Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave to traders on their way to Egypt. It was Judah’s idea to sell him rather than murdering him. The text makes it pretty clear that it was because of the profit motive most of all. Judah may have wanted to save Joseph’s life, but that’s just a guess. After Joseph was taken away, Judah’s life went downhill, but Joseph’s life went uphill. At the same time, Judah was negotiating sex with a cult prostitute in Canaan. The prostitute was Tamar, his daughter-in-law. The story shifts back to Joseph in Egypt. There we see Judah’s little brother resisting the sexual advances of his bosses’ wife. Tamar, Judah’s sexual partner, uses Judah’s staff and ring to convict him of his guilt in this affair. He repents and acknowledges his wrong and says that Tamar was more righteous than he was. It’s like having a blue dress covered with DNA evidence proving sexual contact. It just can’t be ignored.
Now we move to Egypt and see Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses Joseph of seducing her. She, too, brings evidence against Joseph. She has taken the garment he had left behind and used it as evidence that he had attempted to rape her. Interestingly, Joseph’s accuser presents proof of his guilt with Joseph’s garment. This is the 2nd time in Joseph’s life that the person he’s responsible to, first his father then Potiphar, is deceived about him by one of his garments. His brothers brought the coat of many colors to Jacob with blood on it to prove that Joseph had been killed by wild animals (or something!). Tamar uses her evidence to convict Judah of the truth of his guilt in her conception. Potiphar’s wife uses her evidence to deceive Potiphar concerning Joseph’s guilt. Judah appeared innocent until proven guilty. Joseph was sinless while appearing guilty.
Sometimes we care more about appearing innocent than we do about actually being innocent. Yet, while man looks at outward appearances, God always looks at the heart. In Joseph’s apparent guilt, the story includes three statements that say “and God was with Joseph.” In Judah’s report, the mention of God is totally absent. It’s more important to God for us to “be” innocent than it is to “appear” innocent. I like the way Susan Brayford concludes her discussion on Joseph’s story. She writes, “Despite the blaming and sarcastic tone of his wife’s accusation, Potiphar believes her version of the story and, because of his anger, has Joseph thrown into prison. Joseph’s real Lord, however, knows the truth and continues to work in the margins to secure a favorable situation for Joseph.”1
1 Susan A. Brayford, Genesis: Commentary, ed. Stanley E. Porter, Richard S. Hess, and John Jarick, Septuagint Commentary Series (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2007), 407.