"HE NEVER CONSENTED"

 Joseph valued loyalty; Potiphar's wife, though, did not. We read: 'The wife of his master began to cast her eyes on Joseph and say: 'Lie down with me." (Genesis 39:7) Was Joseph tempted to give in to this pagan woman's bold advances? The Bible gives us no reason to assume that Joseph was immune to the desires and drives common to young men or this woman, the pampered wife of a wealthy and influential court official, was physically undesirable.  Would Joseph rationalize that his master would never know?   Would he be tempted by the thought of the material advantages that such a liaison might offer?

In truth, we cannot know all that passed through Joseph's mind.  But we have a clear indication of what was in his heart. it shines through in his answer:  "Here my master does not know what is with me in this house, and he has entrusted everything he has into my care.  There is no one greater in this house than I am, and he has not withheld from me anything at all except you, because you are his wife. So how could I commit this great badness and actually sin against God?" (Genesis 38:8, 9) Picture the young man speaking those words with earnest intensity. It hurt him even to contemplate the deed she wanted him to commit. Why?

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From the jw.org publication