Why does Joseph refuse his master’s wife, and how does her accusation lead to his imprisonment?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Joseph says his master has trusted him with everything except his wife, and that sleeping with her would be a wicked act and a sin against God. He refuses and flees when she grabs his garment. She uses the garment to support a false accusation that his master believes; Joseph is imprisoned, where the Lord gives him favour and responsibility again.

Chapter breakdown

Joseph is brought to Egypt by the Ismaelites. Putiphar, an Egyptian described as an eunuch of Pharao and chief captain of the army, buys him. The Lord is with Joseph, and he prospers in all things while living in his master’s house. His master sees that the Lord is with him and makes his work prosper. Joseph finds favour, serves his master, and is put over the house and everything entrusted to him. The Lord blesses the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake and increases his property at home and in the fields. The master concerns himself with nothing but the bread he eats. Joseph has a beautiful face and is handsome to look at.

After many days, his master’s wife looks at Joseph and asks him to sleep with her. He will not consent. He explains that his master has entrusted everything to him and does not know what he has in his own house. Nothing has been withheld from Joseph except her, because she is the master’s wife. Joseph asks, “how then can I do this wicked thing, and sin against my God?” She presses him day after day, but he refuses the adultery.

One day Joseph goes into the house to do some business without any man with him. She grabs the skirt of his garment and again asks him to sleep with her. He leaves the garment in her hand, flees and goes outside. She sees the garment in her hands and that she has been disregarded.

She calls the men of her house and says that her husband has brought in a Hebrew to abuse them. She claims that Joseph came to sleep with her and that she cried out. According to her claim, he heard her voice, left the garment she held and went out. She keeps the garment as proof of her fidelity and shows it to her husband when he comes home. Her account differs from the events just narrated: she had grabbed his garment and asked him to sleep with her.

Challoner explains the phrase about proof of her fidelity as an argument to gain credit, giving the Latin wording argumentum fidei.

To her husband she says that the Hebrew servant he brought came to abuse her. She again claims that when he heard her cry, he left the garment she held and fled. Joseph’s master hears this, gives too much credit to his wife’s words and becomes very angry. He puts Joseph in the prison where the king’s prisoners are kept, and Joseph is shut up there.

The Lord is with Joseph in prison, has mercy on him, and gives him favour with the chief keeper. The keeper entrusts all the prisoners to Joseph, and everything done there is under his direction. The keeper concerns himself with none of it, having entrusted all things to him. The chapter gives the reason: the Lord is with Joseph and makes everything he does prosper.

The story inside

The garment connects Joseph’s escape to the accusation, but it does not prove the woman’s account. In the narrated encounter, she grabs it while asking him to sleep with her, and he leaves it behind to flee. In her speech to the household men, she reverses who sought the encounter and says her cry drove him out. She holds onto the garment and repeats that account to her husband. Challoner’s separate note calls the proof an argument to gain credit. The master gives too much credit to her words, becomes angry and imprisons Joseph. The chapter then returns to a pattern already seen in the house: the Lord is with Joseph, he finds favour, and responsibility is entrusted to him. This records what happens in prison without importing Joseph’s later rise in Egypt or imagining the law and punishments his master might have used.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Joseph gives two connected reasons for refusing: the trust his master has placed in him and the wrong of sinning against God. The wife is the stated exception to what his master entrusted to him. Keeping that exception makes the refusal’s reasoning clear.
2
The accusation must be compared with the narrated event. The woman says Joseph approached her and fled at her cry; the account says she seized his garment and he fled from her demand. The same garment is used to support a story that changes the event’s meaning.
3
The Lord’s presence is stated in both the house and the prison. Joseph receives favour and responsibility in each place, yet the accusation still leads to confinement. The ending preserves both his imprisonment and the work entrusted to him, without adding a promise of immediate release.

Test your recall

What exception does Joseph name to his master’s trust, how does the woman’s account differ from the narrated encounter, and why does the prison keeper entrust responsibility to Joseph?

Show answer

Joseph says that his master has entrusted everything to him except his wife. He refuses because adultery would betray that trust and sin against God. The narrative says the woman seizes his garment and he flees; she claims instead that he approached her and fled when she cried out. In prison, God gives Joseph favor with the keeper, who puts the prisoners in his care and trusts his work because the Lord makes it prosper.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 4470–4495
Genesis Chapter 39 Joseph hath charge of his master’s house: rejecteth his mistress’s solicitations: is falsely accused by her, and cast into prison, where he hath the charge of all the prisoners. 39:1. And Joseph was brought into Egypt, and Putiphar, an eunuch of Pharao, chief captain of the army, an Egyptian, bought him of the Ismaelites, by whom he was brought. 39:2. And the Lord was with him, and he was a prosperous man in all things: and he dwelt in his master’s house: 39:3. Who knew very well that the Lord was with him, and made all that he did to prosper in his hand. 39:4. And Joseph found favour in the sight of his master, and ministered to him: and being set over all by him, he governed the house committed to him, and all things that were delivered to him: 39:5. And the Lord blessed the house of the Egyptian for Joseph’s sake, and multiplied all his substance, both at home and in the fields. 39:6. Neither knew he any other thing, but the bread which he ate. And Joseph was of a beautiful countenance, and comely to behold.
Lines 4496–4509
39:7. And after many days, his mistress cast her eyes on Joseph, and said: Lie with me. 39:8. But he in no wise consenting to that wicked act said to her: Behold, my master hath delivered all things to me, and knoweth not what he hath in his own house: 39:9. Neither is there any thing which is not in my power, or that he hath not delivered to me, but thee, who art his wife; how then can I do this wicked thing, and sin against my God? 39:10. With such words as these day by day, both the woman was importunate with the young man, and he refused the adultery.
Lines 4510–4518
39:11. Now it happened on a certain day, that Joseph went into the house, and was doing some business, without any man with him: 39:12. And she catching the skirt of his garment, said: Lie with me. But he leaving the garment in her hand, fled, and went out. 39:13. And when the woman saw the garment in her hands, and herself disregarded,
Lines 4519–4528
39:14. She called to her the men of her house, and said to them: See, he hath brought in a Hebrew, to abuse us: he came in to me, to lie with me; and when I cried out, 39:15. And he heard my voice, he left the garment that I held, and got him out. 39:16. For a proof therefore of her fidelity, she kept the garment, and shewed it to her husband when he returned home:
Lines 4529–4531
A proof of her fidelity.... or an argument to gain credit, argumentum fidei.
Lines 4532–4543
39:17. And said: The Hebrew servant, whom thou hast brought, came to me to abuse me. 39:18. And when he heard me cry, he left the garment which I held, and fled out. 39:19. His master hearing these things, and giving too much credit to his wife’s words, was very angry, 39:20. And cast Joseph into the prison, where the king’s prisoners were kept, and he was there shut up.
Lines 4544–4554
39:21. But the Lord was with Joseph, and having mercy upon him gave him favour in the sight of the chief keeper of the prison: 39:22. Who delivered into his hand all the prisoners that were kept in custody: and whatsoever was done, was under him. 39:23. Neither did he himself know any thing, having committed all things to him: for the Lord was with him, and made all that he did to prosper.