Myth #71:

Potipher’s wife tried to seduce Joseph.

The Myth: And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out. And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out. And she laid up his garment by her, until his LORD came home. And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me: And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out. And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison. (Gen. 39:7–20)

The Reality: Older mythological variations of this story were widespread in Egypt and the Near East. Biblical scribes reworked the tale and inserted it into the story of Joseph.

After Joseph’s brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites (or was it the Midianites—the story gets the two confused), his purchasers in turn offered him to an Egyptian official named Potiphar. Joseph’s new master put him in charge of the household and he performed well, greatly increasing the family wealth.

Potipher’s wife took a liking to him and tried to seduce him, but Joseph thought it wrong and a betrayal of his master. While the biblical account clearly shows Joseph blameless, his resolve may have benefited from the presence of nearby witnesses. Apparently, he continued to avoid her charms even as she removed his clothes. When he fled her room, he left his clothes in her hand. She panicked at the thought that someone might find her with his garment clutched to her bosom—witnesses were apparently about to enter the room—and she cried rape. Potiphar, faced with the dilemma of either calling his flirtatious wife a liar or having to punish his innocent servant, took the expedient political route. He jailed Joseph.

The name Potiphar provides a clue as to when this story may have been written. Not only is Potiphar the name of Joseph’s first master, a variant, Potiphera, is the name of his father-in-law, the chief priest of the temple at Heliopolis. The Egyptian name Potiphar is used sporadically prior to the tenth century B.C., and doesn’t come into general use until at least the seventh century. A story having two such characters with that name, both in important positions, indicates a very late authorship, seventh century or later. This would be consistent with a post-Psammetichus (see Myth #70) authorship of the main narrative.

The story of a young hero rejecting the wiles of a jealous woman was a frequent theme in ancient myths. One of the most famous versions appears in the Egyptian story known as The Tale of the Two Brothers. The story’s origins may go back as far as the third millennium.

The Egyptian text tells of two brothers, Anubis, the older one, and Bata, the younger. The younger lived with his brother and brother’s wife. The story describes Bata as “a perfect man” who performed most of the household and field chores. One day, Anubis’s wife came upon him and confessed her desire for carnal knowledge. He rejected her advances, saying she and the brother were like parents to him. He promised to say nothing of her actions. The wife, afraid of being found out, arranged to look as if she had been assaulted and accused her brother-in-law of the act. Despite Bata’s denial, Anubis became enraged and the younger brother left the household.

In the course of the story, Bata acquired a beautiful wife as a gift of the gods but she wound up abandoning him for a position as the pharaoh’s concubine. On several occasions, the younger brother took on new life forms—pine cone, bull, persea tree—and his estranged wife arranged for each of Bata’s new physical forms to be destroyed. Eventually, the king learned of the young man’s accomplishments and made him crown prince of Egypt.

From a false accusation of rape, to marrying a wife with religious connections, through several tests and trials, and finally becoming crown prince of Egypt, the Egyptian and biblical stories follow the same general plot line. The Egyptian story, however, is more deeply immersed in polytheistic life-death symbolism than the biblical tale. Anubis, the older brother, for example, is the deity that guides dead souls into the underworld to meet Osiris. The biblical account purges the polytheistic mysticism but retains much of the basic structure, substituting alternative problems for the life-death-rebirth sequences.

The Mycenaean Greeks, Homer’s Danoi, had a similar story, which would have been brought into Canaan by the Sea Peoples and the tribe of Dan (see Myth #68).

In the Greek story, Bellerophon, while visiting the court of Proetus, was approached by Proetus’s wife for sexual purposes. Bellerophon rejected her proposals and the wife, to save her reputation, told her husband that Bellerophon had threatened her. Proetus, like Potiphar, believed his wife over the accused and made arrangements for punishment.

In Bellerophon’s case, Proetus wrote a letter to another king and asked Bellerophon to deliver it. The letter requested that the king have Bellerophon killed. To accomplish the goal, the king sent the hero out on several dangerous missions, but the hero always survived. So impressed with Bellerophon’s exploits was this king, that he bequeathed his kingdom to the hero.

Here, again, we have a false accusation, punishment of the hero, survival through tests, and elevation to the throne. Worth noting are some other connections between the Bellerophon story and the patriarchal history. The king who wanted Bellerophon dead had a twin brother named Acrisius, and the two of them struggled in the womb. Acrisius had a daughter named Danae.

Joseph’s father Jacob also struggled in the womb with his brother and he had a daughter named Dinah, essentially the same name as Danae. Additionally, Proetus and Acrisius were descended from Danaus, whom we identified with Jacob in the story of Dinah’s rape. So the story of Bellerophon has close mythological connections to the story of Danaus and Aegyptus. If the one influenced biblical history, it is probable that the other also was adapted by Hebrew scribes.

The biblical version of Joseph’s betrayal by Potiphar’s wife has several widespread antecedents and the two reviewed here, the Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers and the Greek myth about Bellerophon would have been well-known among Hebrew scribes and easily incorporated into a larger epic.