Monday, July 31, 2006

Egyptian Romance Novels

Genesis 39

So Joseph is bought by Potiphar and because of Joseph, God grants blessings to Potiphar's household. Things are going so well that Potiphar turns all affairs over to Joseph. Everything beyond menu choices was in Joseph's hands.

Now besides being a sharp dresser with that multi-colored coat, Joseph was also apparently a bit of a stud. Mrs. Potiphar takes notice and tries to seduce him. He resists and resists, saying that he has earned the trust of his master and will not sin against his God.

So when no one else is around, she grabs him by the cloak and tries to convince him to give in- but he leaves his cloak in her hands and takes off running. She's embarassed and decides to show him who wears the pants in their relationship. She tells the servants that he tried to force her to sleep with him and when she screamed, he took off leaving his cloak behind. She tells her husband the same story and he puts Joey in prison.

Once in prison he picks up where he left off, gaining the trust of those in charge. He was successful in all that he did and the warden trusted him.

Two big things for me. First- don't dance with temptation. If things seem to be too much to handle- leave your jacket behind and get out of Dodge. Sometimes the best way to deal with your weakness is to avoid it at all costs. Most men would have gladly taken what was offered.

Second, your reputation goes a long way. God's blessing in both situations here is in part or whole, influence. Joseph's superiors seemed to trust in both his character and his competence. Maybe the lesson here is live Godly lives and people will be more apt to trust you- but it's no guarantee that people won't cross you if your character gets in the way of what they want.

But even then...God's with you
Posted by at

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I especially like Joey’s character in these two episodes. The daddy’s boy who hung around the house, telling on his brothers and oblivious to the ramifications of sharing his dreams is nowhere to be seen. Slavery appears to have humbled Joe, but not broken him. His confidence in God and reliance on him is a strong or stronger than ever. I wonder if I mis-read him in previous chapters, or if he really changed on the march to Egypt. I wonder what it was like to go from most beloved son to slave number 19. Did he retain his favored-son identity? Did it destroy all his arrogance? Was he glad to just be alive?

Prone to self-pity I have little doubt that I would not have risen to the top of Potiphar’s most-loved list. Was there something about Joey that endeared him to those in charge? Was he just endowed with a God-given gift for management that he couldn’t help but put in play? Or was there effort here? A joy in managing effectively, and making the most of whatever corner of the world he was in next. The ability to perform well for me includes energy, creativity, good people skills, empathy, communication (he didn’t speak Egyptian, right?) - things that are hard to come by when taken from dad’s house and sold to the people dad said are the most evil on the planet. Okay, I’m rambling, but my point is I’m impressed that he didn’t slave away in self-pity.

Then the move to prison. Clearly this was the prison where Pharaoh sent failed servants. What an interesting way to train for the royal life — first, run the household of the captain of the guard, then run the prison where failed servants of Pharaoh are sent. He must have known more about the real inner workings of the court, and what ticks pharaoh off, than any other human. While it appeared he was on a steady down-hill slide and simply could not catch a break, in retrospect he could see that all along he had been called to be in the most powerful position on the planet, and that his gift for household management would be used to feed millions for years.

I love the promise that God has prepared good works for us to do. And I love that he is fashioning us to do them, that we are his craftsmanship. I love that Joseph’s faith was strong at home, in slavery and as number two in Egypt on the heels of seven years of incredible success and wealth. I wonder if, during those year’s of plenty, he sometimes dealt with the nagging uncertainty — what if there isn’t a famine next year?

I do not know why God puts us out there so blinded — that so much of what he says and does (the dreams for example) is so that when it happens decades later, we will know that it wasn’t random or our effort, but rather ordained and orchestrated by him. At my most cynical, this appears to be retrospective sense-making — you just look back, relate events and essentially “make-meaning.” But in this most extreme example, God went further than just preparing Joe — he gave him the dreams. John often says something like “he told them this so that later they would understand.” And it does seem to live true that it is much easier to see God’s hand in retrospect than in real time or future. Why does he do that?

Where does that leave me? To trust and obey. To trust that somehow, someway, God is using this time, this house, these friends, these sermons, these problems, this debt, this company, the half payments to actors, CF, everything is being used in some way to bless others, to prepare us for and enable acts of worship, and sacrifice and love. And my challenge is to remember that, to avoid self-pity, envy, resentment and pride. To remember why I was really created, and that despite appearances my function is not my job. To live out of the truth that my function is to worship, that I am a favored son of God, that I am living in slavery and given management over some portion of the enemy’s domain (this world) and that it is all preparation for the real life to come of pure worship and service to the king of kings.

11:59 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)