FALSE ACCUSATIONS (34 OF 52)
Scripture: Genesis 39:10-21
This content is part of a series.
False Accusations (34 of 52)
Series: Discipleship Part 2
Christopher B. Harbin
Genesis 39:10-21
Injustice is not a good thing. Injustice happens to good people. Injustice depends little on the character or actions of the victim. It can, however, be spurred on by frustration with a would-be victim's integrity. It can be that doing the right thing encourages others to carry out injustice upon us. We don't have to accept injustice as the final word in our lives, however. God still has a say beyond injustice.
Joseph found himself in a compromised situation. There was no human rights campaign working in Ancient Egypt. There was #metoo movement calling out sexual abuse. The rape and mistreatment of women and slaves was rather par for the course. There were no voices calling for and end to abuse and holding people accountable in a public setting. The social power inequalities were very ingrained with no one attempting to check them. There was no concern with corrective action to stem the status quo of abusing power against the voiceless and vulnerable.
It was a context that was more than ripe for injustice. It was a culture in which injustice flourished unchecked on many levels. People did not simply not talk about the abuse, it was the expected norm of society, as women and slaves were simply considered property without the dignity of human rights or independent personhood.
Such was the context in which Joseph found himself unjustly accused by his master's wife as a result of refusing her advances. While Joseph comported himself honorably, she took advantage of his latest refusal to frame him in revenge for rejection by someone of lesser status than herself. This was her way of exerting some semblance of power and control over her life, first by trying to force herself on a household slave and secondly by asserting her power over him with an accusation to exert her superiority in that unjust structure of power dynamics.
Given the context of this abusi ...
Series: Discipleship Part 2
Christopher B. Harbin
Genesis 39:10-21
Injustice is not a good thing. Injustice happens to good people. Injustice depends little on the character or actions of the victim. It can, however, be spurred on by frustration with a would-be victim's integrity. It can be that doing the right thing encourages others to carry out injustice upon us. We don't have to accept injustice as the final word in our lives, however. God still has a say beyond injustice.
Joseph found himself in a compromised situation. There was no human rights campaign working in Ancient Egypt. There was #metoo movement calling out sexual abuse. The rape and mistreatment of women and slaves was rather par for the course. There were no voices calling for and end to abuse and holding people accountable in a public setting. The social power inequalities were very ingrained with no one attempting to check them. There was no concern with corrective action to stem the status quo of abusing power against the voiceless and vulnerable.
It was a context that was more than ripe for injustice. It was a culture in which injustice flourished unchecked on many levels. People did not simply not talk about the abuse, it was the expected norm of society, as women and slaves were simply considered property without the dignity of human rights or independent personhood.
Such was the context in which Joseph found himself unjustly accused by his master's wife as a result of refusing her advances. While Joseph comported himself honorably, she took advantage of his latest refusal to frame him in revenge for rejection by someone of lesser status than herself. This was her way of exerting some semblance of power and control over her life, first by trying to force herself on a household slave and secondly by asserting her power over him with an accusation to exert her superiority in that unjust structure of power dynamics.
Given the context of this abusi ...
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