She was pretty, smart, and confident. So she started out with the winsome approach: smiling, dressing attractively, pleasantly perfumed, making intentional eye contact, speaking admiringly, flirting innocently… She aimed to have Joseph. And Potiphar’s wife was used to getting what she wanted.
But it wasn’t working. So she upped the ante: dressed seductively, gazed at him sensuously, brushed herself against him, and cooed luringly: “Sleep with me!”
But despite her repeated, best efforts she could not entice him. “No,” he said resolutely. “How could I do this great evil and sin against God?”
So one day, with no one else in the house (no coincidence here), and dressed to the nines, I’m sure, she went for the direct approach. As provocatively as she knew how she grabbed him by the coat, and in her most impassioned, love-intoxicated voice said, “I’ve got to have you now! Come to bed with me!”
He left the coat in her hands and fled.
How humiliating! Her best wasn’t enough!
She wasn’t used to being snubbed. And hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. So she turned on him like a rabid dog, accused him of attempted rape, and had him thrown into prison. (So much for the love she had intimated!)
Mark it down, friends. Here we have the M.O. of sin.
Ever so winsome and pleasant as it entices, it whispers all the things you like to hear in that sweet, seductive voice. And like Mrs. Potiphar, it’s mercilessly persistent: “day after day she spoke to Joseph.”
But if rebuffed it turns and rips you to shreds. It cares not for you in the least.
So learn the lesson about sin—all types of sin—from Potiphar’s wife. The flattery and affection are nothing but a sham. The beauty is less than skin-deep. And the perfume is masking something putrid. You’re in the cross-hairs of death. Run for your life!
For further reflection on lessons from Genesis 39, see Rom 6:21; 1 John 2:16-17.
Picture of Mrs. P from this site.