Basic HTML Version
130
The Beginning of the End
day’s terrible calamity had changed him from a pampered child to a
man,—thoughtful, courageous, and self-possessed.
Arriving in Egypt, Joseph was sold to Potiphar, captain of the
king’s guard. Here, for ten years, he was exposed to temptations
in the midst of idolatry, surrounded by all the pomp of royalty,
[100]
the wealth and culture of the most highly civilized nation then in
existence. Yet Joseph preserved his faithfulness to God. The sights
and sounds of evil were all around him, but he was like someone
who neither saw nor heard. He did not permit his thoughts to linger
on forbidden subjects. The desire to gain the favor of the Egyptians
could not cause him to conceal his principles. He made no effort to
hide the fact that he was a worshiper of Jehovah.
“The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man. ... And
his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made
all he did to prosper in his hand.” Potiphar’s confidence in Joseph
increased daily, and he finally promoted him to be his steward, with
full control over all his possessions. “Thus he left all that he had in
Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for bread
which he ate.”
Joseph’s industry, care, and energy were crowned with the divine
blessing; even his idolatrous master accepted this as the secret of
his prosperity. God was glorified by His servant’s faithfulness. He
intended that the believer in God should appear in sharp contrast
to the worshipers of idols so that the light of heavenly grace would
shine out amid the darkness of heathenism.
The chief captain came to regard Joseph as a son rather than a
slave. The youth was brought into contact with men of rank and
learning, and he acquired a knowledge of science, languages, and
public affairs—an education needed by the future prime minister of
Egypt.
The Almost Overmastering Temptation
But Joseph’s master’s wife tried to entice the young man to
transgress the law of God. He had remained pure of the corruption
filling that heathen land, but this temptation, so sudden, so strong,
so seductive—how should he deal with it?