Daily Affirmations - Day 1 - The Former Things: In the Presence of My Enemies

This week's Theme: The Former Things

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Day 1: In The Presence Of My Enemies

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies (Psalm 23:5).

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Among all the burning theological questions I could ask, I want to know— a little tongue in cheek, a little not— "What ever happened to Potiphar's wife?"

You probably know the story well (Genesis Chapters 37, 39-50):

The young boy, Joseph, is the favored next-to-youngest brother in a highly dysfunctional, fractured, blended family. He becomes a victim of human trafficking at the hands of his jealous brothers and ends up a slave in Egypt, in the household of Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard (Genesis 37:36).

Joseph distinguishes himself in Potiphar's service, thanks to the presence of God even in the midst of these terrible and shocking circumstances: The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered... When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned (Genesis 39:2-5).

But Potiphar's wife set her sights on Joseph, who was well-built and handsome (Genesis 39:6). She relentlessly targets him with her amorous advances, but Joseph refuses to betray the trust of his master. Even more importantly, he appeals to a much higher allegiance, "How... could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"

Eventually, Potiphar's wife, angry at his rejection, accuses him of attempted rape, and armed with false "evidence"— evidence that was, in actuality proof against her claim, she executes her revenge. Powerless to refute her story, Joseph is thrown in prison (Genesis 39:11-20).

But again, while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him... (Genesis 39:20-21). Yet, his unjust imprisonment continues for years before he is released in spectacular fashion and elevated to second-in-command in Egypt (Genesis 41:41-44).

Placed over Egypt's great stores of foods amassed through his shrewd and proactive administration, Joseph has charge of the world's food supply during seven years of severe famine:

When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians... And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere (Genesis 41:56-57).

We know that the brothers eventually come to Egypt to buy food, and we are given a gripping account of their encounters with the unrecognized "Egyptian official" who is eventually revealed to be Joseph, the brother they had so viciously and heartlessly sold into slavery (Genesis Chapters 42-45).

But what about Potiphar and his wife? The Bible does not say. And I think that my curiosity betrays my inclination towards exacting vengeance— my desire to see returned on Potiphar's wife the revenge that I package nicely as "poetic justice."

Yet perhaps the Bible silence itself is meant to teach us something: perhaps it is meant to show that it is useless and unproductive to dwell on the list of people, events, and circumstances that moved God's plan forward in our lives. Perhaps it is our reminder to forget the former things (Isaiah 43:18), as we trace the line between where we came from and where we are. Perhaps it is our prompt to look back at everything and everyone along our path in light of His purpose.

We are shown the forgiveness and reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers. And in that process Joseph helps us understand how to think of the events and people in our lives, in the inevitable hurts and struggles, pain and betrayal of this dysfunctional world: Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Genesis 50:19-20).

But unlike Joseph's brothers, Potiphar and his wife do not matter for the rest of Joseph's story. They were characters who crossed his path for a specific season. Like the Midianite slave traders, the warden, the cupbearer, the baker, and Pharaoh himself, they were agents of God's perfect plan, though they little understood how their free-will-actions would serve His ultimate purpose.

Their role could be summarized with words borrowed from Shakespeare— a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more.[i]

And as I think of all the walking shadows in my own life— the people and events of the past that I sometimes dwell on, I resolve, by God's power to forgive, to move on, to forget the former things... I resolve, by God's power to release any tendencies towards vengeance, entrusting any needed vindication to the One who opens storehouses and spread tables before us in the presence of our enemies.

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[i] Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5