Thursday, January 9, 2014

Meanwhile in Egypt… (Genesis 39)

We pick back up with Joseph after he’s been bought in Egypt by Potiphar, the officer of Egypt’s then Pharaoh. Because God loves Joseph so much, and is with him all the time, Joseph prospers. Everything he touches turns to organizational fortune and glory. Joseph was so good at everything, he wasn’t just any slave left to tend the fields or build pyramids. No sir. Joseph was a well-kept house slave. Not only that, but he was made overseer of the whole household. But wait there’s more! He’s handsome and good-looking too. What happens when a man has that much goin’ for him? Women want to be with him. Women like, say, Potiphar’s wife. She was so keen on Joseph she couldn’t keep it in her pants. She propositioned him time after time, and because Joseph was respectable and pious to boot, he kept turning her down.  One day, she was so insistent that she grabbed his garment while trying to get into his almighty pants. The only way Joseph could get out of the situation was to wriggle his way out of his clothes while she was holding them and bolt. Now that just won’t do for Potiphar’s wife… So she went around telling everyone that Joseph tried to get in her pants, and was in such a hurry to get away that he left his clothes behind.  When she gets around to telling her dear husband, Potiphar is visibly angered and throws Joseph into jail… where he promptly makes good friends with the chief jailer and becomes a model prisoner with God’s help.

So I’ve got to say, I know Joseph got the short end of the stick by being sold into slavery by his brothers, but that guy has a metric ton going for him. He’s the guy everyone wants to be or be with. He’s beyond reproach. That’s why I’m pretty sure that Potiphar didn’t believe his wife.  Really, if Joseph were going to be punished appropriately for his supposed crime, he probably would’ve been castrated, or put to death…or castrated to death… Instead, he gets a lenient jail time sentence.

I also want to touch on the first woman to cry rape.  Before I even get into this one, I need to start by saying that a rape victim is never at fault in any way, shape, or form. Having said that, there are times that a person, usually a woman, falsely accuses another person of rape because the accuser knows people’s reaction to rape is guilty until proven innocent, even though we all know it’s supposed to be the other way around. I have no way to describe how angry that situation makes me. Many expletives, multiples of me, fires of thousands of suns… not even close.  But man, props to Joseph to keeping his head held high and going about his business as usual. Well, as usual as he could while imprisoned.

<3 Agnostic in the Pews


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