Women of the Bible: Potiphar's wife

Genesis 39:1 Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites that had brought him down there. 2 Yahweh was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 His master saw that Yahweh was with him, and that Yahweh made all that he did prosper in his hand. 4 Joseph found favor in his sight. He ministered to him, and Potiphar made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, Yahweh blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake. Yahweh’s blessing was on all that he had, in the house and in the field. 6 He left all that he had in Joseph’s hand. He didn’t concern himself with anything, except for the food which he ate.

Joseph was well-built and handsome. 7 After these things, his master’s wife set her eyes on Joseph; and she said, “Lie with me.”

8 But he refused, and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, my master doesn’t know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

10 As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn’t listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her. 11 About this time, he went into the house to do his work, and there were none of the men of the house inside. 12 She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!”

He left his garment in her hand, and ran outside. 13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had run outside, 14 she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, “Behold, he has brought a Hebrew in to us to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. 15 When he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment by me, and ran outside.” 16 She laid up his garment by her, until his master came home. 17 She spoke to him according to these words, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me, 18 and as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment by me, and ran outside.”

19 When his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” his wrath was kindled. 20 Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were bound, and he was there in custody. 21 But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 The keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, he was responsible for it. 23 The keeper of the prison didn’t look after anything that was under his hand, because Yahweh was with him; and that which he did, Yahweh made it prosper. 

Women of the Bible: Dinah

Genesis 30 9 Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20 Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons.” She named him Zebulun. 21 Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.

Genesis 34:1 Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her. 3 His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady. 4 Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, “Get me this young lady as a wife.”

5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him. 7 The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that ought not to be done. 8 Hamor talked with them, saying, “The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it.”

11 Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give. 12 Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife.”

13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, 14 and said to them, “We can’t do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us. 15 Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised, 16 then will we give our daughters to you; and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our sister,[a] and we will be gone.”

18 Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19 The young man didn’t wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father. 20 Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let’s take their daughters to us for wives, and let’s give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23 Won’t their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let’s give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us.”

24 All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away. 27 Jacob’s sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field, 29 and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house. 30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.”

31 They said, “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?”

Sunspots 843

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity: (and computing) Gizmodo reports on initiatives by

Facebook to introduce features for the use of Christian churches and denominations. Gizmodo is wary of such initiatives. Relevant also reports on this, with similar concerns.

A Relevant writer on lusting after women because of what they are wearing.

Education: Grammarphobia tells us about the origin of the phrase "the coast is clear."

Environment: Gizmodo reports that the Great Salt Lake is at its lowest recorded level.

Politics: (or something) Relevant reports that sending behavior specialists, rather than armed police, to certain kinds of calls is a successful strategy.

Science: Gizmodo on what Neanderthals looked like.

Sports: Some Gizmodo contributors give their takes on which Olympic sport is most difficult. They do not agree, because, at that level, they are all difficult.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading. 

The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11 by Thomas Watson. Excerpt 55

Watson continues to point out the evils of being discontented:

5. Discontent doth not only disquiet a man’s self, but those who are near him. This evil spirit troubles families, parishes, &c. If there be but one string out of tune, it spoils all the music: one discontented spirit makes jarrings and discords among others. It is this ill-humour that breeds quarrels and lawsuits. Whence are all our contentions, but for want of contentation? “From whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts?” (Ja. 4. 1) in particular from the lust of discontent. Why did Absalom raise a war against his father, and would have taken off not only his crown but his head? was it not his discontent? Absalom would be king. Why did Ahab stone Naboth? was it not discontent about the vineyard? Oh this devil of discontent! Thus you have seen the sinfulness of it.

Thomas Watson lived from 1620-1686, in England. He wrote several books which survive. This blog, God willing, will post excerpts from his The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11, over a number of weeks, on Sundays.

My source for the text is here, and I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this text (and many others) available. The previous excerpt is here.
  
Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. (World English Bible, public domain.)

Sunspots 593

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: A Relevant contributor, who used to be sexually active, has been celibate for three years.

Another Relevant contributor has written an essay on how to cope with lust after you are married.


Computing: (and Politics) Donald Trump, Jr., is not the only politician (or helper of one) accused of violating copyright, but he is one who has done so recently, according to National Public Radio. He used a Flickr photo, which is here, and is labelled "all rights reserved." I am a member of Flickr, but have not reserved all rights to my photos.

Health: National Public Radio reports on a doctor who confessed, years after the fact, to lying to protect another doctor in a malpractice case. The report suggests that such happenings are not rare, or not rare enough.

NPR also reports that life spans are no longer continuing to lengthen, and why.

History: You've probably seen, heard, and read about the National Museum of African American History and Culture. If you haven't, you should have.


Politics: National Public Radio has posted a transcript of the first Presidential debate, interspersed with fact checking.

The New York Times reports that, even after Mr. Trump's announcement affirming it, a significant number of citizens don't believe that President Obama was born in the U. S. (The number has gone down.)

Listverse has posted 10 dark secrets of Hillary Clinton, and 10 dark secrets of Donald Trump. God help us!

Science: An article on how archaeologists can study what dead people ate, from Listverse.

For all the uproar (sometimes) about genetic engineering of food crops, there have been few examples used commercially. One of these, making corn resistant to rootworms, is starting to fail -- the rootworms are evolving into having resistance. (Scientists predicted this would happen, but the seed companies didn't listen to them.) Another source of a resistance gene has been found.


Image source (public domain)

James 1 chart

This chart is based on one used by Kenneth Foutz, who, like me, has retired from teaching at Southern Wesleyan University. He gave me permission to post this, which has been modified a little from his chart, but not much. I thank him.

The text used, in text form, is: James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him. 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. (World English Bible, which is public domain)

The graphic serves as a link to my Flickr photostream, where larger versions of the chart may be found.

Thanks for looking! Don't be enticed.

For more on this passage of scripture, see what theologian and scholar Ken Schenck says about it.