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174/Genesis 39 * Joseph & Potiphar's Wife
BY APOSTLE JANICE L WILLIAMS
WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY FOR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28TH-JULY 5TH-12th-19TH-26TH- WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2ND, 2017
BY THE REVEREND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.
There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
And that is something that I must say to my people who stand on the worn threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.
They have come to realize that their freedom is extricably bound to our freedroom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn hack. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?'' We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfiedl as long as our children are stripped of their adulthood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating ''For Whites Only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and the Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulation. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering.
Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go hack to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream ... I have a dream that one day in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boy's and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today ... I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the south with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will he able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work togother, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will one day be free.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning. "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim 's pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring.'' And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rookies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaeeous slopes of California.
But not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountain side. Let freedom ring . . .
When we allow freedom to ring-when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,"Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, "We are free at last."
COPYRIGHT 1963, MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Genesis 39:1-23 NIV
Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife
1/ Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
2/ The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3/ When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4/ Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5/ From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6/ So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7/ and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”
8/ But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9/ No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10/ And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN STUCK BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE LIKE JOSEPH?
11/ One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12/ 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.
13/ When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14/ she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15/ When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
16/ She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17/ Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18/ But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
19/ When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20/ Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.
Butwhile Joseph was there in the prison, 21/ the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22/ So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23/ The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
UPDATE
Literal acceptance of Biblical chronology places Joseph's career as an Egyptian governmental official begining under Sesostris/Senusret or Senwosret II
and continuing into the reign of Sesostris/Senusret or Senwosret III.
"If the Biblical numbers are taken literally and at face value, the probable kings during the enslavement and subsequent rise to power of Joseph would have been Sesostris II (1897-1878 BC) and Sesostris III (1878-1843 BC). This argument rests on how one interprets 1 Kings 6:1, a verse which dates the Exodus 480 years before the fourth year of Solomon, ca. 966 BC."
Joseph's career fits quite well within the Egyptian Middle Kingdom/Dynasty 12, both Biblically and historically. {reference: christiananswers.net, article: “Is the Biblical story of Joseph in Egypt verified?”}
NOW LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PEOPLE, AND A LOOK AT SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES THEY ENGAGED IN DURING THE 11th-12th DYNASTY; IN AND AROUND {RIGHT BEFORE & DURING} THE TIME OF JOSEPH'S LIFE THERE.
Senusret/Sesostris or Senwosret I, pictured above left and center holding two ankhs.
The Ankh is one of the most recognizable symbols from ancient Egypt, known as "the key of life" or the "cross of life", and dating from the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150 - 2613 BCE) it is simply a cross with a loop at the top. The symbol, an Egyptian hieroglyph for " eternal life" or "breath of life" (`nh = ankh), as the Egyptians believed that one's earthly journey was only part of an eternal life {just as followers of Jesus Christ/born again Christians, believe today}, the ankh symbolizes both mortal existence and the afterlife or eternal life {just as the plain cross of Jesus Christ represents eternal life in Christ Jesus the Son of God & One with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who lived in a mortal body that died and resurrected from death into an eternal physical {transformed body no longer subject to death} as well as spiritual existence. NOW THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE INVITED TO HAVE ALL OF THEIR SINS FORGIVEN, COME INTO THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GOD & RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD OUR HEAVENLY FATHER {YAHWEH/JEHOVAH-YAHSHUA/JESUS}.
THIS IS WHAT MANY ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, AS WELL AS THE HEBREW ISRAELITES, HOPED, PRAYED AND PLANNED FOR; TO SEE THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH KING'S SALVATION AND BE GRANTED ETERNAL LIFE WITH HIM.
IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY, BUT WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE GOD'S GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE WITH ALL OF YOUR SINS FORGIVEN, CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK TO THE
"SALVATION PRAYER PAGE" AND SAY THE PRAYER FOR SALVATION.
The ankh symbol has been found on the seal of the biblical king Hezekiah. The royal seal of Hezekiah, king of Judah, was discovered in the Ophel excavations under the direction of archaeologist Eilat Mazar. It bears a seal impression depicting a two-winged sun disk flanked by ankh symbols and containing a Hebrew inscription that reads “Belonging to Hezekiah, (son of) Ahaz, king of Judah.” }.
Photo above: Courtesy of Dr. Eilat Mazar; photo by Ouria Tadmor.
Senusret/Sesostris or Senwosret I, was the 2nd Pharoah of the 12th Dynasty of Egypt after his father's death. This was a period in Egypt's history where literature and craftsmanship was at its peek. It was a period of affluence, and a remarkable time for mineral wealth, gold and fine jewelry which was produced in abundance. Jewelry masterpieces have been found, in the tombs of the royal ladies particularly at Dahshur and Lahun.
BELOW: Ancient Egyptian Neck piece - 24 carat gold, turquoise, coral, enamel (Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York)
ABOVE: Pharaoh Senusret II {Sesostris II or Senwosret II), 12th Dynasty, Middle Kingdom (one of the Pharaohs of Joseph's lifetime in Egypt).
BELOW: This pectoral and necklace is composed around the throne name of King Senwosret II. Hieroglyphic signs make up the design, and the whole may be read: "The god of the rising sun {GOD WHO CREATED THE SUN} grants life and dominion over all that the sun encircles for one million one hundred thousand years [i.e., eternity] to King Khakheperre {Senwosret II}." It was found among the jewelry of Princess Sithathoryunet in a special niche of her underground tomb beside the pyramid of Senwosret II at Lahun.
ABOVE: Bracelets with the Name of Amenemhat III, and Anklets of Princess Sithathoryunet.
- Period: Middle Kingdom Dynasty:
- Dynasty 12 Reign: reign of Senwosret II–Amenemhat III.
- Date: ca. 1887–1813 B.C.
- Geography: From Egypt, Fayum Entrance Area, Lahun, Tomb of Sithathoryunet (BSA Tomb 8), Chamber E, box 1, Egypt Exploration Society excavations, 1914
- Medium: Gold, carnelian, turquoise, feldspar, pellets of copper-silver alloy.
Princess Sithathoryunet, daughter of Khakeperre Senruset II, the 4th Pharaoh of the 12th Dynasty who ruled over Egypt from 1897 to 1878 B.C. had lots of jewelry in her tomb including the
above pictured lion bracelet and claw anklet.
The bracelet and anklet are dated around 1887-1813 B.C. during the reigns of Senwosret II and Amenemhat III of the 12th Dynasty. Both bracelet and anklet are amethyst and gold.
Closeup of wooden figurine of a woman in Egypt Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, 1900-1800 BC
Egyptian Brewery and Bakery Model-11th-12th Dynasties
This wood polychrome stucco model consists of: a kneeling woman kneading dough, a woman fanning cover home loaf pans with sides, two other women, one holding a jar; three men standing, one brewing beer, one holding a jar and the third carrying a basket on his head.
Notice the men have short hair and wear pants while the women have long hair and wear dresses.
BELOW: FISHING WITH NETS
Above: Picture of a wooden model from the tomb of Egyptian chancellor Meketre; model in Egyptian Museum
The chancellor Meketre was working under kings of the late Eleventh and the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty. This model and other miniature wooden models found in his tomb, imitate scenes from his world. They provide a rare glimpse of ancient Egyptian people and social life {the people and the life Joseph would have been exposed to during his life time in Egypt}. Meketre's fishermen are standing on two papyrus barks and empty the net on the barks manipulated by squatting oarsmen. They are about to pull the net from the water.
BIRTHING A COW
Ancient Egyptian model showing two men assisting in the birthing of a calf (11th-12th Dynasty, Middle Kingdom).
MODEL OF A BUTCHER'S WORKSHOP, EGYPT 12th DYNASTY, MIDDLE KINGDOM
WOODEN MODEL DEPICTING A WEAVER'S WORKSHOP - FROM THE TOMB OF MEKETRE
Model in Egyptian Museum
Other traces of ancient Egyptian textile industry such as clothing and fabrics have been found in other tombs.
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