Potiphar, Joseph, and a not so lady

Now when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” his anger burned. So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper. (Gen 39:19-23, NASB).

As I am not a pre-eminent scholar, nor am I much more than a layman in first year seminarian's clothing (thankfully jeans are now allowed at this school!), I will limit this blog to ruminations, questions, and a sort of flow of thought rather than any deep exegesis of Scripture. This is my admission of "I do not have time to leave you with a proper and fully deep explanation of any one passage, blame Greek class." But, take what you will, and if you still find value in that, you're welcome to sate, and cite, what you can from here.

The immediate context finds Joseph already sold to Potiphar, and the subsequent events lead to Potiphar's wife "making eyes" at this young, handsome man. Of course, Joseph rebuffs her entreaties, and after one too many times, is found on the wrong side (maybe more accurately, one of the wrong sides) of a false rape accusation. 

One of the takeaways here is that good action will not and cannot always directly lead to a good reward. People are broken sinners, and none are perfect. Many do not act out of altruism or with a sense of honor God. This is the nature of a world marred by sin. Respecting the fidelity (though some take note that Potiphar's wife probably did not have a clean record coming into this would-be adulterous relationship!) of his master's marriage did little in the way of placing Joseph in an area desirable in the slightest. Long story short, it placed him in jail.

And yet, we see another thing to take note of: Joseph was faithful where he was placed. The jailer did not magnanimously place Jospeh in this role, but rather it was a direct outflow of Joseph's own character and competence. You may not be where you want to be, you may not even like where you're at. But God makes no errors, and to whom it may concern: be faithful; the purpose is not to gain riches here, but in order to glorify the God who rules and the One who seals and He who lives.