Commento su Genesi 39:8

BUT HE REFUSED, AND SAID UNTO HIS MASTER’s WIFE. Scripture relates that he refused to do her will even though she was his mistress, i.e., his master’s wife, and he feared her, for he feared G-d more. This is the meaning of the expression, unto his master’s wife.

But he refused. The verse testifies that he, without any reasoning, refused to turn his cohabitation into fornication, but that he was forced to give his master's wife ulterior reasons apart from this.

וימאן, the meaning is clear beyond mistake.

ויאמר אל אשת אדוניוו וימאן “He refused, and said to the wife of his master, etc.” Although we are well aware that Potiphar was Joseph’s master, the Torah reports his position, in order to explain that Joseph’s refusal to respond to the advances of his mistress was based on her husband being his master, also. It was not based on Joseph finding her unattractive. He had reason to also fear the anger of his mistress, but he made plain that his fear of G’d was stronger than his fear of the results of her displeasure with him.

לא ידע וגו׳ ,er hat das unbegrenzte Vertrauen zu meiner Geschicklichkeit .das unbegrenzte Vertrauen zu meiner Redlichkeit ,וכל אשר יש לו ונו׳

‘But he (Joseph) refused, and said to his master’s wife’, etc. (39:8) First of all, the verse states that he inwardly refused – as being a mortal sin – to consort , rebelliously and treacherously, with his master’s wife – and, even more so, to beget children destined for idol-worship. And, besides this, i.e. his inward refusal to succumb – he also openly declared to her his reasons for avoiding intimacy with her –

‘Look, my master has handed over all his affairs to me’, etc. (39:8). What he wished to point out by this was that an individual who sins does so exclusively either to satiate himself with something materially beneficial, or for the sake of obtaining glory, or to fulfill a pledge (made by him); ‘but in my case, none of these factors apply: from the aspect of material benefit, my master has no idea of what household items are under my control, having placed all his possessions in my hand. As to obtaining glory, ‘even my master himself is not of higher rank in the household than I am’ – by which he meant to say: ‘whilst it is possible that within the king’s household, he is greater than I, in this household, he is not’. And as regards fulfillment of a pledge, my master has withheld nothing from me besides you, and that too is only because of your being his wife – i.e. insofar as your marital status is concerned; but not in any other respect. Accordingly, if all that remains to him is yourself, on account of your marriage to him, how can I perpetrate so great an evil as to remove you forcibly from him? – for by doing so, I would be acting like a traitor and a thief in respect of what was placed in my care. Furthermore, even if he knew nothing of the affair, and I could thus not be called a sinner against him personally, still, there can be no doubt that the sin would be against God, Who is aware of secret matters’. This, then, is what he meant by exclaiming: ‘I will have sinned against the Almighty!’

ותאמר שכבה עמי, “she said: lie with me!” She spoke vulgarly as do the whores, similar to what has been described in Proverbs 7,10: “and here a woman came toward him dressed in harlot’s attire and of determined heart.” Words such as reported here by the Torah are typical of an adulterous woman. When a chaste woman desires to express similar sentiments she uses refined language as did Ruth when she said to Boaz: “spread your robe over your handmaid;” (Ruth 3,9).

ויאמר אל אשת אדוניו, “he said to the wife of his master, etc.” The Torah could have simply written: “he said to her.” However, the Torah wanted to let us know that Joseph explained to Mrs. Potiphar that seeing she was his master’s wife he was duty bound to accept instructions from her; however, in this instance his duty towards G’d took precedence over his duty to obey her commands.