Genesis 39:15

She then saw an opportunity of getting revenge on Joseph because he would not join her in evil. She called out for other men, no doubt servants of the household, and told them Joseph had come in with the object of raping her. She said she cried out, and he left without his garment. So from the very moment of the incident, she had a witness against Joseph that seemed conclusive.

The temptation came "day by day" (v. 10), and the attacks grew more persistent until Joseph "flees" from the temptation and the devil is foiled. But having failed as the tempter, he now becomes the persecutor (vv. 13-18). The woman who had earlier cast her evil eyes on Joseph now testifies against him with a lying tongue. As an old writer said, "Those who have broken the bonds of modesty will never be held by the bonds of truth. It is nothing new for the best of men to be falsely accused of the worst crimes by those who are themselves the worst of criminals."

In all cases where escape is possible without disloyalty, we are to flee rather than face it. "So flee youthful passions." "Abstain (hold off) from the passions of the flesh." Flee, as Joseph fled; and there was, perhaps, no bolder man.

In the end Joseph escapes from a bad woman and keeps a good conscience. But keeping a good conscience may cost much. Joseph has to exchange the comfort of Potiphar's house for the hardships of Pharaoh's prison.

We can easily imagine how hard this was for Joseph's master, because of his wife's treachery. On one side stood the proven, unquestionable trustworthiness of his slave. On the other stood a wife capable of such an approach. A woman like that must long have shown her bad character in many ways, even if not in this one, so her word was doubtful. Still, she was his wife. However bold, shameless, and malicious her fraud, we never hear of Joseph trying to clear himself by exposing her wickedness.

Here then we have the holy youth resisting the tempter, and enduring grief, suffering wrongfully… "But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly." Joseph could be no real type of the atonement; but of Christ's suffering unjustly and in grace he was a blessed foreshadowing.

In Genesis 39 Satan uses Potiphar's wife, and in Genesis 40 he uses Pharaoh's chief butler. He used the first to put Joseph into the dungeon. He used the second to keep him there, through his ungrateful forgetfulness. But it was all in vain. God was behind the scenes. His finger was guiding every part of the vast machine of circumstances. When the due time came, He brought forth the man of His purpose and set his feet in a wide, open place.