Devotional articles
Joseph – the man who dared to say No!
Please read Genesis 39. In this chapter we get to see some of the skills of Satan in temptation, and we are reminded of one tiny word that God has given us to use in the fight. I want to look at three stages in Satan’s work and the way that Joseph uses this three times to resist him.
Temptation 1: Opportunity
It
is all handed to Joseph on a plate! The gorgeous Mrs Potiphar (the rape claim at
the end of the chapter is far more convincing if she looks like Teri Hatcher
rather than Margaret Thatcher) puts her beautifully manicured hand on Joseph’s
shoulder and whispers ‘Let’s go to bed!’ It’s a temptation that many a young
(and not so young) person has crumbled before. There is the suddenness of the
attack. The flattery – she’s interested in me! And there is the dilemma. This
isn’t some slave girl who is propositioning him: it’s the boss’s wife, and to
upset her will make Joseph’s life dangerous!
Response 1: Joseph says ‘No!’
Verse 8: But he refused. He doesn’t say ‘Maybe’, or ‘I’m busy at the moment.’ He says ‘No.’ And he explains why he has said ‘No’. This is not to open up negotiations, but to explain why this cannot go a step further. Verses 8-9: Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
He points out three things to her:
1. This would be an abuse of his master’s trust. He takes seriously his calling in life, and if God wants him to be a slave, then he will honour God in his slavery. If he wants him to be a prisoner, he’ll be the best prisoner. When he calls him to be Deputy Ruler over all Egypt, we’ll see the same integrity and honesty. Joseph’s faith permeates every part of his life.
2. It would be a violation of marriage. Joseph has a high view of marriage, and that includes other people’s marriages.
3. It would be sinning against God. Joseph calls sin by its proper name. Sexual immorality isn’t a game or a little affair, it is Great Wickedness and it is something that is primarily directed against God. This is the key to the whole episode. Satan wants to attack Joseph’s relationship with the Lord. The great theme of Genesis 39 is The Lord was with Joseph (vv2, 3, 21, 23). What Satan wants to do is wreck that and come between Joseph and his Lord. To know the Lord’s presence, fellowship, smile, love and joy is the greatest thing in life for the believer. You can know it in the slave market, and Joseph did. You can know the Lord being with you in prison, and Joseph did, but you can’t know his love, peace and presence in Potiphar’s king sized bed, rolling around with his wife. Satan doesn’t want to give us something better. He wants to take away the best thing that we have!
Temptation 2: Persistence
So it was as she spoke to Joseph day by day… (v10)
The war isn’t won with the first ‘No’. Satan has a
long game that he plays, and the pressure begins to build up. The more we
resist, the greater the pressure becomes, and sometimes we feel that the only
way to release that pressure is to capitulate. If he thinks about it long
enough, he’ll be able to justify doing it:
• ‘I’ll just do it to get her off of my back’.
• ‘Potiphar has taken my liberty, so why shouldn’t I take his wife?’
• ‘Why shouldn’t I satisfy my sexual needs?’
• ‘Everyone else is doing it (including my brothers), so why shouldn’t I?’
Response 2: Joseph says ‘No!’
So it was as she spoke to Joseph day by day that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her (v10).
It is possible that to be with her is a euphemism meaning to go to bed with her, but that would be tautology, and I think the NIV’s even to be with her gets us to the heart of Joseph’s thinking. As far as is possible, he won’t even be alone with Mrs Potiphar. He doesn’t even enjoy playing the game of flirtation, or perhaps he knows he would enjoy it, so he doesn’t even let it start. He is applying Proverbs 5:8: Remove your way far from her! It is only fools who see how close they can get to temptation before they pull back, and Joseph is no fool. Those of us who are pastors have had to weep over too many Christian lives and testimonies that have been scarred because people did not heed Joseph’s example and Solomon’s wisdom. Remove your way far from her!
Temptation 3: Crisis
But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment saying ‘lie with me!’ But he left his garment in her hand and fled outside (v11).
Derek Kidner writes: ‘We now see the full strategy. The first approach, startling and flattering, then the long attrition, forever reopening the closed question, and now the final ambush where all is lost or won in a moment.’ Well, what do you do in the moment of crisis?
Response 3: Joseph says ‘No!’
He does what a real man (or woman) would do. He flees for his life. This isn’t the flight of a coward, but the flight to victory. When Paul wrote, Flee fornication, he meant flee, not jog or walk briskly. It is not God’s intention to break our joy or rob us of anything. He intends to increase it, and he does that for Joseph. Of course Joseph’s flight takes him into danger, and the spurned Mrs Potiphar skilfully concocts her story, and holds up the badge of Joseph’s loyalty and turns it into the evidence of his treachery. However, the Lord vindicated Joseph and honours his flight.
This doesn’t always happen immediately. It doesn’t always happen in our lifetime, and like countless others, in the short term, Joseph will suffer for being godly. But that is nothing to be ashamed of, and even if there wasn’t a Genesis 41, I think Joseph’s real reward is still there at the end of chapter 39, where though he is in prison we read that the LORD was with him (vv21, 23). For the Christian it just doesn’t get any better than that!