Sold into a captain’s house in Egypt, Joseph rises to run the whole estate — because, the chapter says four times over, the LORD was with him. Then his master’s wife corners him day after day, and the day he refuses her hardest she grabs his cloak. He runs; she keeps the cloak; and a second garment is used to lie about him, just as the first one was. He lands in the king’s prison. And the sentence starts again: the LORD was with Joseph.
A study in Genesis 39 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
The LORD Was With Joseph
“And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.”
Genesis 39:2-3
Nothing about Joseph’s situation has improved. He is still property, still far from home, still betrayed by his own family. What has changed is the sentence the chapter keeps repeating: the LORD was with him. It appears in verse 2, verse 3, verse 21, verse 23 — and Genesis 39 is the last time in the Joseph story that God speaks or acts directly. From here on, God works only through events. This chapter tells you how to read all the rest of them.
“The marked prosperity which attended everything placed under Joseph’s care was not the result of a direct miracle; but his industry, care, and energy were crowned with the divine blessing.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 214
He Made Him Overseer Over His House
“And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand… and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured.”
Genesis 39:4, 6
Potiphar hands over everything and stops checking. Joseph is trusted with the entire household — and the same phrase that describes that trust, all that he had he put into his hand, will describe the prison keeper’s trust a few verses later, and then Pharaoh’s. Joseph is being trained, in each place he is thrown, for the one place he is headed. The last line, “a goodly person, and well favoured,” is not a compliment here; it is the setup for the next scene.
How Can I Do This Great Wickedness
“But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; there is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
Genesis 39:8-9
Joseph gives two reasons, in order. First, his master trusted him and drew one line — thee, because thou art his wife — and to cross it is treachery. Second, and finally: it is sin against God. There is no one watching. Potiphar “wotteth not.” The only witness Joseph names is the one his family taught him about in the tents of Canaan. Ellen White marks this as the turning point of the whole trial.
“Joseph’s answer reveals the power of religious principle. He would not betray the confidence of his master on earth, and, whatever the consequences, he would be true to his Master in heaven.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 217
He Left His Garment In Her Hand
“And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.”
Genesis 39:11-12
This is the second time a piece of Joseph’s clothing is torn off him and used to tell a lie. His brothers stripped the coat of many colours and dipped it in goat’s blood to convince Jacob he was dead (Genesis 37:31-33). Now a cloak in a woman’s hand becomes evidence that he attacked her. Both times the garment says what the people holding it want it to say. Both times Joseph loses everything and cannot defend himself.
His Wrath Was Kindled
“And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.”
Genesis 39:19-20
The penalty for a slave assaulting his master’s wife was death. Joseph gets prison — “the place where the king’s prisoners were bound,” the very prison where Pharaoh’s own officers will soon be held. Potiphar’s anger may not have been entirely at Joseph. But the result is the same: the reward for keeping faith is a dungeon.
The LORD Was With Him In The Prison
“But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison… because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.”
Genesis 39:21, 23
The exact words from the top of the chapter, now in the worst place yet. Joseph does in the dungeon precisely what he did in the house: he works, he is trusted, he is put over everything. The circumstances collapsed; the man did not, and neither did the God who was with him. That refusal to brood is the thing Ellen White singles out.
“He did not brood upon his own wrongs, but forgot his sorrow in trying to lighten the sorrows of others. He found a work to do, even in the prison.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 218
Two more prisoners are about to arrive with troubled faces — and the next stage of Joseph’s life turns on whether he bothers to ask them why.
