After having looked at the moral slump and the depths to which Judah fell in chapter 38 chapter 39 strikes a marked contrast. The last time we had met with Joseph he had just been sold into slavery and carried off to Egypt. His father thought that he had come to an untimely end and his brothers too thought he was out of their lives for good. Chapter 39 traces Joseph's progress as he lives out his life isolated and cut off from his family – but he was not alone!

The theme of this chapter is as follows:

"The LORD is with Joseph is his rise and fall in Potiphar's house"

This reading of the events is confirmed by the NT. Stephen summarised this part of Joseph's life in the following way:

Acts 7:9 "And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him

God's people can be assured of God's presence with them both in times of prosperity and in times of adversity. Often in difficult times the people of God can be tempted to think that God has abandoned them - the story of Joseph tells us otherwise.

Joseph is away from his family and away from the Promised Land but God remains with him. The divine presence continues to work in unspectacular, unobtrusive ways in his life. The presence of God in Joseph's experience is a working-behind-the-scenes kind of presence.

Let us look at how this is presented to us.

Keyword

There are a several of "key words" that help put us the scent of what the author considers important. These include LORD, hand, all and garment. The idea of blessing is also to the fore.

LORD :

The word "LORD" is used 8 times in this chapter. This is the covenant name of God used to call attention to the fact that this God enters into relationship wit His people, grants them His precious promises and then keeps them.

Now we may well be tempted to think that there is nothing particularly special about this usage here but we'd be wrong. In this final section of Genesis that began in Gen.37:2 with "these are the generations of Jacob" and runs until the end of Gen.50 the name "LORD" only appears a total of 12 times and 8 of them are here. Moses wants us to realize that something special is happening the God of the covenant is keeping His promises!

That then leads us on to ask which promises in particular are being referred to in this record of the rise and fall of Joseph.

A careful consideration of the passage leads us to see two major promises that were originally made to Abraham being worked out practically in Joseph's life and experience.

Like bookends at either end of a bookshelf we find our author placing repetitions of the same idea: in all we read four times that the LORD is with Joseph!

v.2 "the LORD was with Joseph"

v.3 "the LORD was with him"

v.21 "But the LORD was with Joseph"

v.23 "because the LORD was with him"

The theme of the LORD's presence with Joseph reaches back to Gen.17 where the LORD promised to be Abraham's God.

The second major promise that is alluded to here concerns the original promise that the LORD made to Abram all the way back in ch.12 where we read:

12:3 "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

In the covenant the LORD God determines not simply that His chosen ones should be the recipient of His blessings but that they should be the means of imparting blessing to others. And that is exactly what we find here in Gen.37. The LORD is with Joseph and the results are plain to see:

v.2 "he became a successful man"

v.3 Potiphar recognized that the LORD caused "all that he (Joseph) did to succeed".

Then because of what he saw Potiphar put Joseph in charge of all he had (v.4) (That is, he put it all in the hand or power of Joseph).

As a result Potiphar's household, an Egyptian household, is blessed "for Joseph's sake" v.5.

Moses underlines in v.6 how much confidence Potiphar placed in his Hebrew slave – the word all is again employed!

The same thing happens again when Joseph is thrown out of Potiphar's house and placed in prison. He is not abandoned by God – indeed Moses specifically relates that the LORD was with him and blessed him by granting him a favourable reception by the keeper of the prison v.21. Like Potiphar before him the prison keeper too finds Joseph to be trustworthy and puts Joseph in charge of affairs there (places them in his hand/power). The prison keeper's task is made easy as Joseph does all things well – the LORD grants Joseph success and this success benefits the gaoler!

So the episode is all about the LORD keeping His promises: He maintains His presence with His own. The presence of the LORD is normally associated with His being present to bless unless something else is said to the contrary. And because He is with His people He can in turn make them a blessing to others.

That then is the primary lesson of this chapter and how encouraging it should be to us all. If we belong to the LORD we are never beyond His reach of beyond His ability. When things goes well He is with us. When things apparently go wrong He is with us just the same.

It is important that we take this message to heart because we do not naturally react as though this were the case. We are all tempted to think or to imagine that if we do what is right then everything in life will go smoothly and happily for us. If we do start to think like that then when things don't work out quite as we had convinced ourselves that they should then we start to worry that God may have abandoned us.

Let us see how this passage addresses this theme for us.

The LORD's Presence – what it does not ensure

We have already noted that the LORD's presence with Joseph cause everything that Joseph dealt with to succeed. But that did not mean that Joseph stopped being a slave. The LORD's idea of blessing evidently didn't coincide with our modern ideas of individual freedom and personal peace and happiness. We tend to set up our own criteria for what success is and what blessing is and then expect God to jump through our hoops! That He will not do!

It is repeatedly emphasised here that the LORD was with Joseph but this did not give Joseph immunity from tests and trials and from apparent set-backs. But then it never has been the LORD's intention to shield His people from trials and tribulations rather He uses such to further His plans and purposes in their lives and in the wider world.

That this is the case we only need to remind ourselves of what is written so clearly for us in the pages of the NT:

1Pet.1:6+7 "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith––more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire––may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Or again:

Jas.1:2-4 "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Whatever the presence of the LORD is for Joseph it does not:

a. Secure his freedom from slavery

b. Provide immunity from temptation

c. Shield from false accusation

d. Exempt from injustice

God is working as a skilled craftsman and a master builder perfecting His workmanship and fashioning Joseph to fulfil his high calling!

The central part of the chapter is taken up with Joseph's temptation by Potiphar's wife.

Everything was going so well for Joseph. He'd risen to a position of influence and was leading a prosperous life and then suddenly it looked as though the wheels were about to come off. What Joseph saw as temptation many in identical circumstances would view as opportunity. Joseph realised that what Potiphar's wife was proposing (ordering?) was not right and that for three reasons:

1. Potiphar trusted Joseph and for Joseph to act thus with his wife would have been an abuse of trust.

2. The only thing Potiphar had kept back from Joseph was his wife – after all she was his wife and Joseph was not about to spoil another man's marriage.

3. The wickedness of Potiphar's wife's suggestion was great but it could not be measured on horizontal terms only – it was sin against God as indeed is all sin. (Do you remember David's words recorded in Ps.51:4 "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,"

Temptation comes to all of God's people but with temptation always comes a way of escape – sadly we are not always as enthusiastic as we might be to look for it and to take it!

Joseph resists and goes on resisting. He tries to avoid her company so as not to land himself in a compromising situation. When all that fails and he is cornered he takes to flight. He avoids the sin but he can't avoid the consequences of a spurned woman's spite. She reports him to her husband who can do little else than get rid of Joseph. Perhaps Potiphar isn't convinced of Joseph's guilt so he doesn't have him put to death, the punishment we'd expect to hear of, he has him confined to prison instead. But it is the prison where the King's prisoners are kept – the significance of this will become clear later.

But why doesn't the LORD intervene for Joseph, faithful, honourable Joseph? Why doesn't He act so that Joseph receives justice and is treated fairly – isn't that a universal human right after all? Why? Let me tell you why. Because God's does not feel obliged to line Himself up with our expectations:

Is.55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

The LORD had a plan to save His entire people from famine and it hinged on Joseph being made a ruler and He would not change this great exalted plan simply to procure some temporary respite and satisfaction for His servant.

Conclusion

Never for one moment had the LORD God let the situation get out of His control. He was in charge preparing His man for His purposes. And as Joseph walked uprightly the LORD's presence was with him as a blessing, a blessing that spilled over to others.

Let us talk this to heart. We do not know all that God is purposing in our lives so how can we possibly know what is best suited for the accomplishment of His plans – plans that are designed ultimately to promote His glory rather than our personal peace and happiness. It is true that the LORD works all things together for our good as He pursues His wider purposes but we must not imagine that our limited short-term view is necessarily the right one.

Joseph spent some considerable time as a slave. He was then dismissed because of alleged impropriety and confined to further imprisonment. How easy it would have been for him to pine away feeling sorry for himself – but no! He continued to enjoy God's presence with him even if he might find the providence hard if not impossible to understand. And the LORD hadn't finished with him yet.

Let us trust our LORD and count upon His undoubted faithfulness to His promises to His people in Christ.