06.7.3. Joseph in Potiphar's House

III. -- JOSEPH IN POTIPHAR’S HOUSE

Genesis 39:1-23 THE fruits of outward rule having now been seen in Judah, we return to that more inward and spiritual life, which at last attains to rule all things. Joseph, rejected by his brethren, is here "brought down to Egypt" (Genesis 39:1). That pure life, oppressed and crushed by other more outward fruits of true service, that is, by Jacob’s elder children, is now enslaved in things of sense, for Egypt is the ground of sense, and Joseph is now brought down here. (Note: Respecting Egypt, see on Genesis 12:1-20.) The tree is destined to be both high and wide; its root is therefore laid deep in the earth: it is to bloom in bright sunshine, but it is first reared in deep shadow; and at this stage shade is safer than sun, while the very shadow proves that there is sunshine not far off. So the mind which dreams of rule must serve, and first know the bondage to sense in all its bitterness. In this way, and thus alone, does our spirit obtain the longed-for power over natural things. Those only who have felt the bondage ever reach the true deliverance.

First to trace the scene within. That mind in us which waits to rule by pureness and long-suffering, already crossed by other fruits of service, now feels the power of the things of sense, and ere long is sorely tempted by them. Against its will it is brought down to Egypt, and there is bound and sold as a slave, like Joseph (Genesis 39:1). The sensual mind overrules the spirit; and sense, instead of being governed, still holds the spirit captive. Can the spirit hope for rule after this? Is not such bondage a token of the final triumph of the flesh or natural man? Not so. God Himself appoints this way: -- "It was not you, but God, that sent me hither, to save your lives by a great deliverance" (Genesis 45:7-8). He first empties, that He may fill; for the spirit to the end requires such discipline. Joseph does not, indeed, like Jacob, use carnal means to gain his ends; but his way of telling his dreams shews that as yet he lacks that self-despair and brokenness which God waits for. Besides, God loves the world. He will have the kingdom in our earth even as it is in heaven. Egypt may be Egypt to the end, yet in it the Lord will shew what He can accomplish. Our spirit therefore is brought down and bound, and made to feel how little, spite of faith and sonship and service, the ground of sense is overcome; that at last the evil there, having been felt, may be subdued, the spirit meanwhile by the trial being yet more chastened and purified. This state is open to special trial. The spirit cannot feel the power of the natural man, without being subject to temptation through its affections. So the Egyptian’s wife sought to corrupt Joseph (Genesis 39:7-12); that is, some natural affection, the exact character of which we are not told, for her name is not given us, is felt within, seeking to seduce the spirit. Some affections of nature may indeed be won and blessed: Joseph himself at a later stage has an Egyptian wife, who bears him good fruit (Genesis 41:50-52). The evil here is that this affection, which now tempts the elect, is wedded to the natural man, and as such seeks only to corrupt the spirit, not at all to obey or serve it. Very sifting is this trial. Secret, repeated, even violent are the solicitations, which assail us in the very duties we owe to the natural man, tempting us to embrace some worldly principle, and so to give up the narrow path of holy separateness. But the seductions of natural affection by grace are overcome, though it costs us a struggle to escape their importunity. Then the immediate result is worse bondage. The spirit, like Joseph, is charged with acts for which the flesh is answerable; and there is that within us, like the Egyptian, which believes the charge, and at once condemns the spirit as an evil-doer.

Some can trace all these confusions within. We ask our Lord that we may know the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. He draws us by His Spirit thus to pray. A dream of power over self and sin flits before our inward man. We think a few short stages will bring us to the end, -- that His love, who has promised, will quickly give us victory. Instead of this, we discover fresh evil. The flesh, in forms strange and as yet unknown, assails and holds us captive. But we will not yield to nature and its affections. What then? Our sorrow is increased. We are thrust still lower, and a voice within untruly blames the spirit, charging its bondage on it as the result of its unfaithfulness. Could we then hear the Lord, He would tell us, all was well, -- that this discipline, painful as it is, is really indispensable. Had Joseph been happy with the Egyptian, he would not so soon have ruled Egypt. Were the flesh never to rise against the spirit, its evil would remain undiscovered, and therefore unsubdued. In men whose nature is rough and strong, how often the very strength of the flesh forces the spirit to rise to overcome it; while weaker natures, whose evil comes out less, remain less changed, because less conscious of the evil. The elect therefore must feel the evil. Only thus do they obtain the full deliverance.

------------ But let us look now at this scene without. Here is set forth a stage of the early experience of those who by patience and pureness look for spiritual power. Such souls have many griefs. Not only are they rejected by their brethren, they also must suffer in the world. They are there, but not by choice. Far rather would they abide in heavenly places. But the sin of the elect forces them away; and the very world, bad as it is, is kinder to them than brethren. Then in the world such souls are made a blessing: -- "The Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake" (Genesis 39:5). Their character makes itself felt. Ere long they exercise some power even in that worldly circle. Then comes the temptation to swerve from holy separateness. The principle (women are principles) of that society in which they are forced to move becomes a tempter to them; or, to put it more outwardly, that body, which is the outward form or expression of some worldly principle, seeks with open arms to gain and lead them astray. What peculiar form of worldliness this is, we are not told; for, as I have already observed, the name of this Egyptian woman is not here given us. It may be any worldly principle, whether that which animates the literary world, or the musical world, or the fashionable world, or the mercantile world, or the scientific world, or any of those other many minor worlds, which, like the households of Egypt, are all constituent parts of the one great world of sense which Egypt represents. That body, to which the elect stands in nearest contact, will be his tempter; assailing him peculiarly while he is engaged about his business in the world. It would make our outward calling an occasion to undo us. It is very urgent, and will not be denied. But a voice has said, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world: if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (1 John 2:15-17). The Josephs therefore will not be drawn aside: in holy truth they reject all those advances which would seduce them from their integrity; and for this the world now hates them more, and, to save its credit, stirs up its acknowledged masters to judge what it cannot corrupt. The elect are accused of wishing to loose the bonds of society, and under this false charge for a while are shut up as evil-doers. But "in all things they approve themselves, in much patience, in afflictions, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the word of truth, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left; by honour and dishonour; by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, yet well-known; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things" (2 Corinthians 6:4-10).

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Dispensationally too this scene has been fulfilled. The Spirit of Christ, as a patient sufferer in the world, suffered, served, was blessed, and made a blessing. The world, with its offers of love, sought to seduce it in vain. The Spirit of Christ in His true Church could not be thus corrupted. So it was basely slandered and falsely accused; and the lords of this world, misinformed of the elect’s acts and purpose, opposed and grieved and bound them. Those, who know the story of the coming of this Spirit into the world, will at once recognise the details of this dispensational fulfilment. (Note: On the spiritual sense of this chapter I have found but little in the Fathers. Ambrose, (De Joseph, c. 6, § 31,) and Gregory the Great, (Moral. in Job, l. ii. c. 36, § 59,) just allude to Joseph’s temptation here, as a figure of what Christ suffered on earth. It is, however, but an allusion.)

Thus journey on the Lord’s beloved. Happy are they who have learnt, not only to trace these journeys, but to be partakers of them. Then, while they look to the things unseen, the light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Faithfulness cannot go unrewarded. The blessing may seem to tarry, but for every delay there shall be the largest interest.