Joseph’s Temptations

This post covers Joseph’s temptations and how he successfully repelled them.

Joseph’s temptations persisted, because the Devil never quits tempting us in our daily lives.

Reading in Genesis 39 shows that Joseph’s temptations  were a unique problem. Although he was a slave in Egypt and over 300 miles away from home, God blessed him. His owner promoted him to be over everything. Then, Joseph’s temptation to commit adultery came from his owner’ wife. But Joseph did not fall, Genesis 39:7-9:

“But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

The keys to Joseph’s refusal of this temptation appear to be twofold.

  1. He called to mind his master’s confidence and trust in him and did not wish to harm this relationship.

  2. But his realization that the sin was against God seems to be the major reason Joseph refused the temptation.

All sin opposes God and ruins our relationship with Him. In our lives we should keep this relationship as the most important reason to refuse temptation.

Joseph’s temptation would not be a one-time incident. Instead, Joseph’s temptation became repetitive, Genesis 39:10:

“And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

Joseph finally employed drastic measures, Genesis 39:11-12:

“But one day, …she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.”

Then she lied to her husband about Joseph, and he was cast into prison.

What can be learned from these tragic acts?

  1. Yielding to temptation puts us against God and destroys our relationship with Him.

  2. Temptation often becomes repetitive. We can never relax our defenses.

  3. Sometimes, physically running can take us away from temptation.

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