Joseph: "How long wilt thou continue to speak thus to me? Leave off! It
were better for thee to care for thy household."
Zuleika: "There is nothing in my house that I care for, save thee
alone."
But Joseph's virtue was unshaken. While she spoke thus, he did not so
much as raise his eyes to look at his mistress.[111] He remained
equally steadfast when she lavished gifts upon him, for she provided
him with garments of one kind for the morning, another for noon, and a
third kind for the evening. Nor could threats move him. She would say,
"I will bring false accusations against thee before thy master," and
Joseph would reply, "The Lord executeth judgment for the oppressed."
Or, "I will deprive thee of food;" whereupon Joseph, "The Lord giveth
food to the hungry." Or, "I will have thee thrown into prison;"
whereupon Joseph, "The Lord looseth the prisoners." Or, "I will put
heavy labor upon thee that will bend thee double;" whereupon Joseph,
"The Lord raiseth up them that are bowed down." Or, "I will blind thine
eyes;" whereupon Joseph, "The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind."[112]
When she began to exercise her blandishments upon him, he rejected them
with the words, "I fear my master." But Zuleika would say, "I will kill
him." Joseph replied with indignation, "Not enough that thou wouldst
make an adulterer of me, thou wouldst have me be a murderer, besides?"
And he spoke furthermore, saying, "I fear the Lord my God!"
Zuleika: "Nonsense! He is not here to see thee!
Joseph: "Great is the Lord and highly to be praised, and His greatness
is unsearchable."
Thereupon she took Joseph into her chamber, where an idol hung above
the bed. This she covered, that it might not be a witness of what she
was about to do. Joseph said: "Though thou coverest up the eyes of the
idol, remember, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole
earth. Yes," continued Joseph, "I have many reasons not to do this
thing for the sake of God. Adam was banished from Paradise on account
of violating a light command; how much more should I have to fear the
punishment of God, were I to commit so grave a sin as adultery! The
Lord is in the habit of choosing a favorite member of our family as a
sacrifice unto Himself. Perhaps He desireth to make choice of me, but
if I do thy will, I make myself unfit to be a sacrifice unto God. Also
the Lord is in the habit of appearing suddenly, in visions of the
night, unto those that love Him. Thus did He appear unto Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and I fear that He may appear unto me at the very
moment while I am defiling myself with thee. And as I fear God, so I
fear my father, who withdrew the birthright from his first-born son
Reuben, on account of an immoral act, and gave it to me. Were I to
fulfil thy desire, I would share the fate of my brother Reuben."[113]
With such words, Joseph endeavored to cure the wife of his master of
the wanton passion she had conceived for him, while he took heed to
keep far from a heinous sin, not from fear of the punishment that would
follow, nor out of consideration for the opinion of men, but because he
desired to sanctify the Name of God, blessed be He, before the whole
world.[114] It was this feeling of his that Zuleika could not
comprehend, and when, finally, carried away by passion, she told him in
unmistakable language what she desired,[115] and he recoiled from her,
she said to Joseph: "Why dost thou refuse to fulfil my wish? Am I not a
married woman? None will find out what thou hast done." Joseph replied:
"If the unmarried women of the heathen are prohibited unto us, how much
more their married women?[116] As the Lord liveth, I will not commit
the crime thou biddest me do." In this Joseph followed the example of
many pious men, who utter an oath at the moment when they are in danger
of succumbing to temptation, and seek thus to gather moral courage to
control their evil instincts."
When Zuleika could not prevail upon him, to persuade him, her desire
threw her into a grievous sickness, and all the women of Egypt came to
visit her, and they said unto her, "Why art thou so languid and wasted,
thou that lackest nothing? Is not thy husband a prince great and
esteemed in the sight of the king? Is it possible that thou canst want
aught of what thy heart desireth?" Zuleika answered them, saying, "This
day shall it be made known unto you whence cometh the state wherein you
see me."
She commanded her maid-servants to prepare food for all the women, and
she spread a banquet before them in her house. She placed knives upon
the table to peel the oranges, and then ordered Joseph to appear,
arrayed in costly garments, and wait upon her guests. When Joseph came
in, the women could not take their eyes off him, and they all cut their
hands with the knives, and the oranges in their hands were covered with
blood, but they, not knowing what they were doing, continued to look
upon the beauty of Joseph without turning their eyes away from him.
Then Zuleika said unto them: "What have ye done? Behold, I set oranges
before you to eat, and you have cut your hands." All the women looked
at their hands, and, lo, they were full of blood, and it flowed down
and stained their garments. They said to Zuleika, "This slave in thy
house did enchant us, and we could not turn our eyes away from him on
account of his beauty." She then said: "This happened to you that
looked upon him but a moment, and you could not refrain yourselves!
How, then, can I control myself in whose house he abideth continually,
who see him go in and out day after day? How, then, should I not waste
away, or keep from languishing on account of him!" And the women spake,
saying: "It is true, who can look upon this beauty in the house, and
refrain her feelings? But he is thy slave! Why dost thou not disclose
to him that which is in thy heart, rather than suffer thy life to
perish through this thing?" Zuleika answered them: "Daily do I endeavor
to persuade him, but he will not consent to my wishes. I promised him
everything that is fair, yet have I met with no return from him, and
therefore I am sick, as you may see."
Her sickness increased upon her. Her husband and her household
suspected not the cause of her decline, but all the women that were her
friends knew that it was on account of the love she bore Joseph, and
they advised her all the time to try to entice the youth. On a certain
day, while Joseph was doing his master's work in the house, Zuleika
came and fell suddenly upon him, but Joseph was stronger than she, and
he pressed her down to the ground. Zuleika wept, and in a voice of
supplication, and in bitterness of soul, she said to Joseph: "Hast thou
ever known, seen, or heard of a woman my peer in beauty, let alone a
woman with beauty exceeding mine? Yet I try daily to persuade thee, I
fall into decline through love of thee, I confer all this honor upon
thee, and thou wilt not hearken unto my voice! Is it by reason of fear
of thy master, that he punish thee? As the king liveth, no harm shall
come upon thee from thy master on account of this thing. Now,
therefore, I pray thee, listen to me, and consent unto my desire for
the sake of the honor that I have conferred upon thee, and take this
death away from me. For why should I die on account of thee?" Joseph
remained as steadfast under these importunities as before. Zuleika,
however, was not discouraged; she continued her solicitations
unremittingly, day after day,[118] month after month, for a whole year,
but always without the least success, for Joseph in his chastity did
not permit himself even to look upon her, wherefore she resorted to
constraint. She had an iron shackle placed upon his chin, and he was
compelled to keep his head up and look her in the face."[119]