12. Joseph and Potiphar’s wife
When Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, he was sent to Egypt, according to the account of his life in Genesis. There he was sold as a slave to a man named Potiphar, and eventually became the head of Potiphar’s household, though remaining a slave. Potiphar’s wife, who is unnamed in the Genesis story, attempted to seduce Joseph; “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”. The wife remained where she was and called in the men of the house, to whom she complained that Joseph, “came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice”, offering Joseph’s garment as evidence.
Thus falsely accused of an attempted rape, Joseph was put in prison by Potiphar, where he drew the attention of Pharoah through his ability to interpret dreams. After his release and appointment to high office, Joseph married Asenath, leading the son of pharaoh to conspire with Joseph’s brothers to kill her husband, which led to the death of Pharoah’s son. Joseph and Asenath, who may have been Potiphar’s daughter, and thus the daughter of the person who falsely accused him, ruled Egypt for the following 48 years.
