Life in the Potiphar family
To his brother
25 February 1940
The vicar preached a very good sermon on Joseph[...]Reflection on the story raised in my mind a problem I never happened to have thought of before; why was Joseph imprisoned and not killed by Potiphar? Surely it seems extraordinary mild treatment for attempted rape of a great lady by a slave? Or must one assume that Potiphar, tho' ignorant of the lady's intention to make him a cuckold, was aware in general that her stories about the servants were to be taken with a grain of salt--that his real view was 'I don't suppose for a moment that Joseph did anything of the sort, but I foresee there'll be no peace till I get him out of the house'? One is tempted to imagine the whole life of the Potiphar family, e.g. how often had he heard similar stories from her before?
~The Letters of C.S. LewisThe vicar preached a very good sermon on Joseph[...]Reflection on the story raised in my mind a problem I never happened to have thought of before; why was Joseph imprisoned and not killed by Potiphar? Surely it seems extraordinary mild treatment for attempted rape of a great lady by a slave? Or must one assume that Potiphar, tho' ignorant of the lady's intention to make him a cuckold, was aware in general that her stories about the servants were to be taken with a grain of salt--that his real view was 'I don't suppose for a moment that Joseph did anything of the sort, but I foresee there'll be no peace till I get him out of the house'? One is tempted to imagine the whole life of the Potiphar family, e.g. how often had he heard similar stories from her before?
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You can find the story of Joseph and Potiphar in Genesis 39, which is online here.
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C. S. L. thought of a lot, didn't he? Thanks for posting this.
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