Joseph's story, Genesis 39

Now, you may have noticed that I skipped chapter 38. That's because that chapter is not about Joseph, but rather his brother, Judah.

Going ahead with Joseph's story, we now find him in Egypt, as a slave.

He had been sold to a man named Potiphar, who was the captain of the Pharoh's guards. 

Even in the midst of these tribulations, God was with Joseph, and he blessed him greatly, and Potiphar's house because of him.

And so Potiphar set Joseph above all the matters of his house. He didn't even know what he had, only the food that he was eating at that moment.

So Joseph took care of Potiphar's house for him. 

And, I might also mention, that it says that Joseph was very handsome, probably more than any other man in the house.

 Potiphar's wife must have noticed this, because she began to lust after him.

So one day she goes to him and asks him to be with her.

Joseph is alarmed. All that his master owned he had put into Joseph's hands to take care of. He could have anything that he wanted in the entire house.

Except Potiphar's wife.

So Joseph says no, and walks away from her.

This goes on for a while, she really wants him, he says no.

Then one day, Joseph goes into the house to take care of some business that he has, and none of the other men are in the house.

And Potiphar's wife finds Joseph, and begs him to come be with her, to which he again says no.

Only this time she grabs his cloak, so he runs away, running *out* it, leaving it in her hands.

When she realizes that she is left, standing alone with his cloak in her hands, she screams, and some of the men come running inside to see what was the matter.

She tells them that the Hebrew that works there had tried to rape her, but when she screamed he ran away, leaving his cloak behind.

So she holds on to his cloak, keeping them with her until her husband gets home.

When Potiphar arrives, she shows him Joseph's garment and tells him the story she told her servants.

And of course this makes Potiphar angry. Here, the man he trusted most had betrayed him. He could have had almost anything in the entire house and he had tried to take the one thing that was Potiphar's and his alone. His wife.

So Potiphar has Joseph thrown into the prison where the king kept his prisoners (so this was not the ordinary prison).

But even still, in prison, God was with Joseph, and he gave him favor in the eyes of the Jailer, who put everything in the prison into Joseph's hand, so Joseph became the steward of the prison, and because of Joseph, God made everything under his care to prosper. 

Cheers!