Season 2, Time of the Matriarchs: Wife of Potiphar

Her Story

#WifeofPotiphar #Genesis #BibleStudy #Genesis20 #Potiphar #Joseph #Bible #BrokenSearchingTrustedPowerful
When we talk about the patriarchs, we think of the three that are so often mentioned together: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But there is a fourth patriarch, of sorts: Joseph. Two of Joseph's sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, received Jacob's blessing and inheritance in the Promised Land. But it is not Joseph's wife who was so directly instrumental in Joseph's destiny. No, that place goes to another man's wife.
The story of Potiphar’s wife is all wrapped up with the story of a foreign teenaged boy whose jealous brothers had stripped him, thrown him into a pit, and eventually chose to sell him into slavery rather than murder him. After marching naked and in shackles for endless miles to Egypt, not knowing their language or customs, this bedraggled seventeen-year-old ended up in the household of Potiphar's wife as one of her husband’s forced laborers.
The story of Potiphar’s wife:
I Success of Joseph, Genesis 39:1-6
II Seduction by Potiphar’s Wife, Genesis 39:7-20
III Salvation Received, Salvation Rejected, Genesis 39:21-23
Hers was a tale of longing, obsession, and seduction, for as often as her young slave rebuffed her, her desire grew all the more ardent. With every artifice she knew, she lured Joseph closer and closer, until only lies and false accusations could save her from the humiliation of his rejection.
Ultimately, both Potiphar's wife and Potiphar's protégé found themselves at the crossroads of temptation. One path led to life and the other path to death. The habits formed by daily faith, daily reverencing God and honoring others, carried needed weight when Joseph felt the tug in his heart and body, when desire looked like life, and denial looked like death.
By God’s grace, Joseph fled towards life, unlike the tragic figure of Potiphar’s wife.
To see the YouTube presentation, click on "Wife of Potiphar"

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