Women of the Bible Part 5

But the captain of the guard wasn't the only Egyptian impressed by Joseph. His wife had taken special note as well. She made her desire plain enough by inviting Joseph to share her bed. The young slave must have surprised his wealthy mistress with his quick rebuff: "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 G.o.d?"

From then on, Joseph did his best to avoid her. But with little else to occupy her time and attention, Potiphar's wife simply waited for her next opportunity, which came when Joseph entered the house one day to attend to his duties. Alone with him, she caught hold of his cloak, whispering once again, "Come to bed with me!" But Joseph could not be persuaded and instead fled from her, leaving his would-be seducer alone with her l.u.s.t, furiously clutching his cloak in her hands.

She wasted no time accusing him of attempted rape. When her husband heard the news, he was outraged, quickly consigning his favorite servant to prison.

The story of Joseph and how G.o.d blessed him even in his prison cell, eventually enabling him to become master of the nation he had entered as a slave, is well known to us. But we haven't a clue about Potiphar's wife. Whatever became of her? Did her husband suspect her duplicity? Is that why he merely confined Joseph to prison rather than executing him, as he had every right to do? Compared with Joseph, the story's protagonist, Potiphar's wife was a hollow woman whose soul was steadily decaying through the corrosive power of l.u.s.t and hate. Surrounded by luxury, she was spiritually impoverished. Empty of G.o.d, she was full of herself.

Tuesday HER LIFE AND TIMES.

EGYPTIAN LIFE.

In the ancient world, Egypt was considered the world's breadbasket. The Nile River regularly overflowed its banks, depositing rich soil and moisture along the river valley-a perfect place for abundant crops to grow. But fertile ground in Egypt could be found only as far as the Nile reached, a division so p.r.o.nounced one could literally stand with one foot on rich soil and the other in sand.

Whenever famine struck other parts of the Near East, the starving inhabitants would hurry to Egypt for food: "Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe" (Genesis 12:10). "When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, 'Why do you just keep looking at each other?' He continued, 'I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die' " (Genesis 42:1- 2).

In addition to serving as the world's breadbasket, Egypt was the site of many impressive building projects. Some of the pharaohs constructed enormous tombs in which they and their families were to be ushered into the afterlife. Egyptians believed that their bodies were the eternal houses for their souls; therefore they became adept at mummification, preserving the bodies of the dead so thoroughly that some are intact today.

Egypt's building projects were completed at tremendous human cost. Egyptian pharaohs forced the Hebrews into slavery, using them to complete their temples and tombs. Most likely the Hebrew oppression took place during the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt under the Pharaoh Rameses. Officials during that time have left behind their notations of the numbers of bricks made each day as well as their complaints at the scarcity of straw for the bricks.

Temples and tombs were filled with furniture of ebony and ivory, elegant vases, and copper tools, as well as gold jewelry and ornaments. Artisans etched beautifully drawn scenes of daily life on the walls of tombs to provide comfort for the one buried there.

As the wife of a high-ranking Egyptian official, Potiphar's wife likely led a life of relative ease and prosperity. According to the story in Genesis 39, Potiphar's household and business matters prospered because of Joseph's influence, and "the blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field" (Genesis 39:5).

The story of seduction and desire is as old as history. Scripture doesn't record ifJoseph found Potiphar's wife attractive and desirable. That detail could be considered superfluous since he rejected her because he "could not do such a wicked thing and sin against G.o.d." The jaded, older Egyptian woman and her desires provide a stunning backdrop for Joseph's purity, making Joseph and his choice to walk in a righteous manner all the clearer and more attractive.

Wednesday HER LEGACY IN SCRIPTURE.

Read Genesis 39:1 - 23.

1. Imagine the life you think Potiphar's wife might have led. What might drive a woman to be so consumed with l.u.s.t that she'd attempt such an open seduction?

2. What might Joseph's life have been like if he'd given in to Potiphar's wife?

3. What legacy has sin or a rejection of sin left in your life?

4. Why do you think Potiphar's wife made up the story she told her husband? What does her lie tell you about her as a person?

5. Temptation is a fact of life - even Jesus was tempted. What temptations do you face? How do you deal with them?

Thursday HER PROMISE.

The promise of G.o.d is revealed in this story not so much through Potiphar's wife as through Joseph and his response to her. On the surface, if we look at Joseph's situation in this one story, it may appear that he is merely a p.a.w.n in the intrigue of the household of Potiphar. As before, he is rejected and tossed aside. He looks like the fool, the loser. However, G.o.d's continued blessing is on Joseph. Within the context of this one story, it may look as ifJoseph has lost. But in the context of his life, he is nothing but a winner. Indirectly - through Potiphar's wife and her s.e.xual advances toward Joseph - G.o.d reveals his promise to bless those who follow him with uprightness (an old-fas.h.i.+oned word, but a good one!) and integrity.

Promises in Scripture I know, my G.o.d, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.

- i Chronicles 29:17 Blessed are those who do not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but who delight in the law of the Lord, and meditate on his law day and night.

-Psalm i:i - 2 Friday HER LEGACY OF PRAYER.

Create in me a pure heart, O G.o.d, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

-Psalm 51:10 Reflect On:'' Genesis 39.

Praise G.o.d: Because he not only shows us what is right, but he gives us the strength to resist temptation.

Offer Thanks: That he invites us to enjoy an intimate relations.h.i.+p with himself rather than the empty pleasures this world offers.

Confess: Any tendency toward becoming emotionally or physically involved in an off-limits relations.h.i.+p or any tendency to covet what does not belong to you.

Ask G.o.d: To help you break the habit of fantasizing about relations.h.i.+ps you wish you had.

Lift Your Heart We know what happened to Joseph after he was falsely accused, but we don't know anything about Potiphar's wife. Write a short account from your own imagination, ent.i.tled "Whatever Became of Potiphar's Wife?" You can give her a happy ending or a sad one, just make sure it's believable. Try to put yourself in the story. You could be Potiphar's wife, her mother, her maid, her little sister, or whatever character you dream up. Does anything hit you as you ponder her story's conclusion?

Lord, I don't want my soul to feed on empty pleasures, to long for what belongs to someone else. Instead, increase my hunger for you and create in me a pure heart, one that you will find irresistibly beautiful.

The Mothers of Moses.

Jochebed.

HER NAME MEANS.

"The Lord Is Glory"

Her Character: Her fierce love for her son, coupled with her faith, enabled her to act heroically in the midst of great oppression.

Her Sorrow: To live in bondage as a slave.

Her Joy: That G.o.d not only preserved the son she surrendered to him but that he restored her child to her.

Key Scriptures: Exodus 2:1 - 10; Hebrews 11:23 Pharaoh's Daughter Her Character: The Jewish people honor men and women whom they designate as "righteous Gentiles." These are people who, though nonbelievers, have a.s.sisted G.o.d's people in some significant way. Surely, Pharaoh's daughter should top the list of righteous Gentiles, courageously and compa.s.sionately delivering a child from death, a child who would one day act as Israel's great deliverer.

Her Sorrow: That her adopted son, whom she had taken care of for forty years, had to flee his home in Egypt in order to escape Pharaoh's wrath.

Key Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10.

Monday.

THEIR STORY.

Three hundred years after the death of the patriarch Joseph, a baby boy was born in Egypt, his l.u.s.ty cries m.u.f.fled by a woman's sobs. Jochebed's heart was a tangle of joy and fear. This son, his fingers forming a tiny fist against her breast, was so striking a child she hardly believed he was hers. Tenderly she raised the small hand to her mouth, pressing its warmth to her lips. Her gesture calmed them both. She could feel the stiffness in her back dissolving, her muscles relaxing as she watched the night shadows evaporate in the morning's light.

Slave though she was, she was yet a Levite, a woman who belonged to the G.o.d of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. She knew the stories. She believed the promises. G.o.d was faithful. Hadn't her people already grown as numerous as the sand of the sea, just as he said they would?

In fact, the Israelites were so numerous that the pharaohs feared they might one day welcome an invading army and betray the nation from within. Over time, the Egyptians had tightened their grip, finally enslaving the Israelites, until Pharaoh's paranoia produced an even greater evil-a command to murder each Hebrew male child emerging from the womb. But the Hebrew midwives feared G.o.d more than the king and refused to follow his orders, excusing themselves by claiming that Hebrew women were stronger than Egyptian women, giving birth before the midwives even arrived.

So Pharaoh commanded his soldiers to search out and smother every newborn male in the waters of the Nile. Jochebed could hear the screams of the mothers echoing regularly across the Hebrew camp as their children were torn from them. Her arms tightened around her own child as he slept quietly against her breast. This one, she vowed, would never be fodder for the Egyptian river G.o.d. She and her husband, Amram, would pray. They would plan. And they would trust G.o.d to help them.

For three months, as long as she dared, she hid the infant, managing to keep Miriam and three-year-old Aaron quiet about their new baby brother. Finally, she acted on an idea that had been growing in her mind. Pharaoh had commanded her to consign her son to the Nile River. All right then. Her own hands would put him into the water.

Remembering how G.o.d had spared the child Isaac on the mountain of sacrifice, she bent down and laid her son in a basket of papyrus, waterproofed with tar and pitch. Then, with a whispered prayer and a last caress, she wiped her eyes, begging G.o.d to preserve her baby from the crocodiles that swarmed the river.

She could not bear to watch as the child drifted away from her. Instead, young Miriam kept vigil, following at a distance to see what would become of him.

Soon Pharaoh's daughter arrived at the riverbank with some of her attendants. Spotting the basket among the reeds, she sent her slave girl to fetch it. As soon as she beheld the brown-eyed baby, she loved him. The river had brought her a child whom she would cherish as her own. She could not save all the innocent children, but she could spare one mother's son.

Was she surprised when a young slave girl, Miriam, approached, asking whether she could go after a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for her? Did she suspect the truth when Jochebed gathered the boy in her arms, this time as his nursemaid?

Whatever was in her mind, Pharaoh's daughter named the child Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water." For the next forty years, she educated him, a prince in the courts of Pharaoh himself.

G.o.d kept Moses safe in the midst of extraordinary evil and danger -first in crocodile-infested waters and then when he was growing up right under Pharaoh's nose. And he used the Egyptians to protect and educate him in ways that must have made Moses even more effective in his eventual role as his people's deliverer.

Year after year, Jochebed would surely have reflected on the marvelous faithfulness of G.o.d. Her ingenuity, courage, and faith should inspire even the most weak-kneed among us.

Two women-a slave and a princess-preserved the life of Israel's future deliverer and so preserved the entire Jewish race.

Tuesday THEIR LIFE AND TIMES.

BASKETS.

Such an ordinary object, used to such extraordinary purpose. Imagine with what love and care Jochebed coated the papyrus basket with tar and pitch before placing her precious son within it. Few baskets throughout the centuries likely received as loving and careful a touch.

Baskets were just one of the many types of vessels used to store and carry various items in the ancient world. In the home, women used baskets to store household items as well as fruit and bread. Brick makers carried their clay in baskets. Travelers used them to carry the supplies they needed for their journey. Priests in Israel used baskets to store the bread and wafers that were a part of wors.h.i.+p in the tabernacle (Exodus 29:3, 23, 32).

Typically made from some sort of plant material-leaves, twigs, or stalks-baskets came in a variety of shapes and sizes. The smallest could be carried in one hand. Baskets just a bit larger were carried on the back or on the head and were often used to hold provisions on a trip. The disciples used twelve of these large baskets to gather up the leftovers at the feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14:20). An even larger basket was used to let Paul escape out of a window in the wall at Damascus (Acts 9:25), so it must have been quite large and st.u.r.dy.

G.o.d's use of the ordinary to bring about the extraordinary is as much in evidence here in the early events of Exodus as anywhere in Scripture. His tendency to bring about his will through ordinary items, ordinary people, and ordinary events is no less at work today than it was in Jochebed's time. If you look for the signs of his presence, you are sure to discover them.

Wednesday THEIR LEGACY IN SCRIPTURE.

Read Exodus 2:1 - 10 and Hebrews 11:23.

1. What can you learn about Jochebed as a person from what she does at each point in this story?

2. Why do you think Pharaoh's daughter wanted to keep the baby as her own?

3. Why do you suppose her father (and possibly her husband, if she had one) let Pharaoh's daughter break the law and adopt this foreign baby?

4. Hebrews 11:23 says Moses' parents acted "by faith." What part does faith play in child rearing? In what ways have you had to choose between faith and fear as a mother?

5. Where was G.o.d in this story? What does this say about G.o.d in your story?

Thursday THEIR PROMISE.

Moses' mother, Jochebed, had one thing in mind when hiding her son and leaving him in a basket in the river. Her goal was to preserve his life for one more day, one more hour, one more moment. She could not have known how G.o.d planned to work in her life or in the life of her son. Nor did she realize he was putting into place a divine plan to rescue his people from the very oppression she was resisting.

G.o.d's ways are beautiful in the extreme. He uses the devoted, intense love of a mother for her child to bring freedom to an entire race. Like Jochebed, our goal should be to hang on, trusting that G.o.d has his own purpose at work and that we and our children are part of it.

Promises in Scripture The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations....

The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.

-Psalm 33:11,18 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord.

-Jeremiah 29:11 - 14 Friday THEIR LEGACY OF PRAYER.

When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

-Exodus 2:3 Reflect On: Exodus 2:1 - 10.

Praise G.o.d: That even the worst enemies we encounter are weak compared to him.

Offer Thanks: For G.o.d's power to save.

Confess: Any failure to trust G.o.d for the lives of our children.

Ask G.o.d: To help you be an encouragement to another mother who is concerned about her children's well-being.

Lift Your Heart Find another mother, perhaps a teenage mom or a friend who is having difficulty with her own children right now Put together a gift basket for her, filled with small gifts like a scented candle, dried fruit, a coffee cup, and some small cards inscribed with encouraging Scripture verses. Tell her you will be praying for each of her children by name every day for the next couple of months. Don't expect her to confide in you, but if she does, cherish what she tells you by keeping it confidential and letting it shape your prayers.

Father, thank you for the gift and calling of motherhood. Help me to remember that my love for my children is merely a reflection of your own love for them. With that in mind, give me grace to surrender my anxiety Replace it with a sense of trust and calm as I learn to depend on you for everything. Amen.

Miriam.

HER NAME MAY MEAN.

"Bitterness"

Her Character: Even as a young girl, she showed fort.i.tude and wisdom. A leader of G.o.d's people at a crucial moment in history, she led the celebration after crossing the Red Sea and spoke G.o.d's word to his people, sharing their forty-year journey through the wilderness.

Her Sorrow: That she was struck with leprosy for her pride and insubordination and was denied entry into the Promised Land.

Her Joy: To have played an instrumental role in the deliverance of G.o.d's people, a nation she loved.

Key Scriptures: Exodus 2:1 - 10; 15:20-21;Numbers 12:1 - 15 Monday HER STORY.

Seven days, I must stay outside the camp of my people, an old woman, fenced in by memories of what has been.