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365 Devotionals: In the Beginning
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22 AMP
The Seeds of Promise Devotional Series
Zuleika: Potiphar’s Wife
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| 13th | Genesis | Chapter 39 | Chapter 40 | Zuleika: Potiphar’s Wife |
Memory Verses: So Joseph pleased [Potiphar] and found favor in his sight, and he served him. And [his master] made him supervisor over his house and he put all that he had in his charge. Genesis 39:4 AMP
Devotional Reading: Genesis 39:1-10
1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain and chief executioner of the [royal] guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 But the Lord was with Joseph, and he [though a slave] was a successful and prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to flourish and succeed in his hand. 4 So Joseph pleased [Potiphar] and found favor in his sight, and he served him. And [his master] made him supervisor over his house and he put all that he had in his charge. 5 From the time that he made him supervisor in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the Lord’s blessing was on all that he had in the house and in the field. 6 And [Potiphar] left all that he had in Joseph’s charge and paid no attention to anything he had except the food he ate. Now Joseph was an attractive person and fine-looking.
7 Then after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, See here, with me in the house my master has concern about nothing; he has put all that he has in my care. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept anything from me except you, for you are his wife. How then can I do this great evil and sin against God? 10 She spoke to Joseph day after day, but he did not listen to her, to lie with her or to be with her.
Joseph, the eldest son of Jacob and Rachel, had an excellent spirit. No sooner than he was sold into slavery, his master made him second in the kingdom and withheld nothing from him, except Potiphar’s own wife. Joseph went from slave to Egypt’s most eligible and powerful bachelor. Soon, Potiphar’s wife was attracted to Joseph. She tried several times to tempt Joseph to be intimate with her. Thankfully, Joseph was a man of character and respect. In rejecting Potiphar’s wife’s advances, he actually honored her, though she would not have phrased it that way. Unfortunately, Potiphar’s wife was not honorable as Joseph; and though he never touched her, she lied to all the men of her husband’s servants and to Potiphar, himself, saying that he had attempted to force himself upon her. Consequently, Joseph was imprisoned.
Even in prison, Joseph remained faithful to God. Soon, Joseph was made watchman over all of the inmates in the prison, and guards paid no attention to anything that or anyone who was left to Joseph’s charge. Joseph never swayed from his faith; not for the thirteen years that he had been a slave in Egypt. God still blessed Joseph, even in prison; and everything he did prospered. While Joseph was in prison, he interpreted by the Spirit of God, dreams of two servants of Pharaoh. The one servant was beheaded, and the other forgot about Joseph and he remained in prison. However, two years later when Pharaoh dreamed a dream that no one else in his kingdom could interpret, the Chief Butler (who had not been beheaded as the Chief Baker who had been with him the in the prison with Joseph) remembered Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams and conferred him to Pharaoh, who had Joseph taken out prison to interpret his dream. Joseph let Pharaoh know that it was God, and not Joseph himself, who would give the interpretation of the dream; and it was so. Joseph gave also the instruction to delegate leaders and make storage of food to be sustenance during an impending famine; and Pharaoh agreed that no one was more qualified in the kingdom, by the Spirit of God, to be head over all the delegation.
Devotional Reading: Genesis 40:38-57
38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find this man’s equal, a man in whom is the spirit of God? 39 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Forasmuch as [your] God has shown you all this, there is nobody as intelligent and discreet and understanding and wise as you are. 40 You shall have charge over my house, and all my people shall be governed according to your word [with reverence, submission, and obedience]. Only in matters of the throne will I be greater than you are. 41 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. 42 And Pharaoh took off his [signet] ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in [official] vestments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck; 43 He made him to ride in the second chariot which he had, and [officials] cried before him, Bow the knee! And he set him over all the land of Egypt. 44 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. 45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife.
And Joseph made an [inspection] tour of all the land of Egypt. 46 Joseph [who had been in Egypt thirteen years] was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went [about his duties] through all the land of Egypt. 47 In the seven abundant years the earth brought forth by handfuls [for each seed planted]. 48 And he gathered up all the [surplus] food of the seven [good] years in the land of Egypt and stored up the food in the cities; he stored away in each city the food from the fields around it. 49 And Joseph gathered grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it could not be measured. 50 Now to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, bore to him. 51 And Joseph called the firstborn Manasseh [making to forget], For God, said he, has made me forget all my toil and hardship and all my father’s house. 52 And the second he called Ephraim [to be fruitful], For [he said] God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. 53 When the seven years of plenty were ended in the land of Egypt, 54 The seven years of scarcity and famine began to come, as Joseph had said they would; the famine was in all [the surrounding] lands, but in all of Egypt there was food. 55 But when all the land of Egypt was weakened with hunger, the people [there] cried to Pharaoh for food; and Pharaoh said to [them] all, Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do. 56 When the famine was over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians; for the famine grew extremely distressing in the land of Egypt. 57 And all countries came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all [the known] earth.
Not only did Joseph not defile himself with strange women, Pharaoh gave him a wife when he promoted him. Joseph had been sold into slavery as a teenager (17 yrs.). He was promoted by Pharaoh at age 30, after serving in Potiphar’s house eleven years; and spending two years in prison. And Joseph’s wife was Asenath daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On.
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