Genesis 39:1-3
The Voice
This disturbing chapter is artfully inserted at the beginning of Joseph’s story for a reason. Though Joseph has the key role in getting Israel to Egypt and saving his family from the upcoming famine, it is Judah’s line that is chosen by God to play a crucial part in Israel’s more distant future. Judah’s son, Perez, is the ancestor to King David and ultimately to the Anointed One (Matthew 1). But Perez’s strange birth is overshadowed by the sleazy events that lead to his conception. The sexually-charged atmosphere of this chapter may well upset some, but Scripture is brutally honest about people and what they do. Lust and lies, deception and prostitution do not frustrate God’s plan; in fact God has a way of taking them, redeeming them, and including them within His greater will.
39 Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, himself an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there to sell along with their goods and wares. 2 The Eternal One was with Joseph, however, and he became successful in his own right as a slave within the house of his Egyptian master.
3 Potiphar could not help but notice that the Eternal One was with Joseph and caused everything Joseph did to prosper.
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