Комментарий к Берешит 39:7

ותשא אשת אדניו HIS LORD’S WIFE LIFTED UP HER EYES etc. — wherever אחר is used and not אחרי it means immediately after (Genesis Rabbah 44:5).

ותשא אשת אדוניו, on account of his good looks described before.

ויהי אחר הדברים האלה, after Joseph had been in the house of his Egyptian master for some time and had occupied the highest position in that household, feeling very secure, the invitation of a romantic relationship with Mrs. Potiphar brought tension into his life again. He had, of course, no way of knowing at the time that these developments had as its purpose that he would in due course rise to far higher prominence and that he would become the direct instrument of bringing his family to Egypt where they would reside in comfort and found a nation. Also the sin of the Chief butler and Chief baker respectively, as well as their being held in the same jail as Joseph and his becoming their valet, were all part of G’d’s design to further His plans without interfering with anyone’s free choice. We have to learn from this whole story that when a person suffers a setback in life, one that appears to him undeserved, he must remember how all these setbacks worked in Joseph’s favour at the time although he was not yet aware of it. We must therefore trust that G’d has our best interests at heart at all times, even though we cannot always appreciate this at the time when we are being tested. The incidents were narrated at this point to demonstrate Joseph’s righteousness when on his own without family support, after having in effect been cast out from his family.

It is due to the fact that a man’s high status, plus the fact that everyone pays him attention, frequently induce women to love him, that Scripture states at this point (39:7): ‘So it happened after these events’ i.e. once he had been appointed supreme controller of his master’s house, coupled with his natural good looks, that his mistress started to think about him.

When the verse tells us that ‘his master’s wife raised her eyes towards Joseph’, it intends to convey the idea that she was, so to speak, pleading with him (to surrender to her) because of her love for him. When it states that she ‘raised her eyes towards him’, this expression must be understood in the same sense as the phrase we find (in Psalm 123:1): ‘Unto Thee, O Lord, have I raised my eyes!’ She thus addressed him: ‘Lie with me!’, as though to say, ‘now that you are already in control of the entire household, rule over me as well!’