Genesis 39

The Egypt in which Joseph found himself was pri- 50:26)

marily a land of small villages inhabited by peasants who worked the land and raised grain and vegetables. Thanks to their system of irrigation, the annual flooding of the Nile River supplied ample water for both the crops and the cattle. There were some large cities such as On (Hieropolis), where Ra the sun god was honored, and Memphis, devoted to Apis, the sacred bull, but most of the population lived in the small villages.

It was also a country shackled by religious superstition. The people recognized at least two thousand gods and goddesses, including Pharaoh himself, and the special emphasis was on preparing for the after-life when the god Osiris would judge one’s deeds. In a very real sense, Egypt was a land devoted to death as much as to life.

The Egyptians were great builders, and the rulers conscripted both slaves and their own citizens for vast building projects. While the common people lived in mud brick houses, the important structures were constructed of stone. (Some of the pyramids contain stones that weigh as much as fifteen tons.) The government was a large bureaucracy, with many officials at various levels and thousands of scribes to keep the records.

Egyptian priests and wise men studied the heavens and the earth, developed a solar year calendar of 365 1/4 days, and became well known for their medicines. They also perfected the art of embalming. The Egyptians had horses and chariots, and they knew the art of war.

There were many Semitic slaves like Joseph in Egypt, but Joseph was very special because the Lord was with him (39:2–3). Because the Lord was with Joseph, he was a man of accomplishment, but what Joseph accomplished, we can accomplish if we trust in the Lord and seek to honor Him as he did.

When he was at home in Hebron, Joseph’s brothers considered him to be a trouble-maker, but in Egypt, he was a source of blessing because God was with him. God promised Abraham that his descendants would bring blessing to other nations (12:1–3), and Joseph fulfilled that promise in Egypt. Like the blessed man described in Psalm 1, everything he did prospered (Ps. 1:3; see also Josh. 1:8).

Joseph is a good example of a believer who trusted God and made the best of his difficult circumstances. He never read what Jeremiah wrote to the exiles in Babylon (Jer. 29:7) or what Peter wrote to the scattered Christians in the Roman Empire (1 Peter 2:13–20), but he certainly put those instructions into practice. Joseph would rather have been at home, but he made the best of his circumstances in Egypt, and God blessed him.

The blessing of the Lord was very evident to the people in Potiphar’s household, and they knew that Joseph was the cause. “The Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake” (Gen. 39:5), just as God had blessed Laban’s house because of Jacob (30:27, 30). Potiphar gradually turned more and more responsibility over to Joseph until Joseph was actually managing the entire household, except for the food Potiphar ate.

Joseph was well liked by the people in Potiphar’s house, and in pagan, idol-worshipping Egypt, Joseph was a testimony to the true and living God. He was an honest and faithful worker, and the people he lived and worked with got the message. God took note of Joseph’s character and conduct and made him a blessing, and unknown to Joseph, God planned to fulfill the dreams He had sent him. “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before unknown men” (Prov. 22: nkjv).

But his faithful service wasn’t only a blessing to the household, it was also a blessing to Joseph himself. Had he stayed home with his pampering father, Joseph might not have developed the kind of character that comes from hard work and obeying orders. God’s method for building us is to give us a job to do and people to obey. He tests us as servants before He promotes us to being rulers (Matt. 25:21). Before He allows us to exercise authority, we have to be under authority and learn to obey.

The description of Joseph in Genesis 39: prepares the way for the episode involving Potiphar’s wife. Not only was Joseph godly, dependable, and efficient, but he was also handsome and well favored, qualities he inherited from his mother (29:17).

Joseph had suffered in a pit because of the hatred of his brothers, but now he would face an even greater danger because of the lust of an evil woman. “For a harlot is a deep pit, and a seductress is a narrow well” (Prov. 23: nkjv).

Potiphar’s wife treated Joseph in a humiliating way by inviting him into her bed. She may have reasoned, “After all, isn’t he a Jew and a slave at that? And doesn’t he work for my husband and therefore also work for me? Since my husband isn’t here, I’m in charge, and Joseph is my employee. It’s his job to take orders.” She treated Joseph like a thing, not like a person; and when her advances were rejected, she turned against him.

No matter how much people talk about “love” and defend sex outside of marriage, the experience is wrong, cheap, and demeaning. Fornication and adultery change a pure river into a sewer and transform free people into slaves and then animals (5:15–23; 7:21–23). What begins as “sweetness” soon turns into poison (5:1–14). Joseph wasn’t about to sacrifice either his purity or his integrity just to please his master’s wife.

It took a great deal of courage and determination for Joseph to fight this battle day after day, but he succeeded. He explained to her why he wouldn’t cooperate: (1) She was another man’s wife, and that man was his master; (2) he was trusted by his master and didn’t want to violate that trust; (3) even if nobody else found out about it, God would know it and be displeased. All she asked for was a moment of pleasure, but to Joseph, this was a great wickedness against God (Gen. 39:9).

Potiphar’s wife probably arranged for the other servants to be out of the way on the day she launched her greatest attack, but at the same time she saw to it that they were near enough at hand for her to call them to see Joseph’s garment. There are times when fleeing could be a mark of cowardice (Ps. 11:1–2; Neh. 6:11), but there are also times when fleeing is evidence of courage and integrity. Joseph was wise enough to follow the same advice Paul gave to Timothy, “Flee the evil desires of youth” (2 Tim. 2:22).

Self-control is an important factor in building character and preparing us for leadership. “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls” (Prov. 25: nkjv). When there are no walls, anything can get in or come out. Joseph exercised self-control, but Samson used his body to gratify his own pleasures, and Joseph ended up ruling on a throne, while Samson ended his life buried in a pile of rubble (Judg. 16:23–31).

For the second time in his life, Joseph lost a garment (Gen. 39:12; see also 37:23), but as the Puritan preacher said, “Joseph lost his coat but he kept his character.” Since Potiphar was involved in the Egyptian judicial system, we wonder why he didn’t try to put Joseph on trial or even execute him. Of course, God was in control, working out His wonderful plan for Joseph, Egypt, Joseph’s family, and the world.

Once again, it was the Lord who made the difference. Whether Joseph was a steward in Potiphar’s house or an accused criminal in the prison, “the Lord was with Joseph” and gave him success.

Learning to wait (39:21–23). “They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons,” said the psalmist (Ps. 105:18), but these experiences aren’t mentioned in Genesis. Perhaps Joseph was bound for a short time, but it wasn’t long before the prison warden released him and put him in charge of the other prisoners. Like Potiphar before him, the warden turned everything over to Joseph and watched the work prosper in his hands.

God permitted Joseph to be treated unjustly and put in prison to help build his character and prepare him for the tasks that lay ahead. The prison would be a school where Joseph would learn to wait on the Lord until it was His time to vindicate him and fulfill his dreams. Joseph had time to think and pray and to ponder the meaning of the two dreams God had sent him. He would learn that God’s delays are not God’s denials.

More than one servant of God has regretted rushing ahead of God’s schedule and trying to get to the throne too soon. Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to say, “It’s tragic when a person succeeds before he is ready for it.” It’s through faith and patience that we inherit the promises (Heb. 6:12; see 10:36), and the best way to learn patience is through tribulation (Rom. 5:3–4). “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2–4 nkjv).

God often removes our “crutches” so we’ll learn to walk by faith and trust Him alone. Two years later, God would use the cupbearer to help deliver Joseph from prison. Thus Joseph’s request wasn’t wasted. During those two years of waiting, Joseph clung to the dreams God had given him, just the way you and I would cling to His promises. God had promised that people would bow down to Joseph, and he believed God’s promise. He didn’t know how God would accomplish it or when it would happen, but he knew that God was faithful.

Learning to interpret (40:1–13, 16–22). Since the king’s prisoners were put into this prison, Joseph met some men who held high offices and had access to Pharaoh, among them Pharaoh’s chief butler (cupbearer) and the royal baker. The cupbearer’s job was to protect the king by making certain the king’s wine was prepared and safe to drink (Neh. 1:11—2:1). Since he served in the very presence of Pharaoh, he was a powerful man with access to the king’s ear. God brought these two men into Joseph’s life so that He could ultimately set him free and give him the throne He had prepared for him.

Dreams played a very important part in the life of leaders in Egypt, and the ability to interpret dreams was a highly respected skill. So far, Joseph had pondered his own dreams, but this is the first time he interprets the dreams of others. The fact that he noticed the looks of dismay on the men’s faces shows that he was a caring and discerning man, and the fact that Joseph gave God the glory (Gen. 40:8) shows he was a humble man.

To “lift up your head” (vv. 13, 19) is a phrase that means “to have your case considered by the king, then be restored” (see 2 Kings 25:27; Jer. 52:31). But as far as the baker was concerned, the phrase had a double meaning, because Pharaoh would have him executed. The Egyptians didn’t use the gallows; they beheaded the victim and then impaled his body on a stake (“tree”). So, in a dual sense, the baker’s head was “lifted up.”

Joseph’s interpretations came true: The cupbearer was restored to his position, and the baker was executed. While Joseph was no doubt sorry for the baker, it must have encouraged him to see that his interpretation was accurate and that Pharaoh did reconsider cases and set people free.

Learning to trust (vv. 14–15, 23). As far as the Genesis record is concerned, there are only two instances of Joseph displaying unbelief; and this is the first one. (The second is in 48:8–20 when Joseph tried to tell Jacob how to bless the two grandsons.) Knowing that the cupbearer would be released and have access to Pharaoh, Joseph asked him to speak a good word for him and get him out of the prison. Joseph was putting his trust in what a man could do instead of depending on what God could do. He was getting impatient instead of waiting for God’s time.

Joseph didn’t mention his brothers or accuse them of evil. He only said he was “stolen” (kidnapped) from home and therefore was not a slave but a free man who deserved better treatment. His use of the word “dungeon” in 40: (see also 41:14) doesn’t necessarily mean that he and the other prisoners were in a terribly wretched place. They were confined in the jail for the king’s prisoners (39:20), which is called “the house of the captain of the guard” (40:3), so it was certainly not a dungeon. It may well have been “house arrest.” Joseph was speaking just as you and I would speak when we want people to sympathize with our plight: “This place is the pits!”

After his release and restoration, the cupbearer not only said nothing to Pharaoh about Joseph, but also he forgot Joseph completely! So much for turning to people for help instead of waiting on the Lord. “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. … Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—the Lord, who remains faithful forever” (Ps. 146:3, 5–6).