It is so hard to be like Yoseph. Following his example is difficult while
living in a society of self-gratification and sensual entertainment. It is very challenging to stay pure…to
be undefiled…to turn away…to control the mind…to close the eyes. Yoseph was presented with a solicitation
to sin sexually with Potiphar’s wife yet he refused. “Lie with me,” she said to him. Does this sound familiar to you?
This is the same message,
the exactly identical enticement that solicitates today. Yet now it is not Potiphar’s wife that
brings the invitation, rather it is web sites, magazines, emails,
television channels, and music.
Day after day the onslaught of the sexual bombards man.
To be like Yoseph and stop the roaming eyes and thoughts of
the mind; to say “no” is every man’s battle.
There are lingerie commercials that expose too much and even
advertisements for shampoo contain the risqué. What would be considered profane in the
1950’s is proudly appealing and stylish today. The attack is everywhere – billboards,
commercials, and all around the supermarket and mall. A person cannot even stand in line at
the gas station without seeing magazine covers and magazines that
just should not be printed.
Potiphar’s wife wanted to
be intimate with the handsome Yoseph.
She tempted him and pursued him.
“She sits at the door of her house or on a seat at the heights
of the city, calling to those who pass by,” says Mishlei (Proverbs)
19:14. This call of seduction sounds loudly even
to this modern age…
“This isn’t hurting anyone”
“Just one look won’t bother
anything”
Yoseph heard the same words,
yet Yoseph remained pure. Yoseph
refused to surrender to his lusts.
Surely he had the desires but he conquered those desires. “And as much as she coaxed Yoseph day
after day, he did not yield to her request to lie with her or even
be with her,” Beresheet (Genesis) 39:10.
While working as a slave,
Yoseph determined that he would not be a slave to his lusts.
He would not give himself over to his flesh, to his yetzer
hara. To help himself with the battle he would
not even give himself the opportunity to yield to her temptation. Remember that it says, “he did not yield
to her request… or even be with her.”
Yoseph was smart. He
knew that if he wanted to stay out of trouble then he needed to stay
away from trouble. He
could not give his evil inclination a foothold.
Yet, one day Yoseph messed
up. Yoseph came into the house to do his work
and there was Potiphar’s wife awaiting him. There she was. And they were alone. None of the household was inside except
the two that didn’t need to be.
It was Yoseph and the tempter.
The Zohar says that he came “to engage in the Torah and obey
its commands.” Yoseph had good intentions yet he was
at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Or was he? Was
Yoseph put in a place of compromise or victory?
The Torah teaches that she
called out to him again and this time she grabbed him.
Now Yoseph was face to face with his tempter.
Her breath was touching his face and he could smell her aroma. At this moment in time Yoseph had to make
a decision, a choice. He
had to run. But run which
way? He could run to Potiphar’s wife or he
could run away from her. He
could give in to the desire and temptation.
Who would ever know?
Or, Yoseph could use this experience to prove that he was a
person of character and integrity.
Yoseph was a set apart Hebrew wasn’t he?
“What is the difference between the righteous and the wicked? The wicked are under control of their
heart while the righteous have their heart under their control,” says
the Talmud.
Again, the Zohar says that
Yoseph came to the house “to engage in the Torah and obey its commands.” And he did just that. Yoseph acted upon the teachings of the
Torah…“You shall not commit adultery,”
Shemot (Exodus) 20:14. His
obedience is a powerful example on how to go through your day-to-day
life without giving in lust.
Just run away. Avoid it. Close your eyes to it.
A recent study
shows that the average male has one sexual though every seven seconds. Either these thoughts are allowed to flourish
or they are stamped out. What
is done with the idea, with the sexual thought is the heart of the
issue at hand. “But I tell you that anyone
who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with
her in his hear” said the Messiah Yahshua. The Redeemer was not saying that it is
wrong to have a thought about intimacy.
To do so is only natural, as mankind was created with a desire
to reproduce. It is not
the desire that is sinful. It
is what is done with this desire that leads to the sins.
When the Messiah said, “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully
has already committed adultery” He was drawing people to the original
intention of the Torah command found in Shemot 20:14.
If you don’t look with lust then you won’t commit lusts like
adultery. Sin starts
in the mind; in the hearts; in the eyes; in the yetzer hara. “Each one is tempted when, by his own
evil desire (or yetzer hara), he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives
birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death,”
Ya’akov (James) 1:14-16. (For more on the yetzer hara go to
http://www.emetministries.com/yetzer_hara.htm)
According
to the Rabbis of the Talmud, the Almighty Yahweh created the evil
impulse for the preservation of the human race. The Rabbis teach that without the yetzer
hara mankind would become extinct.
This is because that is from the flesh of man comes the sexual
drive and desires. “Where
it not for the impulse, a man would not build a house, marry a wife,
beget children, or conduct business affairs,” says the Talmud.
So, man was created with these
strong natural desires, yet is only allowed to fulfill them within
the context of a Biblical marriage relationship.
According to scriptural principle anything else, be it over
the phone, in the mind, on the Internet, or with another person is
sin. It is a sin that entices at the beginning
and then controls at end. Just
like Potiphar’s wife who gently called Yoseph at first and eventually
grabbed a hold of him, this area of sin can start small and then yield
to great addiction. “The
evil impulse is at first sweet; in the end it is bitter,” said one
Rabbi.
Here are a few things we can
learn from Yoseph’s experiences.
It is hard to be like Yoseph.
Honestly, it is extremely difficult to remain pure in a world
of the profane but it can be done.
Yoseph did it and so can you.
You
are not alone in the struggle.
“Now Yoseph
was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took
notice of Yoseph and said, “Come to bed with me,” Beresheet 39:6-7.
You are hurting more than
just yourself.
“How then could
I do such a wicked thing and sin against Elohim?” Beresheet 39:9
Refuse the daily
assault of the sexual.
“And though
she spoke to Yoseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her
or even be with her,” Beresheet 39:10
Run away from
temptation.
“One day he
went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household
servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said,
“Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out
of the house,” Beresheet 39:11-12
When you are
by yourself be very careful.
“One
day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the
household servants was inside.
She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!”
But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house,” Beresheet
39:11-12
