Genesis 39-40
09 Feb 2026 - Theology
Joseph in the Second Pit
Genesis 39
Genesis 39:6 - “And he [Potiphar] left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he knew not aught he had, save the bread which he did eat.”
Some commentators say that Potiphar was not concerned enough with his wife, which is why she wanted to lay with Joseph. Genesis 39:1 describes him as an officer, or saris in Hebrew. This masculine noun stems from an unused root which means ‘to castrate.’ Therefore, the noun saris here is describing Potiphar as a eunuch. Eastern kings were accustomed to put castrated males over offices in the court.
It seems as if tunics brought Joseph nothing but trouble. His brothers hated his striped coat and used it to convince Jacob that Joseph was dead. They threw Joseph into a pit. In this story in Genesis 39, Potiphar’s wife grabbed Joseph’s tunic and used it when he lied about Joseph. And Potiphar threw him in prison. Two coats; two pits.
Genesis 39:21 - “But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”
Mercy and favor from the Lord does not mean that you will live a great life of wordly success. It means that you are able to find hope in the darkest of circumstances. So far in Genesis we have seen many examples of this, where the Lord chooses and continues to love people who are dealing with difficult circumstances.
Genesis 40
Egyptologists can help us understand this part of the Joseph story.
When young Joseph tells his family both of his dreams in Genesis 37, they are able to interpret them both easily. But when the cupbearer (KJV - ‘butler’) and the baker dream their dreams, they are sad, because they say, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it” (8). In ancient Egypt, interpreting dreams was the work of special priests, the priests who were in charge of Egypt’s religious magic. The baker and the cupbearer only wish that there was a priest nearby to interpret their dreams.
Joseph does not claim to be a priest or a magician. He does not even say that he is an interpreter of dreams. He simply says, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you” (8).
Notice that Joseph says that God knows what dreams mean, but he also says “tell me them [your dreams].” Perhaps Joseph believes that God has given him this special gift to interpret dreams, or that God will tell him the meaning of the dreams.
John 16:13 (ESV) - “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
1 Corinthians 2:10-12 (KJV) - “But God hath revealed them [His wisdom] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
References
- The Hebrew - Greek Key Study Bible (KJV Version)
- The BEMA Podcast, Episode 15: Into the Pit
- The Torah Portion-by-Portion by Rabbi Seymour Rossel (2007)