Treated Unfairly

 

Genesis 39:1-23

Good morning!  We are looking into Genesis 39 today as the next step in our series, “But the Lord was with Joseph.”  The title of today’s message is “Treated Unfairly.”  When I thought about it a little bit, I came to the conclusion that “treated unfairly” could be a suitable addition to the title for the series:  “Treated unfairly, but the Lord was with Joseph”

Joseph was treated unfairly by his father, Jacob.  He loved him more than his brothers.  He gave him a royal coat of many colors.  Since that treatment was in way that elevated Joseph, we may not think that getting honor or status is unfair.  However, Jacob’s behavior did set up a situation where animosity developed against Joseph from his brothers.  It was unfair to all Jacob’s sons to treat Joseph that way, including Joseph.

Obviously, Joseph’s brothers treated him unfairly in scheming against him, throwing him in a dry well at first to leave him to die but then selling him to some passing Ishmaelites as a slave.  That was unfair!

There’s even another unfairness that may be out of view.  The Ishmaelites are descendants of Abraham as is Jacob’s family including Joseph, so to be bought and sold by members of your own extended family is another unfair treatment.

And, today’s passage is going to reveal another series of unfair circumstances.  How does Joseph respond to being treated unfairly?  Let’s take a moment to pray and then we will step into the story of Joseph’s life as a slave and prisoner.

Father God, thank you for sending Joseph and leading him through such an array of trials.  Help us to understand what you are doing in the midst of our own challenging circumstances though we may never face difficulties like Joseph did.  Teach us, we pray, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. – Genesis 39:1

Joseph was only 17 or 18 years old when he was taken down to Egypt. (Genesis 37:2)

What was Egypt like at this time particularly compared to where Joseph lived in Canaan?  From the unification of Egypt after 3000 BC up until the time it was conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, Egypt was either “the” or “one of the” preeminent civilizations of the ancient world, almost 30 centuries!  The study of ancient Egypt is its own academic discipline separate from the general studies of archaeology and history.  I didn’t try to come up with an exhaustive number, but Wikipedia gave a dozen different universities in the US and UK that confer degrees in Egyptology including Yale, Brown, Oxford, and Cambridge before going on to say that Egyptology is widely studied in continental Europe and lamented that there are only two programs that offer Egyptology taught in English (one in the Netherlands and the other in Sweden).  In short, Egypt is a subject unto itself.

Joseph lived in the 1900-1800 BC time range, so already hundreds of years after the formation of Egypt.  Joseph came from a nomadic family without a written language.  The land in which he lived was populated by a number of city-states with their own kings.  Inhabitants of these cities numbered in the hundreds or at most a few thousand.  The cities of Egypt were ten times that size.  This was truly a “country come to city” kind of experience.  A completely different culture than Joseph would have been accustomed to.  The pyramids were already built at this time.  I’m not sure where Potiphar’s home was located, but it seems likely that whether Memphis or Thebes or somewhere in between, Joseph would have had the chance to see many impressive structures traveling along the Nile, and possibly he saw the Pyramids themselves.

The language was also different.  Joseph spoke Hebrew.  The Egyptians had their own language.  There were similarities, but there would have been a period where Joseph would have to learn the new language.  We know that the difference was not trivial because later in his life Joseph speaks to his brothers through an interpreter in Genesis 42:23.  Due to the presence of an interpreter, Joseph’s brothers didn’t expect that he could understand them.

As Joseph is 17 or 18 at the start of chapter 39 and he will be 30 years old when he comes to serve pharaoh in Genesis 41 (v. 46), we get a feeling for the length of time involved in today’s passage.  There were thirteen years minus the two where Joseph was overlooked while in prison (Genesis 41:1, after the baker remembers Joseph).  So, eleven years for the time Joseph spends as a slave in Potiphar’s house and in prison up till he interprets the dreams of the two officials.  The events of chapter 39 happen over anywhere from three to ten years.  That’s not a short amount of time.

Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. – Genesis 39:1

What did it mean to be the captain of the guard?  This role would potentially mean the chief of police, head of the secret service, and most likely responsible for the security of pharaoh, captain of the bodyguard.  As we will see later, Potiphar had responsibility for the prisoners of pharaoh, kept in the house of the captain of the guard.  Potiphar was a man of authority.

This little sentence begs so many questions.  What really happened?  Did Potiphar go to the slave market himself to find a slave?  Why would the captain of Pharaoh’s guard go buy a slave?  Did God draw Potiphar out to get Joseph?  Did God send the Ishmaelites to Potiphar?  Why did Potiphar choose Joseph?  What was Joseph’s condition and countenance that he was selected by Potiphar?  Although it would certainly be interesting to know, it is not crucial to the story.  Regardless of the backstory, Potiphar buys Joseph and takes him home as a slave.

The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. – Genesis 39:2

The Lord has not been mentioned in the story of Joseph until now.  Based on the ungodly actions of Joseph’s brothers, it isn’t hard to see why.  And now here is Joseph, far from home.  He is alone in so many ways.  Separated from his language, his culture, his family, his father.  But he is not separated from the Lord.  The Lord was with Joseph.

The Lord was not only a companion to Joseph, he was with Joseph so that Joseph prospered or was successful.  Obviously, Joseph learned the Egyptian language.  This and Joseph’s other successes allowed him to live in the house rather than in the fields which was another blessing.  That opened a door so that Potiphar would continue to observe Joseph’s work.

When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned – Genesis 39:3-4

I think it is important that the wording here says Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph, not just that Potiphar saw Joseph was a hard worker or an intelligent person.  It is expected that both of those are true.  Joseph was a hard worker, and he was intelligent and wise.  But there was something more.  Potiphar saw that the Lord gave Joseph success in everything.

Potiphar granted Joseph an incredible amount of authority, in charge of his household and everything he owned.  As Potiphar was a high-ranking royal official, his estate would not have been small.  Joseph distinguished himself both in his effectiveness but also his trustworthiness.

From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.  So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. – Genesis 39:5-6

Potiphar is content to let Joseph “do the work.”  I don’t want to be unfair to Potiphar.  As captain of the guard, he did have clear responsibility outside of his home.  And yet, I feel like this is what Potiphar was looking for.  Someone to take care of all the details of his estate!

In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham,

You will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.  – Genesis 12:2-3 

I think about that promise meaning that God will bless us through Jesus which is certainly true. 

God also blesses the nations through His people, like Joseph.  God blesses those around us through us.  Sometimes they realize it, like Laban did in Genesis 30:27 saying to Jacob, “I have learned … that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”  And, sometimes, of course, they don’t.  You have this kind of impact where you go and where you work or serve as well.  As we are reminded in Colossians,

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord. – Colossians 3:23

And as we will see, Joseph kept coming to this place of full responsibility again and again.  It was not by his own scheming or selfish ambition but rather by God’s blessing and direction.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!"  But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.  No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.  How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"  And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. – Genesis 39:6-10

There are only three men in the bible that are mentioned as especially handsome or beautiful:  Joseph, David, and Absalom.  His appearance was noteworthy.

We also get a glimpse of what the life of a slave could mean.  Potiphar’s wife felt like she could make this demand of Joseph.

And this moment is not a one time occurrence.  Joseph had this daily challenge, likely for years!  Samson, in contrast, succumbed to something similar multiple times after a few days of being nagged (Judges 14:17, 16:16-17).

Look at Joseph’s answer to Potiphar’s wife.  He starts by explaining his responsibility to Potiphar.  Then, he explains that Potiphar’s wife is off limits because of who she is.  She is Potiphar’s wife.  It would be wrong for him to agree to her demands because of who she is.  Then, finally, Joseph says that it would be wrong because it is a sin against God.  Of course, this sin would be a sin against Potiphar and his wife.  But foremost, all sin is against God. (Psalm 51:4)

You would think that this would have enraged Potiphar’s wife, but she kept at it day after day.

I know that we face temptations of many kinds.  In our own temptations, Satan wants us to think our situations are unique; that no one you know can understand what we are going through in our particular temptation.  But, it is critical to realize there is no temptation that has overtaken us except what is common among humankind (I Corinthians 10:13).  God will provide a way of escape.  We just need to take it.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon that sin is called by other names.  Hostility and temper might get labeled as self-expression. Pride as self-esteem. Gluttony as pursuing the good life. Covetousness as trying to get ahead.  Perversion as an alternative lifestyle.  Adultery as a cry for help in a bad marriage.  It’s been around for a while, but there is a clever visual of digital and social media equivalents for the seven deadly sins.  I’m not saying that all of these are sin in and of themselves, but they can prove to be a pathway into trouble.   I will also say that these are not exhaustive.  For each of these categories of sin, there are multiple online and offline hooks and barbs seeking to snare us, so much so that it may sometimes seem easier to give in than to resist.

Joseph shows us here that sin matters.  Even when you’re far from home.  Even when no one is looking.  Even when you feel justified.  It’s still wrong.  And it still does damage to ourselves and to others.

Take note of Joseph’s strategy for handling this recurring situation.  As we noted, Joseph was clear to himself and Potiphar’s wife that this would be a sin against God.  When it kept happening, he wouldn’t let himself be alone with her anymore.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Potiphar was not a nice lady and she was quite cunning.

One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.  She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. – Genesis 39:11-12

Even caught in her grasp, Joseph had one last strategy … he fled.  II Timothy 2:22 says succinctly, “Flee the evil desires of youth.”  Maybe we are unlikely to run toward sin, but sometimes we can linger in its presence.  We need to give sin and temptation a wide berth. 

When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. "Look," she said to them, "this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed.  When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."  She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home.  Then she told him this story: "That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me.  But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house." – Genesis 39:13-18

Ugh.  Like I said, a not nice lady.  Note, Mrs. Potiphar has dropped Joseph’s name from the discussion.  He’s “this Hebrew” and “that Hebrew.”  He’s an outsider.  He’s not one of us.  The story is false, of course.  She’s finally bitter and frustrated with her inability to seduce Joseph.

What was Joseph’s crime?  He was attentive and careful and he had a persistent moral integrity.  His behavior is to be commended not condemned.  How will Joseph get out of this mess?

When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned with anger.  Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. – Genesis 39:19-20

We don’t hear from Joseph.  He was silent before his accusers as Jesus was.  (Isaiah 53:7 and Matthew 27:13-14)

This is a horribly unjust situation.  At the same time, the expected punishment for a crime of this kind, a slave trying to rape his master’s wife, would have resulted in the death penalty.  Life imprisonment is a lenient sentence in this case.  We don’t see toward whom Potiphar’s anger is directed.  Is he angry with Joseph or is he angry with his wife for forcing Potiphar to put Joseph out of his household?

Chapter 40 tells us the prison Joseph is sent to is the house of the captain of the guard.  Joseph is in prison, but not the worst prison.  God is with Joseph in the midst of a terrible and unfair circumstance that he did not deserve.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.  So, the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. – Genesis 39:20-22

If we go back to verses 2-6 and compare to these verses (20-22), the Lord’s relationship with the Joseph stayed the same.  The Lord is with him.  God shows kindness to Joseph and grants him favor in the eyes of the warden.  Amazingly, Joseph is back at the top.  He’s a prisoner, yes, but he’s also in charge of everything and everyone in it.

God blessed Joseph when his brothers were going to abandon him in the dry well and delivered him from death into slavery.  God blessed Joseph as a slave and gave him authority over the household of Potiphar.  He now blesses Joseph as a prisoner and gives him authority over the entire prison.  Chapter 39 is the “the Lord was with Joseph” chapter.  That expression comes up four times here!

The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. – Genesis 39:23

At the beginning, I said that the intro to the series could be “Treated Unfairly, but the Lord was with Joseph.”  Here at the end, we could add and He, the Lord, gave him success in whatever he did.

I looked at what modern psychology says about being treated unfairly.  A Psychology Today article gave some good warnings, but not the best remedy.  Using brain scans, neuroscientists have studied moral decision making including what happens when your brain determines a situation is “just not fair.”  There are consistent, basic, and primary reactions that happen in “unfair” situations.  In short, the moment your brain determines someone is not playing fair, the ability to stay cool and to make thoughtful decisions is impaired.  When we feel cheated, the natural emotional response is to reject the offender without thinking through our response or the consequences of our reaction.  The article then gave the example that you can see this played out daily in politics.

The psychologist’s advice was to take a breath before responding.  I’ve also heard the admonition to count to ten before you say something in anger.  Not a bad idea.  Their other recommendation was to size up the significance of the perceived injustice.  In this case, they were talking about things like getting cut off in traffic, or getting stuck behind a slow driver, or having someone cut in front of you in line.  In general, light and small unfairnesses where the offending person may not have even been aware that what they had done was a problem.

The unfairness that Joseph faced was not trivial.  They were big and had a dramatic effect on his life’s trajectory.  There were so many times where Joseph could have given in or given up, but he simply didn’t do it.  Why not?  Because the Lord was with Joseph.

Part of the Lord being with Joseph was having the confidence that the Lord was working out good for Joseph in the midst of his circumstances.  Adam Clarke was a theologian at the end of the 1700’s and beginning of the 1800’s.  He made this observation, “It is but of little consequence where the lot of a servant of God may be cast; like Joseph he is ever employed for his master, and God honors him and prospers his work.”

We need to remember that wherever we are or whatever we’ve been given to do that we are still the Lord’s and what we do is for Him and His glory.  And, the Lord is with us.

I’ve been struggling over the last several weeks in my work, at least a couple of months.  Back at the beginning of April, I gave up a job I’ve worked at for years and took another responsibility in the same area.  I could spend a lot of time talking about it, but I don’t want to delve into details that don’t matter so much.  What has been fascinating and excruciating is how much my identity, my view of myself is tied up in what I do or have done.

Since I’m still working in the same area, I get to see first hand every problem that comes up from a decision in the past, but I don’t get to directly work on fixing it.  In fact, I get to watch other people clean up the mess.  In the past, I got to “clean up” my own messes or the messes of my team.  Now, it’s not my team.  It’s someone else’s team.  I keep trying myself over and over in my own personal court of opinion, and I am a harsh judge of myself let me tell you.

On the other end of things, my new responsibility is squishy and undefined.  I simply don’t know how to do what I have to do.  I’m not sure anyone knows how to do it.  The fact that they asked me to do it is at least in part a vote of confidence that I have a chance of figuring it out.  The urgency of some of the things that have to happen and my lack of ability to control the situation has my brain wired to the point that I can’t sleep at times.  When I’d wake up for any reason, my brain would go into overdrive trying to work out the latest problem.

This week, I told Melissa that before these last couple of months that I would have said that my identity is not all that wrapped up in what I do.  I confessed to her that I was completely wrong to the point that I’m stunned by it.  I’m totally caught up in this “what I do / who I am” knot.  Interestingly, confessing that has dramatically helped my sleep.  I’ve slept better in the last four nights than I have in the previous forty.

Obviously, my circumstances haven’t changed much in only a few days.  I think a big thing was confessing my improper view of my identity.  I’m sure I’m not done walking through this, but it was crucial to take this step of confession.

On the other side, being awake at night has been a great opportunity for prayer.  My amount of prayer time increased dramatically as I couldn’t sleep.  That’s also a good thing, far better than trying to numb yourself with videos or some kind of entertainment.

Joseph did not respond to being treated unfairly by believing that those situations defined his identity.  Yes, Joseph was a slave, but his actions and attitudes were such that his master made him an overseer of everything.  Yes, Joseph was a prisoner, but again his actions and attitudes were such that the warden made him the overseer of everything.

In Jesus, we are all children of the King.  We are not defined by our circumstances or our achievements.  Our identity is in Christ.  If you are facing unfairness that has pushed you to wrong thinking or belief, I encourage you to confess that and rest in Christ.  God is faithful and just.  When we confess, He forgives and purifies us. (I John 1:9).  Let us, like Joseph, rest in Him no matter what our circumstances are.  Amen.