There’s a private school in Washington that was recently faced with a unique problem; a number of twelve year old girls were beginning to use lipstick and rather than putting it on at home they’d all wait till they got to school and they’d put it on in the girl’s bathroom. Well, there were no rules about wearing lipstick but apparently after they put it on; they’d all kiss the mirror which left all kinds of lipstick marks that had to be cleaned every night by the janitor.
So, the principal called all these girls to the bathroom and with the janitor present she explained what a nuisance it was to have to clean off all these marks but the girls responded like most girls would; and they either acted like they couldn’t care less what she was saying or they made silly faces and yawned like it was the most boring thing they had ever heard.
So, the principal asked the janitor to show these girls how hard it was to get the lipstick off the mirror and he dipped his squeegee into the toilet and scrubbed the mirror; and needless to say, that was the last time any of them ever kissed the mirror again.
“And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favored.
And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; there is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.
And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, see, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: and it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out.
And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home. And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, the Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me: and it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out. And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, after this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.
But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.”
Last week, we left Joseph sitting in the pit and we’re not told how long he was there or what was going through his mind but we do know that God was preparing the next part of his journey because when all of his brothers were wondering what they were going to do with him Judah suggested they kill two birds with one stone and rather than kill him; he said they should sell him and make some money and everybody thought that was a great idea. And there’s an interesting parallel here; because Judas the disciple was named after Judah and Judas was the one who sold Jesus but it was for thirty rather than twenty pieces of silver.
And then it seems like immediately after Judah suggested this that God sent an Ishmaelite caravan along and Joseph’s brothers were able to sell him to these guys and they took him down to Egypt. Listen, all God had to do; to soften their hearts was to turn their attention from murder to greed or from anger to selfishness and then He was able to use their selfish greedy hearts both to spare Joseph and then to take him exactly where He wanted him to go.
Well, we can imagine the joy on their faces as Joseph was being hauled away and they’d probably be yelling, “Bye, bye, Joseph, so much for your being in charge of everything because now everybody else is going to be in charge of you.”
And so today, as we follow Joseph I want you to see that he really had a bumpy road ahead of him because first of all, the distance from Dothan to Egypt was somewhere around two hundred miles and he probably had to walk behind a caravan as he was tied to one of their carts because after all, he’d just be one of many slaves these guys had bought along the way. History tells us these caravans could have as many as 3,000 people in them and many of them were walking; a few were riding on donkeys and the very wealthy rode on camels. And this trip could take anywhere from a week to ten days.
And then, when they finally got to Egypt Joseph would have been taken immediately to the slave market where he and several others slaves probably stood naked and people would walk by and bid on anyone they thought would do what they wanted done; whether it was for common labor, for cooks and cleaners or whatever else they needed. And whoever offered the money took them home.
We have a hard time understanding the role of a slave because the only connection to slavery any of us have ever had; was in the movies where slaves either stood around waving big fans or they we’re all dressed up in white and served grapes or something like that. And all this is Hollywood’s interpretation but the one thing you have to understand about slavery is; slaves were considered to be less than people and they literally had no rights. And if they didn’t perform to the level that was expected of them and do whatever it was their owners had bought them for; they could be beaten or even killed if that was what their owners decided to do.
You see, a slave was equal to an animal and who would criticize anyone if they decided their animal was either useless or counter-productive and they either killed it or had it killed?
Let me illustrate this with one of our neighbors has cows and if one of his cows either contracted some kind of infection that couldn’t be healed or even if it became crippled and this affected its value or even its performance then he might decide to simply shoot and bury this cow. After all, you wouldn’t expect him to continue to feed this animal because that would be a waste of money and his business is to make money and not friends with his cows. And when you think about it; it’s his cow, his investment and he has the right to do with it whatever he wants. Well, the same was true of a slave in Joseph’s day because they had no more rights than a cow does today and the slave’s owner had every legal right to do with his slaves; what ever he wanted.
Slavery has had a long history in the ancient world and most of what we know about it comes from the writing of the Romans. And most slaves who lived during their day were either prisoners of war or they were bought or born to other slaves. And when some of the Romans went through hard times; it wasn’t unusual for them to raise money by even selling their own children as slaves.
As a matter of fact; all slaves and their families were considered to be the property of their owners and they had the legal right to sell or rent them out for as long as they wanted to. Now, listen to this, in the Roman Empire there were as many as 60,000,000 slaves and the interesting thing is; not only the bottom level type of job was performed by these slaves but there also were doctors, teachers, musicians, actors, secretaries and accountants. In fact, all the work of the Roman Empire was performed by slaves.
The Roman attitude was that there was no sense in being in charge if you had to end up doing any kind of menial work, so, they let the slaves do everything and that way the Romans could spend all their time in comfort and enjoyment.
And then listen to this part; slaves were not allowed to marry; but they could live together and the children that were born from these relationships became the property of the owner and their logic was that just as a lamb that was born to a sheep; belonged to the owner of the flock, so, any children that were born to a slave belonged to the owner as well.
And, in both Egyptian and Roman law a slave was not considered to be a person but a thing and for that reason there could never be any such thing as justice as far as a slave was concerned. Aristotle wrote, ‘There can be no friendship, nor justice towards inanimate things; indeed, not even towards a horse or an ox, nor yet towards a slave as a slave. For master and slave have nothing in common; a slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave.’ Another writer divided the instruments of agriculture into three classes; he said there were the articulate, the inarticulate and the mute. The articulate were the slaves, the inarticulate were the cattle, and the mute were the wagons. And the only difference between a slave or an animal or a wagon was that a slave was able to talk.
So, that’s what Joseph had become and now he had arrived in Egypt. I was reading one commentator who wrote about all the wonderful things that Joseph would have seen along the way but listen, since he had probably been tied to a wagon and was about to be sold like a side of beef I’m sure the last thing on his mind was enjoying the scenery.
And when he got there as I said he’d stand naked on a stage with other slaves and people would walk by and look at them like they were used machinery. After a while you felt like you were worth whatever someone was willing to pay for you. And the chances of him getting a good owner were about the same as getting a bad one but no matter where he ended up; it meant he’d be working all the time, doing whatever he was told to do; with no day off, no retirement and no pension plan to look forward to. After all, these were slaves and listen to this; it was actually written that some Egyptian slaves were executed when their owners died and this way they could accompany them into the afterlife. So, as far as these slaves were concerned, death wouldn’t even bring any relief, it was just one more place for them to work. So, as far as Joseph was concerned, he was worse off than anything he or anyone else could ever imagine.
And then something good happened, if you can consider being bought by someone a good thing; but he was bought by Potiphar who was the captain of the guard of Pharaoh which probably meant he was in charge of all his personal security.
And then it says, “And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.”
It says that his master saw that the Lord was with him” And that’s quite a testimony isn’t it? I mean, Joseph’s life had a tremendous affect on someone who knew nothing but a pagan background. And so, Potiphar trusted him enough to put him in charge of everything he owned.
Whenever I hear someone say, “I’ve been working like a slave” I assume they’ve been hanging around and doing as little as possible because that’s what most slaves did and that’s why someone was always beating on them. They were always trying to get them going but Joseph was different. He was a hard worker, honest and reliable and all his efforts paid off because his boss rewarded him by trusting him with everything he had.
I remember talking to the sales manager of McCain’s Foods in Toronto and when he found out I was from Cape Breton he said, “Cape Bretoner’s have got to be the best workers I’ve ever had. They always give you 110%.” Well, I thought that was quite a compliment. And just to give you an example of how good Cape Bretoner’s are; there were several of them who were hired by the town of Sackville and all day long one would dig a hole and then another one came right behind him and filled it back in. And then the first guy would dig another hole and the second would fill it right back in and they did this all day long up and down the street.
Well, one guy was watching for a while and then he finally had to find out what they were doing; so, he asked. And one of them said, “Listen bye, my job is to dig the hole and his job is to fill it back in; now, there’s a third guy and he was hired to plant the trees but he’s off sick.”
Well, getting back to the story, verse six says that Potiphar trusted Joseph so much that the only thing he was concerned about was the food he ate. So, God blessed Potiphar’s house for Joseph’s sake, and it says Potiphar left everything he owned in Joseph’s care except his food and obviously his wife.
Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to justify her actions by any stretch of the imagination but there are many who believe that Potiphar had been a eunuch which meant he had been physically altered as a young child by taking away his reproductive organs and then he was trained for public service. And like many of the eunuchs of his day he not only had a wife but he may have had several; and even though these women were kept and provided for; since he was incapable of having a sexual relationship, they never had any children. Now, these women may not have liked their situation but many of them had been married either because of political reasons or even for the money that was paid to their parents.
Anyways, it says, Potiphar’s wife fixed her eyes on Joseph which is another way of saying she noticed he was a good looking guy and said to him "lie with me." And you have to understand; all she wanted was a sexual relationship. I mean, she certainly didn’t want to marry Joseph and be the wife of a slave. But; all she wanted was sex and it actually says Joseph refused her four times; in verses 8, 9, 10 and 12 and particularly in verse 10 it says, “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.” So, not only did he refuse her invitation for sex but he eventually refused to be anywhere near her.
And then it says one day; when they were alone in the house she tried to rip his clothes off and it says he ran out of the house, leaving his cloak in her hands. And it doesn’t take too much imagination to realize that she was really ticked off because she was so embarrassed that a slave would want to have nothing to do with her. So, she got really mad and told her husband that Joseph had tried to rape her.
And do you know what the strange part is; I don’t think Potiphar really believed her; but he was caught between a rock and a hard place. I mean, she was an Egyptian citizen and the wife of an Egyptian official and Joseph was just a slave. And why would a citizen of Egypt want anything to do with a slave? So, it says Potiphar had Joseph thrown in prison, but the interesting part was; he didn’t have him executed, which would have been the normal punishment of their day.
Did you know; there were four men in the Bible who were said to be handsome and physically attractive? One was obviously Joseph, the second one was Saul, the third one was Solomon and the fourth was David’s son Absalom. Three out of four washed out spiritually at one point or another and only one honored God in everything he did and that was Joseph.
So, again we can see where Joseph was being tested because when he was given the choice between immorality or punishment he decided to do the right thing and rather than sin he chose to go to prison. Listen, it doesn’t always pay to do the right thing when you’re dealing with the wrong people but Joseph had no choice because he knew what God wanted him to do and he rather do that then drown in sin.
And Joseph would later understand that all this was part of God’s plan for his life and yet he could see that God’s plan was neither easy nor obvious and the second thing was God’s plan required him to be faithful no matter what everyone around him was doing.
This is also a story of conflict between two spiritual perspectives because while Joseph represents those who belong to God and are seeking to honor Him in all they do; Potiphar’s wife represents those who are living for themselves and their only goal in life is to take care of whatever pleases them. And when we look at this story from these two perspectives; we can see that it’s still being acted out every day because as the people of God we are called to live out the truth of the word of God and yet we find ourselves living in a world that’s not only hostile to the things of God and they aren’t happy unless we’re willing to wallow in sin with the rest of them.
There are five principles concerning temptation that we can see here from the life of Joseph and the first one is; temptation often comes when we least expect it. I mean, after all, if we expected it, we’d get ready to face it and most likely we’d get ourselves out of the situation before we even had a chance to be tempted. But; it comes when we least expect it.
And yet, I think moral temptation was the last thing Joseph expected because he was a slave and his boss trusted him with everything but all of a sudden he was tempted.
Temptation always seems to come, after you’ve experienced some victory in your life or when you think you’ve arrived or are above it. I mean, look at David; he was in his fifties; he had unified his kingdom, expanded his borders and brought peace to the region. And then he was tempted with Bathsheba and not only did he get involved in immorality and adultery; but then he tried to manipulate her husband into taking responsibility for her pregnancy and when that didn’t work he had him murdered. You see, unlike Joseph, David’s goal wasn’t to please God but he was only concerned with trying to please himself.
The Hebrew language describes how Potiphar’s wife approached Joseph and it says that she “lifted up her eyes” at Joseph and the Living Bible says she “made eyes” at him. And if he didn’t pick up on what she wanted, she made it crystal clear, when she said, “Come lie with me.”
Now listen, Joseph could have just given in and gone to bed with her and he could have justified it to himself by listing all the terrible things that already happened to him but, he knew in his heart that sin is always sin and wrong is always wrong no matter how you paint the picture.
Now, it’s not a sin to be tempted because we can all be tempted in several ways everyday but the sin is in yielding to temptation. I mean, don’t forget; even Jesus was tempted and yet He lived a perfect life without sin. So, it’s not the temptation we experience but how we respond to it that matters and it always helps if we’ve already made up our minds before we even face the temptation because temptation will come and it will come when you least expect it.
And the second principle is temptation always tries to make sin look acceptable. And when you think about Joseph’s situation you have to realize that not only was this woman his owner’s wife but he was just a slave. So, as a slave, he had no rights but was expected to do whatever he was told to do and as far as she was concerned he didn’t even have the right to say no. But regardless of who she was or who he was; he was determined to obey God no matter what.
Listen; we all need to make up our minds before temptation comes because the last thing you want to do is try to decide whether you’re going to please your flesh or please the Spirit of God at the time of temptation. If we don’t make up our minds about sin ahead of time but wait for it to come; I’m afraid it’s already too late.
We also see where Joseph tried to reason with her; first by explaining that he saw this as an act of wickedness against God Himself. You see, unlike her he didn’t see this as a harmless little fling but as a sin against God. He recognized that sin is not “alternative lifestyle” it’s not “innocent experimentation” but it was “wickedness” no matter what it’s called today.
I remember speaking with a woman at her home one night and when I asked about her family she said, she had a son but he was living with a woman and then she said “Well, I guess it could be a lot worse. He could be living with a man.” And that might have been worse to her but as far as God was concerned; he was still living in sin.
It’s also interesting to see that Joseph understood his sin was first and foremost against God. It’s like when David prayed in Psalm 51 after he sinned with Bathsheba he said, “Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight.” So, to this woman it was acceptable behaviour but to Joseph it was sin.
And then the third principle is that in order to be victorious over temptation we need to avoid the places of temptation. Listen, if you really want to avoid sin then stay away from the places and people where you know you’re going to find sin and sinful behaviour. Sin is hard enough to avoid and if we really want to avoid it we need to avoid the places where we know it’s going to be.
Someone said, “Sin is like the salesman who always keeps pushing even after you said no and always makes what he’s selling sound so good but there’s always a little catch.” Listen to James 1:14 and 15, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James said, “You have to avoid it because if you give in to sin; it will eventually kill you.” So, it only makes sense to avoid the places where we know we’re going to be tempted.
And then the fourth principle is: to have victory over temptation sometimes we have to get out of wherever we’re being tempted as fast as we possibly can. And did you notice here that Joseph literally ran away from her and I was wondering as I reading this; was he running to get away from her or was he running to get away from his own sinfulness? I mean, don’t forget, that Joseph was just like the rest of us.
I like the way it says here, “He left his garment in her hand and fled, and got him out.” Listen, Joseph knew no one else was going to help him and if he was going to resist her invitation he had to get himself out of there. You see, he recognized he was wasting his time trying to reason with her and he wasn’t dumb enough to stand there and pray about the situation, so, he started running. And you know, that the exact thing the apostle Paul told us to do four different times.
He told us in 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.” And then in 1 Corinthians 10:14 he said, “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.” And in I Timothy 6:10,11 he told Timothy, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. And then in 2 Timothy 2:22 he told Timothy and the rest of us to, ‘Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” So, every Christian is to flee from: sexual immorality, idolatry, the love of money and the evil desires of youth. And like Joseph, there’s always a “way out” if we want it but sometimes we’ve got to start running.
And you know what was strange here? This was the second time Joseph lost his coat. Remember when his brothers took his colored coat that one was a symbol of the promise of his future and here she grabbed his coat and his running away from sin symbolized his purity.
People often have a tendency to get as close as they possibly before they decide they need to get away; but the more we say no and play with yes; the weaker we become and when we do that we’ll soon find ourselves debating as to whether this particular sin is really right or wrong.
And then the fifth principle is: being victorious over temptation is never going to make you popular. And we see two things that happen very quickly here. First, Potiphar’s wife brings a false accusation and then second Joseph is thrown into prison. Maybe she did this to cover her tracks in case Joseph told her husband and maybe she was also doing this to get even for his refusal. And I guess her actions were like Mark Twain’s words when he said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while truth is still lacing up her boots.”
So, Joseph did the right thing and was thrown into prison and what made it even worse is that; he was absolutely innocent. I hear that everybody in prison says they’re innocent, so, he would have been wasting his time trying to explain himself to any of the other prisoners because they’d all say, “Hey, same thing happened to me.”
So often we hear messages that tell us that obeying God’s will is going to result in success beyond our imagination but it certainly didn’t happen to Joseph. You see, good guys do win in the end but this wasn’t the end.
Let me just read these five points about temptation very quickly. Temptation often comes when we least expect it. Temptation always tries to make sin look acceptable. In order to be victorious over temptation we’ll have to avoid the places of temptation and to have victory over temptation we may have to get out of wherever we’re being tempted as fast as we can. And then being victorious over temptation is not going to make us popular because holiness is our goal and not popularity.
Listen, the scripture tells us, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.” In other words, there’s no temptation that’s so unique or so powerful that there’s no way you can resist it. It also says, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.” So, God will always provide the means of escape and maybe like Joseph we’ll just have to learn to run.
We hear of those in spiritual leadership who’ve sinned and brought ridicule to church by portraying themselves as some kind of poor weak victim in the battle with evil but listen, temptation is common to everyone. And it’s never so bad that we become helpless victims. We all have our weakness when it comes to certain sins but God never allows us to be in a situation where we won’t have the strength to overcome or the option of escape.
Have you ever seen one of those bug zappers? If you’ve ever sat on a porch and watched one you know that all night long you’ll hear the sounds of individual bugs responding to the temptation of that attractive light and getting fried. You would think that after a while the bugs would wise up. After all, the tray underneath the light is littered with the fried bodies of foolish bugs that went before them. You would think some thoughtful bug would say, "Woah-wait a minute! I notice all my friends who got went there never came back. But bugs don’t do this but they say to themselves; "I know what I’m doing. I’m strong enough and smart enough to handle all this without getting burned.” And a few seconds later...ZAP! And sometimes I think many people are just as dumb as bugs. I mean, this world is full of people who were "fried" because instead of trusting in God and living according to His word, they yielded to temptation and were burnt and not only in time but some for the rest of eternity.
Listen, if we’re going to get victory over sin in our own lives we have to do like Joseph did; and learn to say no to the flesh. And when you’re tempted this week whether it’s a little thing like wanting to say something you know you shouldn’t or if it’s a big thing that you wouldn’t even admit in public; then you’ve got to decide to refuse to obey your flesh before you face the temptation. And when Satan whispers in your ear and says, “Ah, go ahead every one else is doing it.” Just say, forget it, because anyone who really loves God isn’t.
You might ask; will it make me feel better? No, I don’t think so. I don’t think Joseph felt very good when his brothers sold him as a slave and I don’t think he felt so hot when his boss had him arrested and I don’t think he felt any better when they slammed the doors of the prison behind him. So; it’s not about feeling good it’s about being good.
If I didn’t know the rest of the story, I’d imagine Joseph in prison and think, maybe now he’s going to be quiet about his faith because anybody can only take so much rejection and he was rejected as a son and then rejected as a slave but listen, we’re going to see that Joseph was as faithful in prison as he had been anywhere else before. His circumstances didn’t change who he was.
D. L. Moody once said: “Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in your friends, and they will die and leave you; but trust in God, and you will never be confounded in time or eternity.”
I was reading where the sportscaster known as Harry Carry once introduced Philadelphia Phillie’s outfielder, Garry Maddox by saying, “Garry has turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable; now he’s miserable and depressed.” But look what it says about Joseph in Verse 22. "The warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there." You see, no matter where they put Joseph and no matter what he was told to do, he always did his very best.
Conclusion
There was a Tanzanian runner who competed in the 68 Olympics as a marathon runner and somewhere around the middle of the race he stumbled and fell. They said he was running so fast that he actually broke his leg. Well, what would you do if you were him? He got up and kept running, ever so slowly on a broken leg and as you can imagine he was in awful pain. He kept going until he entered the park where the finish line was; but by the time he got there almost everybody had gone home and it was actually getting dark.
When someone asked him why he kept going in spite of the tremendous pain, he said, “My country didn’t send me here to quit. They sent me here to finish.” And listen, God doesn’t expect us all to be winners in the race of life but He does expect us to do our very best and to finish with a life that glorifies Him.
