Scripture Daily

Context No. 3116 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 39:7-12: in context

7After these things, his master’s wife set her eyes on Joseph; and she said, “Lie with me.” 8But he refused, and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, my master doesn’t know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand. 9No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” 10As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn’t listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her. 11About this time, he went into the house to do his work, and there were none of the men of the house inside. 12She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” He left his garment in her hand, and ran outside.

Day after day, Potiphar's wife tries to seduce Joseph, and day after day he refuses. My master has entrusted everything to me, he says; how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? When at last she catches him by his garment and demands he lie with her, he leaves the garment in her hand and runs out of the house.

Joseph's refusal shows what anchors real integrity. He names two loyalties: to his master, who trusted him, and, deeper still, to God, how can I sin against God? He saw the temptation not merely as a betrayal of Potiphar but as sin against God himself. And notice the persistence of it, day after day, and his response, he would not even be near her, and finally, when the moment came, he simply fled, leaving his coat behind. He did not linger to argue or test his own willpower. Fleeing is sometimes the wisest response to temptation; there is no shame in running from what we cannot safely stand beside.

When I face persistent temptation, do I see it as sin against God, and am I willing to flee it outright rather than linger to test my strength?

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