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The Importance of Integrity (Genesis 39:1–23)

God’s people are agents of divine blessing when we demonstrate, share, and defend the life-giving, thirst-quenching water of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What happens, though, if our personal water reservoirs, our lives, becomes polluted? What happens to my ability to be a conduit of God’s blessing if I use my life as a waste disposal site for ungodly living, fleshly thought-patterns, and justified sin habits? Genesis 39 explains the importance of integrity to the call of God upon the lives of the people of God.

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Some of you may recall the water crisis that took place in Flint, Michigan in 2014–2015 when, in an effort to save money, the city switched its drinking water supply from Detroit to the Flint River.

While many residents complained that this new water smelled funny, looked funny, and tasted funny it was piped into Flint households for a year-and-a-half anyway and ended up causing, among other health issues, rashes and itchiness, hair loss, and elevated blood lead levels. Many people became ill during this time and some even died.

So, what was the cause? Melissa Denchak of the Natural Resources Defence Council in the United States wrote the following:

“For more than a century, the Flint River, which flows through the heart of town, has served as an unofficial waste disposal site for … the many local industries … along its shores, from carriage and car factories to meatpacking plants and lumber and paper mills. The waterway has also received raw sewage from the city’s waste treatment plant, agricultural and urban runoff, and toxics from leaching landfills. Not surprisingly, the Flint River is rumored to have caught fire—twice.”

Water, a necessity for life, when polluted, became a hindrance to life.

Over the past couple of weeks, as we’ve looked together at the Joseph narrative in the book of Genesis, we’ve been reminded that, as God’s people, we’re called to be agents—or, conduits—of God’s blessing to the people around us, a blessing that reaches its most concentrated potency in the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ—that all people are sinners (by birth and by choice) and, as such, left to ourselves, are separated from a Holy God forever. But, because God so loved the world, he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place, paying the debt we all owe but can’t pay, and then was raised from the dead, conquering sin and death forever. God promises that all who believe in the Son have eternal life and will live with him forever.

In John 4, Jesus said to the woman at the well, speaking of the water in the well:

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (vv. 13–14).

God’s people are agents of divine blessing when we demonstrate, share, and defend the life-giving, thirst-quenching water of the gospel that only Jesus Christ provides and that we all desperately need.

What happens, though, if my personal water reservoir, my life, becomes polluted? What happens to my ability to be a conduit of God’s blessing if I use my life as a waste disposal site for ungodly living, fleshly thought-patterns, and justified sin habits?

Could it be that a life full of such sewage is less likely to be a successful supplier of the pure, life-giving water that has been poured into us by God’s grace?

Well, today, from Genesis 39, we’re going to be reminded of the importance of a pure life for the purpose of being a blessing to those around us. To say it another way, if we want to be used by God to bless the people that he’s providentially brought into our lives for that very purpose, we need to pay attention to the integrity with which we live.

Now, as we look at Genesis 39 as a whole, we discover that it is, what we might call, a hamburger passage. There’s three parts: Bun, patty, bun. The two pieces of bun on the outside have symmetry and consistency, essentially mirroring each other. They have purpose, giving the burger structure, and they can even be tasty.

But the real star of the show is the patty that they surround. The patty is what gives the burger its burger-ness. In many ways it justifies the two pieces of bun. Without it, you’d just have a handful of bread.

In a similar way, Genesis 39 is structured with two almost mirrored accounts bracketing and highlighting the patty in the middle where we’ll find the main point of the chapter today.

But we can’t fully appreciate the patty until we look first, at the bun, the two pieces of story that hold and showcase that which they surround. Look with me at verse 1.

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

We notice in this opening verse that the author is seamlessly picking the story back up from the end of chapter 37 which concluded, you may recall, with Jacob, Joseph’s father, mourning because he thinks his son is dead but who, in actuality, has been sold into Egyptian servitude by way of an Ishmaelite caravan.

In chapter 38, that which we looked at last week, the author then took a one-chapter detour to follow the descent of Judah, one of Joseph’s brothers, into sin. But now, as we come to chapter 39, we find a seamless return to the main Joseph narrative. Let’s continue.

The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 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. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Joseph, sold by his brothers into slavery out of sheer jealous hatred, arrives in Egypt and is purchased by Potiphar, a man of means and power.

But, in spite of being in what we may consider less-than-ideal circumstances, we’re told explicitly that “the Lord was with Joseph” in both verse 2 and, again in verse 3.

In a special and dynamic way, God’s presence empowered and went before this young man.

What was the result of God’s presence being with Joseph?

Well, the text tells us that Joseph “prospered,” had “success in everything he did,” and “found favour” in Potiphar’s eyes. How could he not find favour in Potiphar’s eyes? Everything he touched turned to gold! Everything he did, worked out perfectly.

So, Potiphar did what any shrewd businessman would do: He promoted him and gave him more and more responsibility and more and more influence in his home.

You don’t sell a stock when it’s sky-rocketing, you don’t ditch a friendship when it’s blossoming, and you stifle a man like Joseph when God’s hand is clearly upon him.

We’re told then that God “blessed the household … because of Joseph … both in the house and the field.” Both Potiphar’s domestic life and his business were thriving under Joseph’s watch and stewardship.

So, again, Potiphar gives Joseph even more responsibility and influence to the point where Joseph, this seemingly charmed young man, took care of everything and his owner essentially retired to only daydreaming about his next meal.

“The Lord was with Joseph” and, because of that, there was prosperity, favour, and blessing—not only for Joseph, but for those around him as well.

That’s the first half of the bun. Let’s jump to the second half starting in verse 20.

Now, we’ll return to discover the reason in a few moments, but in verse 20 we find Potiphar suddenly and decidedly less pleased with Joseph.

Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

This marks the darkest period of Joseph’s life and, if you’re familiar with the narrative as a whole, you already know that it’s after this stint in prison that Joseph, by God’s design, begins to ascend to the second highest office in Egypt. In fact, in 41:41, Pharaoh himself says to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.”

So, while his life is about to skyrocket, here, in chapter 39, Joseph is a long ways from the palace and, the text wants us to feel the depths to which this young man has been, by no fault of his own, forced to descend.

Remember in chapter 37, Joseph’s brothers threw him down into a cistern. At the end of that same chapter and at the start of ours today, he was brought down to slavery. And here, nearing the end of chapter 39, he’s taken down into prison. Down, down, down, Joseph is thrust, the most recent leg of that journey being dramatic—from trusted advisor in the house of the captain of Pharaoh’s guard to the darkness of a prison reserved for Pharaoh’s enemies. It’s a low period of Joseph’s life.

But, in spite of the change of scenery in this chapter—from Potiphar’s house to the king’s dungeon—notice the similarity in what we’re about to read to what we read at the beginning of the chapter.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

I know you heard the similarities between to two halves of the bun.

Both times, Joseph is taken down to a place against his will.

Both times he’s thrown into oppressive circumstance under the authority of a powerful Egyptian.

Both times, however, we’re told twice that “the Lord was with” Joseph. In the prison half of the bun this occurs in verses 21 and 23.

Both times, because of God’s special presence with this young man, Joseph had success in all he did and, because of that was “granted favour” in the eyes of the one who had authority over him; first Potiphar and now the prison warden.

Both times, because of that favour given by God in the eyes of his oppressors, Joseph is given increased responsibility, increased influence, and increased trust. So much so that, in both cases, Potiphar and the warden stop watching Joseph.

So, while the settings are different the two pieces of bun really are of the same substance. In both halves, God, being with Joseph, is blessing Joseph and others through Joseph.

It happens in Potiphar’s palace and in the king’s prison. It happens in the nice house and the big house. It happens in slavery, in success, and in shackles. God, being with Joseph, is blessing Joseph and others through Joseph.

You and I desire the same, don’t we? Of course we do!

We want, no matter the circumstances of our lives, to experience the presence of God, to be blessed by God, and to be a blessing to others for the sake of God.

This longing is expressed by the old hymn that prays:

Make me a blessing make me a blessing
Out of my life may Jesus shine
Make me a blessing O Savior I pray
Make me a blessing to someone today

The third verse of that same hymn addresses the Christian:

Give as ’twas given to you in your need
Love as the Master loved you
Be to the helpless a helper indeed
Unto your mission be true
Make me a blessing make me a blessing
Out of my life may Jesus shine
Make me a blessing O Savior I pray
Make me a blessing to someone today

As Christians and as a church family, that is our prayer, isn’t it? Out of our lives may Jesus shine! May we give as was given to us in our greatest need. Lord, make us a blessing today!

We want to be filled with the Spirit—walking in close relationship with God. We want to experience his unmitigated favour and to pour out God’s saving love on those around us.

God, being with Joseph, is blessing Joseph and others through Joseph. That’s what we find when we look at the two halves of the bun.

But, as we said at the outset, the bun, while being an essential part of the burger, finds its meaning, its explanation, in the patty—that which it surrounds, holds, and showcases.

So, let’s shift our attention then from the bun to the patty and, inso doing, we’re going to discover why it was Joseph was experiencing such blessing and why it was he was being such a blessing to others (v. 6b).

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

Remember, this is happening at the peek of Joseph’s responsibility and influence in Potiphar’s home. His owner, seeing how dependable, effective, and blessed Joseph was, and himself experiencing the blessings through Joseph, has essentially given him unsupervised rule of the roost.

And, one day while Potiphar was at the spa (or whatever he was doing in his early retirement), his wife decides this good-looking Hebrew slave is fair game and propositions Joseph.

Starting in verse 8 we find the fall-out of this happening.

But [Joseph] refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed.When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger.

And there we find the reason Joseph ended up in prison in the second half of the bun.

Joseph, being used by God to be a blessing to the people around him, diligent to work hard and do his job in a way that honoured his master and his God, is caught in the crosshairs of a powerful, determined, persistent, and conniving woman who, when she doesn’t get her way, seeks to punish her unwilling servant.

She lies. Where the narrator tells us that Joseph, fleeing, “left his cloak in her hand” (v. 12), she would later tell both her household slaves and her husband that Joseph “left his cloak beside her” (vv. 15, 18) suggesting a voluntary disrobing. She lies to incriminate Joseph.

She also tries to play a racial angle, pejoratively calling Joseph “that Hebrew” two times (vv. 14, 17) emphasizing that he’s not one of us.

Eventually, when the other strategies didn’t get the reaction she was looking for, she looks at Potiphar, her husband, and says in verse 19, “this is how your slave treated me.”

That gets the job done. The text says that when he heard her say “this is how your slave treated me” he flipped a switch.

The thought that it was his trusted slave, whom he had promoted, to whom he had given authority, and who had now apparently betrayed that trust, sends Potiphar into a rage that results in Joseph’s imprisonment.

By no fault of his own, Joseph’s reputation is immediately destroyed. Joseph isn’t innocent until proven guilty; he’s guilty because she said he’s guilty, having submitted the cloak into evidence as “Exhibit A.”

Now, as we zoom out again beyond just chapter 39, we see there’s a reason the account of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife follows the account of Judah and Tamar, last week’s story. Feel the contrast between the two brothers in these two chapters.

Judah, a free man, is not only presented with opportunities to sin, but he sought them out—leaving home, marrying a foreigner, soliciting prostitution.

Joseph, on the other hand, an enslaved man, is bombarded with opportunities for God-dishonouring behaviour and yet, avoids them. In fact, flees from them, doesn’t he? The text goes to great lengths to make sure we don’t miss the active and intentional role Joseph plays in avoiding sin.

Verse 12: “But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.” Verse 13: “When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house.” Verse 15: “When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” And verse 18: “But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

Moses, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, has constructed a large, flashing, neon sign in this text that screams, “Joseph fled from sin,” “Joseph was a man of integrity.”

Where Judah failed in chapter 38, Joseph succeeded in chapter 39, and proved to be a man of integrity in the face of temptation. They both paid a price, but only one was blameless before God.

And it’s this reality, that of Joseph’s character, that the text itself funnels us toward. It’s the integrity patty that the two buns hold up and showcase.

God, being with Joseph, is blessing Joseph and others through Joseph. Why? Because Joseph was a man of integrity. It was his integrity—his dogged refusal to dishonour his God—that empowered his usability. The two things are very much connected according to Genesis 39.

That presents you and I with a question that only you and I can answer for ourselves: Are we people of integrity? Like Joseph, do you and I resist the temptations in our lives that would otherwise defile us and hinder our usefulness?

As Christians, each of us has been given living water, a drink that all humanity is parched for, though many deny or ignore. Out of our ever-growing love for people, we long to pipe that water into the lives of those around us, some for the first time for the purpose of salvation and some for spiritual sustenance for the purpose of sanctification, maturity, and encouragement.

Everyone in your life and everyone in my life needs the gospel. Saved or unsaved, mature or immature, on fire or under fire, energized or exhausted—there are no exceptions. We all need that Jesus-given water that springs up to eternal life.

But if our lives are not lives of integrity—if we’ve been using our lives as a dumping ground for deception, slander, sexual immorality, idolatry, greed, envy, sloth, or any other form of sewage—being blessed by God and being a blessing for God to others will be hindered.

God calls his people to be people of integrity; people who’s public lives consistently match their private lives and whose private lives are becoming increasingly conformed to the image of Christ by the power of the Spirit.

It’s Christians of godly integrity that experience the presence of God, who are blessed by God, and who are a blessing to others for the sake of God.

Genesis 39 highlights this: God, being with Joseph, is blessing Joseph and others through Joseph. And he’s doing that because Joseph proved to be a man of integrity in the face of temptation. His water was unpolluted and, because of that, it was life-giving.

So, we’ve seen in this passage the two pieces of bun and the patty. Now all that’s left for us to do today is to eat.

How are you and I meant to enjoy this inspired meal placed before us and, by doing so, how are we to grow in being the agents of God’s blessing that he’s called us to be?

Well, when we understand the text properly, it becomes fairly obvious, doesn’t it? We need to Make purity a priority!

No more dumping garbage, no more pollution. We need to ask God to help us clean up our reservoirs that we may both be blessed and be a blessing to those around us. We need to make purity a priority in our lives and in our church.

To take a step in that direction this week I want to suggest that we all play a couple rounds of a popular children’s game called Show and Tell. You remember that game, I’m sure. Kids, maybe in school or at childcare, are invited to bring something with them from home that they love or that they find interesting, they stand before their peers, SHOW it off and then TELL their audience about what they’re showing. Show and Tell.

Well, this week, to facilitate each of us and all of us taking steps toward making purity a priority in our lives, let’s play two rounds of that game.

The first round of Show and Tell will be between you and God. In just a few moments I’m going to ask you to pray, wherever you are, and ask God to SHOW you where in your life there may be a pollution problem.

Psalm 69:5 says, “You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you.” God knows where you and I err. Nothing is hidden from his sight. He knows our sins; our habitual dumping patterns. And asking him to bring to our mind ways in which we’ve trespassed against him is a prayer he will answer.

So, ask God to SHOW you where sin may be seeping into your life. And, after you’ve done that and after he’s answered that prayer, TELL him you’re sorry. Repent. Ask for forgiveness and divine empowerment to fight that sin going forward.

The Apostle John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, promises in his first epistle that “If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1:9).

Notice, not only will he certainly forgive us, but he will purify us! He will cleanse us from the pollution that we’ve perhaps allowed to accumulate in our lives.

There may be ongoing consequences for our past sins, but, for those who are forgiven in Christ, there is not ongoing guilt before a holy God. And no life is so polluted that it cannot be purified by the most powerful cleaning agent the world has ever known—the blood of Jesus.

You, brother, you sister, can experience the presence of God and be filled with the Spirit of God like Paul commands us to be in Ephesians 5; and you can be used by God to bless those he has put in your life. Ask God to SHOW you where the pollution is, and then TELL him you’re sorry—repent, and enjoy his forgiveness, purification, and power.

That’s how we begin to make purity a priority in our lives and in our church. And I want to give you a chance to do that right now before we continue. Wherever you are, in the quietness of your own heart, talk to God and play the most serious round of Show and Tell you’ll ever play.

That’s the first round of Show and Tell. The second may be more difficult but it’s important if we’re going to make purity a priority in our lives in response to what God has taught us today through Genesis 39.

James says to believers, “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” clearly teaching that there is power in horizontal confession and intercessory prayer.

So, while round one was Show and Tell with God, round two is Show and Tell with a trusted, Christian brother or sister.

This may be your spouse, a co-worker, a friend, your pastor, Sunday School teacher, or youth leader. It doesn’t matter as long as you trust them and they know Christ as their Saviour.

I want to encourage you, at some point this week, reach out to that person and SHOW them your heart by confessing sin to them. It may sound something like, “Listen, I don’t necessarily need advice on this but I do want to confess to you a way in which I’ve been wrestling with sin in my life.”

And then, after you’ve SHOWN them your heart in this way, TELL them to pray for you. Ask that they intercede on your behalf, thanking God for the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in your life, for his promised forgiveness, and for his power going forward for you to continue to make purity a priority.

I know this isn’t an easy application, but I promise you’ll be blessed by the act of humble obedience.

God, being with Joseph, blessed Joseph and others through Joseph. Why? Because Joseph proved to be a man of integrity. His water was unpolluted and, because of that, it was life-giving.

We too need to be men and women of integrity, making our purity, our pursuit of personal holiness, a high priority. When we do that, there are huge blessings that await, for ourselves certainly, but also for the people God has providentially placed around us.

Lord,