Joseph and Potiphar
Joseph’s master finds his new servant indispensable, but unfortunately his wife finds him irresistible.
Bronze Age ?3000 – ?1050 BC
Joseph’s master finds his new servant indispensable, but unfortunately his wife finds him irresistible.
Bronze Age ?3000 – ?1050 BC
Young Joseph’s brothers have wearied of his dreams of glory and his position as their father Jacob’s favourite. So they have beaten him, stripped him of his fine coat, and sold him to a passing caravan of merchants bound for Egypt. The story for Jacob, however, is that a wild animal has killed his beloved son.
THE merchants who bought Joseph from his brothers sold him on to an Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer in the Pharaoh’s guard. Joseph proved so indispensable, that before long all Potiphar’s affairs were left unquestioningly in his capable hands.
Joseph made a particularly strong impression on his master’s wife, who propositioned him daily without success. At last she made a grab for him. Joseph twisted aside, leaving her holding his empty robe; which she, smarting at the rejection, spitefully exhibited to her husband as proof that Joseph had attempted to seduce her. Feeling hurt and betrayed, Potiphar had Joseph jailed.
The chief gaoler, however, found Joseph quite as trusty as Potiphar had, and soon all the inmates were bringing their problems to him. They included two disgraced members of the royal household, the Pharaoh’s chief baker and his butler, and both sought Joseph’s advice about troubling dreams.
It was to prove a turning point in all their lives.