"Throw the stick up in the air, it will always return to its original
place." Like Rachel his mother, Joseph was of ravishing beauty, and the
wife of his master was filled with invincible passion for him."[108]
Her feeling was heightened by the astrologic forecast that she was
destined to have descendants through Joseph. This was true, but not in
the sense in which she understood the prophecy. Joseph married her
daughter Asenath later on, and she bore him children, thus fulfilling
what had been read in the stars."[109]
In the beginning she did not confess her love to Joseph. She tried
first to seduce him by artifice. On the pretext of visiting him, she
would go to him at night, and, as she had no sons, she would pretend a
desire to adopt him. Joseph then prayed to God in her behalf, and she
bore a son. However, she continued to embrace him as though he were her
own child, yet he did not notice her evil designs. Finally, when he
recognized her wanton trickery, he mourned many days, and endeavored to
turn her away from her sinful passion by the word of God. She, on her
side, often threatened him with death, and surrendered him to
castigations in order to make him amenable to her will, and when these
means had no effect upon Joseph, she sought to seduce him with
enticements. She would say, "I promise thee, thou shalt rule over me
and all I have, if thou wilt but give thyself up to me. and thou shalt
be to me the same as my lawful husband." But Joseph was mindful of the
words of his fathers, and he went into his chamber, and fasted, and
prayed to God, that He would deliver him from the toils of the Egyptian
woman.
In spite of the mortifications he practiced, and though he gave the
poor and the sick the food apportioned to him, his master thought he
lived a luxurious life, for those that fast for the glory of God are
made beautiful of countenance.
The wife of Potiphar would frequently speak to her husband in praise of
Joseph's chastity in order that he might conceive no suspicion of the
state of her feelings. And, again, she would encourage Joseph secretly,
telling him not to fear her husband, that he was convinced of his
purity of life, and though one should carry tales to him about Joseph
and herself, Potiphar would lend them no credence. And when she saw
that all this was ineffectual , she approached him with the request
that he teach her the word of God, saying, "If it be thy wish that I
forsake idol worship, then fulfil my desire, and I will persuade that
Egyptian husband of mine to abjure the idols, and we shall walk in the
law of thy God." Joseph replied, "The Lord desireth not that those who
fear Him shall walk in impurity, nor hath He pleasure in the
adulterer."
Another time she came to him, and said, "If thou wilt not do my desire,
I will murder the Egyptian and wed with thee according to the law."
Whereat Joseph rent his garment, and he said, "O woman, fear the Lord,
and do not execute this evil deed, that thou mayest not bring
destruction down upon thyself, for I will proclaim thy impious purposes
to all in public."
Again, she sent him a dish prepared with magic spells, by means of
which she hoped to get him into her power. But when the eunuch set it
before him, he saw the image of a man handing him a sword together with
the dish, and, warned by the vision, he took good care not to taste of
the food. A few days later his mistress came to him, and asked him why
he had not eaten of what she had sent him. He reproached her, saying,
"How couldst thou tell me, I do not come nigh unto the idols, but only
unto the Lord? The God of my fathers hath revealed thy iniquity to me
through an angel, but that thou mayest know that the malice of the
wicked has no power over those who fear God in purity, I shall eat thy
food before thine eyes, and the God of my fathers and the angel of
Abraham will be with me." The wife of Potiphar fell upon her face at
the feet of Joseph, and amid tears she promised not to commit this sin
again.
But her unholy passion for Joseph did not depart from her, and her
distress over her unfulfilled wish made her look so ill that her
husband said to her, "Why is thy countenance fallen?" And she replied,
"I have a pain at my heart, and the groanings of my spirit oppress me."
Once when she was alone with Joseph, she rushed toward him, crying, "I
will throttle myself, or I will jump into a well or a pit, if thou wilt
not yield thyself to me." Noticing her extreme agitation, Joseph
endeavored to calm her with these words, "Remember, if thou makest away
with thyself, thy husband's concubine, Asteho, thy rival, will maltreat
thy children, and extirpate thy memory from the earth." These words,
gently spoken, had the opposite effect from that intended. They only
inflamed her passion the more by feeding her hopes. She said: "There,
seest thou, thou dost love me now! It sufficeth for me that thou takest
thought for me and for the safety of my children. I expect now that my
desire will be fulfilled." She did not know that Joseph spoke as he did
for the sake of God, and not for her sake.[110]
His mistress, or, as she was called, Zuleika, pursued him day after day
with her amorous talk and her flattery, saying: "How fair is thy
appearance, how comely thy form! Never have I seen so well-favored a
slave as thou art." Joseph would reply: "God, who formed me in my
mother's womb, hath created all men."
Zuleika: "How beautiful are thine eyes, with which thou hast charmed
all Egyptians, both men and women!"
Joseph: "Beautiful as they may be while I am alive, so ghastly they
will be to look upon in the grave."
Zuleika: "How lovely and pleasant are thy words! I pray thee, take thy
harp, play and also sing, that I may hear thy words."
Joseph: "Lovely and pleasant are my words when I proclaim the praise of
my God."