tempting Joseph.  For example, it says in Genesis 39:7:

And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.

Then 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.

It says in Genesis 39:12:

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.

Finally, she became very angry, and she concocted a plan.  She showed the garment to her husband, and she accused Joseph of what she was guilty of, which was adulterous behavior.  There was constant temptation for Joseph.  We know that Joseph is a great type of Christ.  It reminds us of Israel’s temptations of the Lord Jesus.  It says in Matthew 15:1-4:

The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

Notice in verse 1 that the Pharisees and Sadducees came to tempt Christ, and now Jesus told them, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.”  Do you see how that relates?  Remember, God is married to Israel, and these are the leaders of Israel that are engaging in the temptation of Christ, and Jesus points out their wickedness and the fact that they are adulterous toward God and the Law of God.  That clearly relates to the spiritual picture illustrated in Genesis 39.

By the way, Israel’s temptation of Christ was simply a continuation of what had been happening throughout Israel’s whole history.  Their tempting of the Lord Jesus was adultery, spiritually speaking.  When we go back to the time of Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness, we read in Exodus 17:2-7:

Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt JEHOVAH? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto JEHOVAH, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted JEHOVAH, saying, Is JEHOVAH among us, or not?

This really shows their unbelief.  They were murmuring, complaining, and demanding, and they were certainly behaving themselves as anything other than servants of the Lord.  Notice that it was Israel tempting JEHOVAH.  Moses said, “Wherefore do ye tempt JEHOVAH?”   And this led to Moses smiting the rock.  Here, Moses is a figure of the Law of God, and the rock is a type of Christ.  We are told that in 1Corinthians 10:4:

“…and that Rock was Christ.”

So these temptations of the Lord in this historical parable in Exodus 17 are basically what led right into the atonement, or the cross, as it provoked God to command Moses to smite the rock.

And it is the same thing with the temptations of the Lord by Israel in the Gospel accounts.  It is  ever leading and guiding to the cross, is it not?  They increased their tempting activity toward Him all the way up to His bearing the cross and being nailed on the cross in that demonstration of the atonement.

Let us go to the New Testament.  It says in Matthew 19:3-9:

The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

This is referring to the Law given in Deuteronomy 24 which permitted God (who had entered into this unusual marriage with the nation of Israel) to put Israel away because God must do everything by Law.  He cannot supersede Law or dismiss Law, but He must uphold all Law.  The only way He could do this was if there were a Law, and there was a Law, so He divorced Israel. 

So it is fitting that the Pharisees and leaders of Israel would come to Christ and bring up this very point: “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”  God told us they were tempting Him through this, just like they had tempted God in practically everything regarding His Law; they were always trying to add to it, subtract from it, or get around it, or to make it into their own law.  They were twisting and turning the Law of God, and that is tempting God. 

And here, the Lord Jesus declared that the Law that allowed for divorce was to be no longer, and it was actually ended, having served its purpose once the Lord did go to the cross.  Then the veil of the temple was rent in twain, and the marriage relationship between God and national Israel was over.  He had put her away, and now the Law of God from that point forward into eternity was that there was not to be divorce for any reason whatsoever. 

And this is a wonderful thing for the people of God.  We have entered into that marriage with Christ, and there cannot be divorce.  Nothing can separate us, or put us away, from the love of God for eternity future, and that is why we have that guarantee of eternal life.

Regarding a woman caught in adultery, we can go to John 8 where we see Israel’s tempting of Christ taking on a more serious nature.  It says in John 8:3-6:

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

They thought they had a perfect trap because if Jesus said to let her go and not stone her, then they could go to the people and say, “He does not believe the Law of Moses.  He does not uphold the Law of Moses.  He is a lawbreaker and a sinner.”  On the other hand if Christ said she should be stoned to death, then they would turn around and go to the Roman authorities and accuse Christ of sedition, or being someone who breaks the Roman law and causes disorder in their streets.  Then they would have the Romans put Him to death.  So that is why it was a temptation of Christ.  The perfection of Christ just shows itself as we see that man’s wisdom is no match for God’s infinite wisdom. 

Then it says in John 8:7-8:

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

A second time He wrote on the ground.  And there were two tables of stone in the giving of the Ten Commandments.  Christ is God, so whatever He wrote was the Word of God, and it is definitely directing us to God having written the Ten Commandments with His finger.  Also, He wrote on the ground, and God’s Law is written on the hearts of men who were created from the dust of the ground.  So the Law was written on the ground, and these scribes and Pharisees can see the commandment being written, and it was convicting them because Christ had declared, “If you are without sin, then you pick up the first stone and cast at her.”   And they can see the Ten Commandments, and God was convicting them on the spot: “You have broken this commandment.  You have broken that commandment.  You are a guilty sinner.  How dare you accuse her.”  And they all started walking away, beginning with the eldest to the youngest, and there was no one to condemn her because all had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  No one can condemn a sinner except for God.  Then Jesus said in John 8:10-11:

…Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

The Bible also says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…”  They could not catch Jesus in their trap.  Their temptation was a snare, but He confounded them.

We read in Mark 12:13:

And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.

They were laying snares, trying to entrap Him.

Then it says in Mark 12:14:

And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?

Do you see how sly and deceitful men can be with their words?  They “sugarcoat” and they flatter, but in their hearts they are lying in wait to trap you or even kill you, if possible.  They are asking as though it were an honest question, but it goes on to say in Mark 12:15:

Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it.

This was the same thing declared by Moses to Israel in the wilderness: “Wherefore do ye tempt JEHOVAH?”  And they were still tempting JEHOVAH.  Remember that the name Jesus means “JEHOVAH Saviour.”  He is the Saviour.  He said, “I alone am Saviour.”  

Again, it says in Mark 12:15-16:

… Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's. And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.

The trap was that if He said to pay tribute to Caesar, they would call Him a publican, someone who is in league with the tax collectors.  After all, did He not eat with publicans and harlots and tax collectors?  Yet if He said not to give tribute to Caesar, they would have run to the Romans and said, “This man is causing sedition.  He is doing damage to Caesar by telling the people not to pay taxes.”  The Romans would come and arrest him for sedition.

It was a very obvious trap to God, and of course God always has the perfect way of evading the simple minds of men.  Man thinks he is so smart, and he is wise to do evil, and yet God is infinitely wiser, and it is nothing for Him to say, “Show me a coin, and tell me whose image is on it.”  So they must declare that the image was of Caesar.  So Jesus said, “You have a coin with Caesar’s face on it.  Give it to Caesar.”  It was absolute perfection.

We are going to stop here, but we can see the many temptations of the Lord Jesus and how that fits in with Potiphar’s wife as she daily tempted Joseph: “Lie with me.  Lie with me.”  She was trying to trap him and snare him into adultery.  Likewise, national Israel was trying to get the Lord to fall into something He would say with His mouth whereby they could accuse Him before the people, or accuse Him before the Romans.  But Christ went “through the midst of them,” as it were, just as Joseph got himself out and fled.

But despite escaping all the traps and snares of the temping by Israel, finally Israel had had enough, and they would come up with false witnesses to accuse Him.  And that is where the lies of Potiphar’s wife brings about another similarity with national Israel.