Potiphar's Fury And God's Jealousy Are Not Dissimilar

Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about how Joseph had treated her. So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. [Genesis 39.19-20] 

When jealousy is aroused, the outcome will not be good. 

Potiphar's fury should serve to remind us of someone else's intolerant jealousy:

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. [Exodus 20.4-6]

Potiphar's fury and God's jealousy are not dissimilar. If we loosely compare Potiphar to God, Potiphar's wife to idols, and Joseph to us, we might ask ourselves this question: How far should we go to avoid idols?

She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. [Genesis 39.10] 

Evidently, we will have to take more precaution to avoid idols than Joseph did! "As much as possible" is simply not enough. "As much as possible" was "as much as possible" in Joseph's ability to cope with it.

We can only assume Potiphar had communication with Joseph from the context of the story, however, reason would substantiate this assumption because of Joseph's service to Potiphar. For Joseph to be Potiphar's personal assistant with complete administrative responsibility, it would be incumbent upon that relationship for frequent communication to take place. Yes, it would be reasonable to conclude that a personal assistant might not have reciprocating conversation, but it would be nigh impossible for one with complete administrative responsibility not to have meaningful conversation.

Bottom line: Joseph could have - should have - said something to Potiphar. This is not to lay blame on Joseph as I have been previously inclined to do, but rather to point out the environment in which idolatry inadvertently provokes God to jealous anger.

Satan, who is behind every idol, views man in the same way Potiphar's wife viewed Joseph. He wants us. All we need to do is get in close proximity to an idol and Satan accuses us of fooling around with it provoking God's anger. 

Satan knows God is jealous. It is God's own people who underestimate God's jealousy. And, as much as we wish to think or believe otherwise, Jesus (God With Us - New Testament!) carries the exact same jealousy of the Father forbidding any other trust relationship including trust relationship with self. This is evident in the conditions placed upon the would-be follower of Jesus:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)] 

For this reason, we must be over-and-above in our devotion to Jesus proactively eliminating any condition in our lives that could be jealously interpreted by God as idolatrous: the product of our own making - for our own benefit - all the things we justify for taking care of ourselves - things Jesus clearly told us to give up:

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. [Matthew 6.25-34]

We cannot be certain of Joseph's heart in the event with Potiphar's wife (he knew enough of the situation to avoid her as much as possible...). BUT! We have very clear and certain language revealing Potiphar's heart: he was furious. 

God's people today struggle to see obvious idols today, let alone those that are more discreet. We may indeed console ourselves that our hearts and motivations are pure, but that detail is of no consequence to Jealous God. Like Joseph, we may exercise as much caution as possible - with the best of intentions, but are limited by the fact that we are not God and can, in no way rely solely upon our own judgment. If there is any question of loyalty at all, God's jealousy will find it. What good intentions reason is a molehill, God's jealousy sees as a mountain (in practice, every person in a romantic relationship knows this all too well).

As an object lesson, Joseph's story with Potiphar teaches that had Joseph more deeply anticipated Potiphar's jealousy and subsequent blind fury, certainly Joseph's "as much as possible" would have exceeded what was seen. Likewise, if we would approach life in contemplative anticipation of God's jealousy, we would be more attentive to the situations into which we allow ourselves. If anything could possibly been seen by our Jealous God as an idol in our lives, we have but one recourse. Again, Jesus said it: 

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)] 

Any response to Jesus' words that begins with the word, "But...," should be highly suspect for idolatry. 

For the record, by the time Joseph's brothers indeed bowed down to him in fulfillment of his dream long before, Joseph was a more mature, wiser man. He wasn't toying with his brothers in vengeance, but rather, being absolutely sure he was relying only on God and not his own judgment for how to deal with them. And, yes, all things do work together for good... (Romans 8.28).

Father, help us avoid anything to provoke Your jealousy. It will be a process, and we may suffer in the midst of it but help us keep You and Your interests (Your Kingdom) our only priority in all things. So be it.