translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: GEN

label: NET study note

text: Captain of the guard . See the note on this phrase in Gen 37:36 .


text: The Hebrew verb translated became his personal attendant refers to higher domestic service, usually along the lines of a personal attendant. Here Joseph is made the household steward, a position well-attested in Egyptian literature.


text: The Hebrew word translated blessed carries the idea of enrichment, prosperity, success. It is the way believers describe success at the hand of God. The text illustrates the promise made to Abraham that whoever blesses his descendants will be blessed ( Gen 12:1-3 ).


text: The passage gives us a good picture of Joseph as a young man who was responsible and faithful, both to his master and to his God. This happened within a very short time of his being sold into Egypt. It undermines the view that Joseph was a liar, a tattletale, and an arrogant adolescent.


text: The Hebrew verb translated left indicates he relinquished the care of it to Joseph. This is stronger than what was said earlier. Apparently Potiphar had come to trust Joseph so much that he knew it was in better care with Joseph than with anyone else.


text: The expression except the food he ate probably refers to Potiphar’s private affairs and should not be limited literally to what he ate.


text: For discussion of this episode, see A. M. Honeyman, “The Occasion of Joseph’s Temptation,” VT 2 (1952): 85-87.


text: A Hebrew man . Potiphar’s wife raises the ethnic issue when talking to her servants about what their boss had done.


text: That Hebrew slave . Now, when speaking to her husband, Potiphar’s wife refers to Joseph as a Hebrew slave, a very demeaning description.


text: The story of Joseph is filled with cycles and repetition: He has two dreams (chap. ), he interprets two dreams in prison (chap. ) and the two dreams of Pharaoh (chap. ), his brothers make two trips to see him (chaps. 42-43 ), and here, for the second time (see 37:24 ), he is imprisoned for no good reason, with only his coat being used as evidence. For further discussion see H. Jacobsen, “A Legal Note on Potiphar’s Wife,” HTR 69 (1976): 177.