Last week, we studied the results of a bad attitude problem. This week we’re going to study Joseph reaping a harvest on his attitude problem and pray some Holy Spirit inspired prayers to make a prison break to freedom.
Genesis 38 – Judah and Tamar
We’re going to skip over this wild story. It doesn’t have anything to do with Joseph, other than the fact envy and self-seeking against Joseph caused confusion and evil works (James 3:16) in Judah’s life.
Genesis 39 NKJV
1Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. 2The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
The Bible tells us the Ishmaelites brought him to Egypt, which means he wasn’t sold here and there, he went directly to Egypt. Joseph was bought by a wealthy man, which means that the conditions he was used to at home were probably about the same.
3And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. 4… he made him overseer of … all that he had. 5… the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; …all that he had in the house and in the field. 6…he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had ….
The training that Joseph was supposed to receive back home with his father, Jacob, is continuing here with Potiphar. You can’t run a country if you don’t know how to run a house with slaves as a business. God was blessing all that he did, but at the same time, Joseph was still learning the how-to from God. Sometimes the picture of Joseph is painted as if he knew everything, ancient superhuman, but that isn’t true! Everyone then and even now has to go through a learning and training process, some are faster than others, but there is still a process. We’re never told God download extreme knowledge to him or anyone else. I’m sure the Holy Spirit was leading and guiding him, no doubts, but this is still his boot camp. Sometimes we see great moves of God through men in the Bible and forget they’re human just like us.
(6)Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
The Bible tells us that his mother, Rachel, was beautiful (Genesis 29:17). In addition to that, Joseph’s skin was probably a little nicer than most, no sun damage, because he was working in the tent and not so much the field with his brothers. His lighter skin in the middle east may have been attractive as well.
7And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.”
We have to remember Joseph was a broken man. If you were suddenly taken from your family and home, from wealth to slavery, and now living in a land that’s not familiar to you; how would you feel? It wouldn’t matter to you that your SLAVE MASTER is being blessed and becoming wealthier, none of it belongs to you. We have to be careful when viewing Joseph out of the painting of the mainstream idea that Joseph was happy and confident, because of the blessing. The blessing made Joseph valuable to those above him, so that they would treat Joseph favorably.
8But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand.
This was probably a cougar. Captain of the guard position probably took Potiphar a while to achieve and let’s assume his wife is about his age or slightly younger. Yeah, she was probably no teenaged beauty.
9There 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?”
What a nice polite way to turn down a cougar. All jokes aside, let’s note the first thing that Joseph says, “There is no one greater in this house than I…” No one greater than I. Is Joseph still dealing with some superiority issues? I think so.
10So 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.
This woman is a nag!
11But 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, 12that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.
She was pawing at him. It’s possible he wore an under garment, so he may not have been naked. Wealthy Egyptians had under and outer garments, and yes even underwear like we wear.
13And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, 14that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.”
This is the dumbest lie I ever heard. They were wearing robes, there was no need for Joseph to get naked and remove his robe. According to the depictions of salves in Egypt, their robes were short, and the outside workers are depicted with skirts. Secondly, Joseph being highly intelligent, why would he leave “evidence” of an attempted rape. Even if she did scream, there was still time to grab the robe and leave.
16So she kept his garment with her until his master came home.
Cougar lady continues the drama…
17Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; 18so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.”
The words she spoke are very important, because she’s speaking in legal terms to her husband, that’s what the Bible is telling us. They knew back then what she was doing, but in our modern mind we don’t know. First of all, ancient Egyptian women weren’t equal to men even though they had rights in ancient Egypt. If a free woman, as opposed to a slave woman, was raped she can bring serious charges against the man. The punishment for rape was death and for foreigners it was exile. If she was able to prove 3 things:
1. She was defiled
2. She was insulted
3. Her child will have no father
The punishment would be mutilated genitals. She was perhaps trying to have his genitals mutilated and then have him exiled. Never underestimate an angry woman! Look how she spoke to her husband about Joseph, “whom you brought to us.” It’s his fault. So the cougar is a narcist too.
19So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him,…his anger was aroused.
This is the Bible’s ancient way of saying, “When Potiphar heard the legal terms his wife used, he became angry at the charges.” Don’t forget he’s “captain of the guard,” he’s possibly overseeing the prisoners. We’ll see that again shortly.
20Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.
This is not technically a prison as we think of it. According to archelogy and Egyptian hieroglyphics, this “prison” was a room not far from the king’s throne area. It was just a room. We’ll talk about this more next week, when we talk about Joseph’s prison life.
21But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. 23The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.
Sounds exactly like Potiphar, huh? According to the next chapter, it was the captain of the guard, either Potiphar or Potiphar’s colleague. Regardless, it’s quite possible that when Potiphar calmed down, he understood his wife was lying to him. More on that issue next week!
The question is, has Joseph paved his own path to prison?
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
We can’t judge him, but we do see his attitude gets worse, “There is no one greater in this house than I…” Really, Joseph? What about The Holy Spirit that’s also in the house causing all the favor to happen? What’s wrong with recognizing it’s God’s work. Truthfully, we’re all tempted with thinking we’re great at one point or another.
It’s important to realize from this story, that God’s Hand of blessing can be on a person while they are still holding onto an attitude problem, or some type of bad behavior. That’s why we must always keep Matthew 7:16 in mind,
You will know them by their fruits.
Not the show they put on. Not how much scripture they quote. Not the blessing. Not their answered prayer. Not by the healing they received. Not the visions they claimed they saw. The fruits! That doesn’t mean we’re supposed to treat them as ungodly people. God may still be working on them. It does mean that you should be prayerfully cautious in submitting yourself to them. If we submitted ourselves to Joseph at 17/18 years old, we’d be saying, “There is no one greater in this house than Joseph.” We’d be misguided too! Joseph, despite his arrogance, was still a God-fearing teenager.
If you want to avoid a spiritual prison, although sometimes people end up in physical prison too, the Holy Spirit has given me some prayers to help you break out. If you aren’t in prison, these prayers can still help you grow to a greater place in Christ.
Warning: I’m going to use the word enemy very loosely. An enemy can be anything, a person, food, medication, toxic fumes, or anything. This is going to be very broad so it can apply to everyone’s life, Attitude City or The Promised Land. For example, I just switched the brand of my vitamin B complex gummy drops. Three weeks later, my throat started to feel a little odd for a few days and then swelled up. It was an enemy to me that had to be revealed. Sometimes we have people that we think are our friends and later find out they’re nothing but troublemakers. We all have stories! So, to the prayers….
Prison Break Prayers
Holy Spirit, please show me what I need to know to be free.
Unmask the enemy.
Reveal where the enemy is standing.
This prayer is to reveal any traps that an enemy has set for you. Like Joseph’s brothers plotted against him in the distance, had he known he could have returned home. We’ve all been in a trap because of a scam or a setup.
Destroy the works of the enemy in my life.
(Deal with any trauma, hurt, or abuse in prayer with praise and worship. Ask God to judge the evil spirits that caused the trauma, hurt, or abuse)
Everything stolen from me, be restored! Double for my trouble.
(God is a God of restoration! We can ask for it back!)
Thank you for coming back this week, and I hope you’ll join me next week when we study Joseph’s prison life and watch his attitude be transformed. I hope you’re just as blessed and excited as I was learning this from the Holy Spirit.
Lord, if any of us is still in Attitude City, I ask that you open our eyes and reveal it to us immediately so that we can make an immediate change. Our desire is to walk closer with You each day. We love You and thank You for loving us. Amen.
Christi
My Prayer Notebook 
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