Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna | Monday, September 17, 2018 | Topic: Conscience 126
Scripture: And when they saw Joseph afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. Genesis 37:18
Note: There are historical accounts that point to the fact that the sustained pressure from Potiphar’s wife on Joseph, that continued day after day, actually spanned a period that could have lasted up to even a year. This gives an indication of a woman who was bent on committing evil at the blind side of her husband. She was a determined woman and the various approaches she adopted pointed to a desperate woman who was focused on achieving her aim, irrespective of how inglorious her motives and actions were.
According to Josephus the perfect period Potiphar’s wife chose to implement her evil plans was a public festival, at which women used to attend; but she excused herself, feigning illness. Jarchi takes it to be some noted day at the idol’s temple, to which all used to go; but she pretended she was sick, and could not go, knowing that Joseph would not be there because he was a Hebrew and a firm believer in the God of heaven and the earth. She was definitely sure that as usual, Joseph would be spending his time between the field and home. She therefore judged this occasion to be a fit opportunity to move from the failed subtle manoeuvres and manipulations she previously deployed, to a more physical, unmistakable sexual assault on Joseph.
None of the men in the house was within sight in the house. They had all gone to the public festival. Joseph’s retirement to the house was ostensibly to work on the accounts of the business. Joseph was meanwhile oblivious to the traps that had been laid out for his ambush. He had all along been wise enough to avoid getting himself into a hole with Potiphar’s wife. Her secret recession into the house from the festival was unknown to Joseph. This had been a plan that was long hatched out to trap Joseph into acquiescing to the demands of a sexual trap born out of a long, convoluted plan; Joseph had so far proved impossible to less forceful manoeuvres.
Potiphar’s wife’s attempts on Joseph mimics the way the enemy wanted to trap Jesus in the temptation of the wilderness after His forty days and forty nights fast. Living in a godless society where knowledge of the true God was absent, Potiphar’s wife had estimated that Joseph would be starving of sexual pleasure, having been denied of his freedom for a while. She had assumed that Joseph’s refusal to yield to her subtle requests all these while was due to his fear of getting caught with so many people in the household. This was similar to the devil asking Jesus to turn stones into bread, knowing that He was famished after fasting for forty days and forty nights.
Food for thought: One of the common tricks of the devil is to use any weakness of ours as the means of temptation into getting us to yield to his ways. Give no place to the devil.
Declaration: Neither give place to the devil. Eph 4:27
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
