A lesson overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 39:7-21 with the title “Accused,” for Sunday, Mary 5, 2024. (I might use an alternate title: “He Is With Me”!) A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  Richard Jewell was a security guard who was working in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He came across a suspicious backpack in the Olympic Park, where thousands of people had gathered. He gave the backpack to police, and began helping to clear the area. Soon after, 3 pipe bombs inside the backpack detonated, killing two people and injuring over 100. After the explosion, the media interviewed Jewell and he got a lot of attention for saving so many lives. (I remember watching this on the news.) Because he got so much media attention, the FBI began to suspect Jewell had purposefully planted the bomb so that he would come across as a hero. He went through an infamous “trial by media”, but after many months he was finally exonerated. Another man admitted to planting the bombs, and Richard Jewell ended up suing several media outlets for libel and slander. 

Being falsely accused is one of the most difficult things to deal with in life. 

??? Have you/someone you know ever been falsely accused of something???

This is what happens to Joseph in our study of Genesis 39 today — but we will see that God’s presence with Joseph and His purpose for his life was greater even than all the great injustices against him — and will be for us today too! 

(ALTERNATE INTRO: “You are with me” is one of the most important phrases of Psalm 23 — and one of the most important concepts of the whole Bible. Those words “You are with me” are both literally and spiritually the center of Psalm 23. In Hebrew there are 26 words before “You are with me,” and 26 words after, emphasizing the centrality of that thought: that “God is with me” is center of that Psalm, and the key to the security that Psalm 23 expresses.  Today in our lesson in Genesis 39 we see how that God was with Joseph was a key in his life during his time in slavery and prison, and how it can be a key in our lives today too.)

CONTEXT

We’ve been studying through the Book of Genesis together, and we left off last time with Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob, being sold by his jealous brothers into slavery, and taken away by Ishmaelite traders into Egypt. Despite all this, as we shall see, God was with him!

OUTLINE

I.   “He Is With Me” in My Difficult Situation (:1-5)

II.  “He Is With Me” in My Temptation (:6-18)

III. “He Is With Me” in My Ultimate Purpose (:19- 23)

TEXT

I. “He Is With Me” in My Difficult Situation 

As we saw last week, Joseph was already in a very difficult situation; his brothers in that “toxic” family situation had kidnapped him and sold him into slavery. :1 says: “Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there.”

So Joseph was in a bad spot: wrongly sold into slavery, and now bought by an Egyptian officer. Most people would agree, there are not a lot of situations in life worse than this.

BUT NOTICE :2. There is something greater than his difficult situation: “The LORD was with Joseph, so he became a successful man.”

This is a key phrase: “The LORD was with Joseph.” We see this repeated several times here in Genesis 39:

— here (:2)

— again in :3 “Now his master saw that the LORD was with him”

— then we will se it again in :21 “But the LORD was with Joseph”

— and again in :23 “The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the LORD was with him”

Despite all these difficult circumstances, “the LORD was with him.” As we have seen before, the word “LORD” in the Old Testament, in all 4 caps, means in the Hebrew text that it is “YHWH,” “Yahweh” or “Jehovah,” the personal name of the God of Israel, the God of the Bible. THAT is who was with Joseph. He wasn’t “lucky;” it wasn’t “karma” or just “any” god; it was THIS specific God: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, who was with him.

THIS makes all the difference: if the God of the Bible is with you.

There are a number of folks in scripture, that it made all the difference that God was with them:

— Daniel in the lion’s den; 

— Hananiah, Meshach, & Azariah in the fiery furnace — there was a 4th Man in the furnace with them

— Repeatedly Ezra says in his book that he was successful because “the hand of the Lord was upon him/me/us.” God’s presence made the difference.  (Ezra 7:6, 7:9, 7:28, et al.)

— Paul in II Timothy 4:17, said that everyone has deserted him, “BUT” he said, “The Lord stood by me and strengthened me … and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth.” That the Lord was with him made all the difference for the Apostle Paul. 

ALL of these are very difficult circumstances, but because God was with them, it made a huge difference for them.

(If you don’t use that “You are with me” is the exact center of Psalm 23 in the introduction to this lesson, you might refer to it here: “It made all the difference for David that God was with him. It was the center of Psalm 23 …”.)

 It is a striking and powerful point: “YOU ARE WITH ME” is the heart of that great Psalm — and makes a huge difference in OUR lives too.

It makes a difference for US today, too, that God is with us.

THE single most important thing we need to know in our life, is that God is with us.

Because if HE is with us, it doesn’t matter if we are in a lion’s den or in a fiery furnace, we will live and be blessed, like Daniel and those others did, because He is with us. THAT HE IS WITH US IS GREATER THAN ANY OTHER FACTOR in our life. I really believe that.

AND THE single most important thing we need in our churches, is for God to be with us.

We can have everything “right” as a church, but if His presence is not with us, it’s not right; something will be wrong. Because His presence is the most important thing.

+x I Corinthians 14 says when an unbeliever comes into your worship service, “he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.” GOD IS WITH US! That’s what the unbelievers want to see! That this is no “dead religion,” but that God is really here. THIS should be our great prayer for our churches: that God’s presence would be manifest, and that all can see that “He is with us.” That’s the most important thing.

It’s a great thing to pray for our church — and it can also be a very Biblical blessing to pray for our loved ones. Now, this CAN be one of the most thoughtless, “trite” prayers we pray for someone (“be with so-and-so”) — but on the other hand it can also be one of the most meaningful, powerful prayers we can pray, IF we are really praying it with heart and understanding: “God, BE WITH them”! Be WITH this person; bless them with Your presence and power and peace.  

The presence of God with us is a difference-maker. But here’s the thing: you can’t take His presence for granted. You need to make sure that He is really with you. How can you do that?

That is what THE GOSPEL is all about:

— God made us to be with Him in glory forever

— but we separated ourselves from His glory by our sin (Isaiah 59:2 says “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God”)

— that’s why Jesus died on the cross: to forgive our sins, so that He would send His Holy Spirit into our lives, so that as He said in Matthew 28:20 in the Great Commission, “Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.” If Jesus is our Savior, we CAN know that He is always with us; no one can pluck us out of His hand, as He said in John 10. He will be with us just like He was with Joseph, and David, and Paul. But we must make sure His Spirit is really in our life, because Jesus is our Lord & Savior.

II. “He Is With Me” In My Temptation

So even in slavery, God was with Joseph and blessed him. Verse 6 says “(Potiphar) left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate.” So Joseph was really in charge of that man’s estate; a great blessing.

But then came the temptation and another trial:

:6 ends kind of ominously: “Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.” Verse 7 says “His master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me.’” 

I want you to look at the very end of Joseph’s answer to her in :9, where he says, “How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?”

I think that is a key statement. Back in :8 he’d said, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge” — so he recognized his responsibility to Potiphar. But there at the end of :9 he gives his ultimate reason: That it was “a sin against GOD.” Joseph knew that his ultimate accountability was to GOD.

So here we see that not only was “the LORD with him” to bless his work and make him successful, but also that the LORD was with him ALL THE TIME, watching everything that he said and did. And so his ultimate reason to not sin, was not that he might “get caught” by a man, but because it was a “sin against God.”

We need to understand this in our lives too. There are all kinds of reasons for us not to do things — but the most important reason for us to do the right thing in every situation is because we know that GOD is with us, and it affects our relationship with Him. 

That God is always with us, watching us, holding us accountable for our every thought, word, and deed, is one of the constant themes of scripture:

— Psalm 139 powerfully reminds us of that:

“O LORD, You have searched me and known me. (:2) You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. (:3) You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.”

(:7) “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?” And he says in :18, “When I awake, I am still with You.” 

You might read this passage, or portions of it, to remind your group, that God is always with us, “scrutinizing” our path as :3 says, that He is “intimately acquainted with (what?) ALL our ways”!  

The other day I had run by Wal-Mart on my way home from the office. I only had about 6-7 things to pick up, and I was just trying to get it over with in a hurry. But at the end of one aisle, a woman was about to cross my path with her cart, and I have to say my first instinct was to hurry and pass her, but I didn’t; I nodded to her go ahead. She had an older elementary aged son and a daughter with her, and the son went across with her, but the daughter waited, not knowing if she should go first, or me. Again, I almost went ahead, but I thought, no, let her go. So I nodded to her, and she went. I was just about to push my cart across the aisle when I heard a strong man’s voice from behind me, saying, “Thank you!” And I looked back, and there was obviously the husband and father of that family, thanking me for being courteous to his family. I thought it was a neat thing for him to do — but I have to say to you that it was also kind of chilling to me in a way — that could have easily gone the other way, and I did not know that I was being watched! The father was watching!

(You can use that story if you’d like, or one like it from your own experience, but then make the point:) We all need to remember that our Ultimate Father is always watching. And as the Bible makes clear, He is not just watching here and there, at one time or another, but 24/7, everything we say, do, or even think in the corner of our mind! He is always with us; He is always watching, and we are accountable to Him for all we do.  

So that “the LORD is with us” is really a two-edged sword:

— it’s positive in that He’s always with us; that’s a comfort!

— but in a sense it’s negative in that “He’s always with us”! 

YOU/YOUR CLASS can think of times we need to remember that He’s always with us:

— When we’re “alone” and tempted to sin

— When we’re looking on our phones or on the internet

— Even when we’re alone in our THOUGHTS — God knows them! 

But AGAIN this throws us all on the gospel: because who can survive that kind of scrutiny! Who can live 24/7 with God watching them every second, and never stumble? NONE of us! This is just why Romans 3:23 says “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” When you realize that God is with you all the time, you realize just how far short you fall — and just how much you need the grace of God in the gospel; that the only way you can be saved is because Jesus died for all our sins on the cross.  

So Joseph turns away from the temptation, not wanting to sin against God. But :12 says “She caught him by his garment, saying ‘Lie with me’ and he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.

Here is an important point: there are times when you are facing temptation that you don’t need to stand there and try to resist it; you just need to “flee.” Joseph just got out of there. There are times to do that.

— II Timothy 2:22 says “Flee youthful lusts.” In other words, don’t just stay there and try to fight it; flee it. Get away from it. 

Especially if you know you are in a temptation that is particularly powerful for you — just get out. “Flee” it like Joseph did, and like Paul told Timothy.  

Then :13-18 describe how she made a false accusation against Joseph, that he had tried to attack her. 

This is of course a horrible situation, to be falsely accused like that. Maybe you, or someone you know, has been falsely accused. It has to be one of the worst feelings, to be punished, or even accused, of doing something you did not do? How should we deal with accusation, scripturally?

I have not heard this expressed in the context of our modern social climate, where accusations are becoming more common — but there is a Biblical principle that applies here: the principle of “2 or 3 witnesses.” 

This principle is affirmed throughout the Bible: (You could have some volunteers read these verses one after another:)

— Deuteronomy 19:15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.

— Numbers 15:30  “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.

— Matthew 18:16  “But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

— II Corinthians 13:1  “Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

— I Timothy 5:19  “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

So we have this principle taught both in the Old Testament, and reiterated in the New, both gospels and the epistles, which reflect early church practice, of requiring 2-3 witnesses to establish a charge against someone. This is one of those Biblical principles that would go a long way to help us clarify situations that exist in our society today. One accusation is not enough to condemn a person. There should be 2-3 witnesses to bring judgment.

Now, this does not mean that an accusation brought by one person is not serious, or that it is not true; it only means that it can’t be proven, or that judgment should not be rendered, on the basis of only one witness. 

Does that mean that some people may “get away” with something? On a human level, yes. But on the other hand this also protects individuals (like Joseph here and many others) from suffering from false accusations. 

AND remember that for the Christian, our ultimate faith is that GOD IS THE JUDGE, and no one ever “gets away” with anything. 

There are things that we just have to commit to God, and know that HE will ultimately make all things right. That doesn’t always happen in this world — but we can be confident that God’s judgment will be meted out in eternity. (And that doesn’t mean we should be slack in our judgment here; we should do everything we can to see that justice is done here on earth. But we know it will not be perfect here. And when it does fail, we should put our trust in God’s ultimate judgment.)

This fits with the theme that “God is with us” — because HE is our ultimate Judge, we can know that justice will be done. He is with us!

III. “He Is With Me” For My Ultimate Purpose (:19-23)

So Joseph is in this horrible situation, falsely accused, and :20 says “So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail.”

But what does the very next verse say? :(21) “But the LORD was with Joseph, and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer”!  Again GOD IS WITH HIM! And He blessed him. :22 says “The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. (:23) The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge BECAUSE THE LORD WAS WITH HIM; and whatever he did, the LORD made to prosper.”

SO there we have it again, TWO MORE TIMES: “The LORD was with him.” And this makes all the difference. Even in prison, Joseph “rises to the top” and prospers, and starts running everything. 

And God’s purposes are going to be fulfilled through this.

Just as we’ve been saying for weeks now — and we’re going to continue to see it for the rest of Genesis — God’s Sovereignty (or rule) His Providence (His plan and provision for His people) is still working, even through the worst of human circumstances. 

— God’s plan worked through Jacob and his deception

— God’s plan worked through Joseph’s brothers evil intent

— AND AGAIN we see this week, here is Joseph, unjustly sold into slavery, falsely accused — horrible situation. AND YET GOD IN HIS SOVEREIGN PROVIDENCE USED THIS! We’re going to see next time how God used even this false accusation to put Joseph where he would get Pharoah’s attention, and it would end up saving his whole family, and the whole race of the Jews, and preserve the plan for the Messiah to come and save us. 

So God used even this false accusation to bring about His ultimate good purposes. Romans 8:28 says “God causes all things to work together for good …”. “All things”! Even things like false accusations, and other bad things that happen to us.

In Thomas Kidd’s George Whitefield, America’s Spiritual Founding Father, he writes how on a summer evening in 1744 at an inn in Plymouth, England, where George Whitefield was preaching:

“That evening while he waited, the woman of the house tapped on his door: a well-dressed gentleman was waiting downstairs to see him. Whitefield figured that this was a “Nicodemite” (like the Pharisee Nicodemus, who had visited Jesus by night). He invited the visitor up to his room.2 All seemed well at n-. The gentleman congratulated the itinerant on his triumphs. But then the stranger jumped up, started cursing at Whitefield, and began beating him about the head and shoulders with a gold-headed cane. The preacher imeediately “underwent all the fears of a sudden violent death.”’ As he screamed for help, the woman of the house and her daughter ran up the stairs, burst into the room, and grabbed the assailant by the collar. Hitting Whitefield a few more times, the attacker got spooked and ran out the door. The woman shoved, him down the stairs, but another assailant appeared. Meeting the innkeeper up to the room, he grabbed her by the heel and cast her down to the first floor,. Nearly breaking her back. Neighbors had heard the commotion by now, and attackers vanished into the night.

Whitefield learned later that the miscreants had plotted the attack at a local tavern. He considered having the conspirators arrested and prosecuted, but instead just went about his normal preaching duties. The next time he spoke outdoors in Plymouth, two thousand more people than usual showed up, to ‘hear a man, that had like to have been murdered in his bed,’ Whitefield wrote. God could use evil to further the gospel, he reminded himself.”  (Thomas S. Kidd, George Whitefield, America’s Spiritual Founding Father, pp. 170-171)

— God could use even an evil attack on George Whitefield for good to further the gospel. 

— God can use even a false accusation against Joseph to further His plan to save His people and give us the Messiah.
What a lesson! God can use EVEN THIS! If He can use THIS for His good purposes, then what is there in our lives that He cannot use for His purposes? It should build up our faith and confidence in the Lord, in His Divine Sovereignty, in His Providential plan, and His purposes for our lives. Especially IF, as we have emphasized, we know for sure that He is with us! 

So you might emphasize that again at the end: “God causes all things to work together …” — just make very sure that you “love Him and are called according to His purpose” so that you can know this will be true for you. Make sure that you KNOW that He is indeed “with you” like He was with Joseph! That’s the key. And of course the only way we can know for sure that He is with us, is through the gospel. So encourage your group to make sure that they really know that God is with them, and that His plans will succeed for them, because they know Jesus truly is their own Lord & Savior. 

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