RT Article
T1 ‘AND JOSEPH SLEPT WITH POTIPHAR'S WIFE’: A RE-READING
JF Literature and theology
VO 11
IS 2
SP 145
OP 151
A1 Weinberger, Theodore
LA English
YR 1997
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1780305877
AB Joseph's decision not to sleep with Potiphar's wife is traditionally held up by Christian and Jewish faith communities as a model of piety. Yet both the biblical text and the way the text is transmitted in traditional Judaism may suggest otherwise. From a close reading of Genesis and an appreciation of traditional Jewish cantillation, there emerges an alternate model of piety out of this biblical story—one that privileges sexual gratification over renunciation. Though ancient biblical exegetes saw complicity in Joseph's relationship with Potiphar's wife, and saw Joseph's imprisonment as punishment for the sin of irresolutely rejecting adultery, it is possible to argue that Joseph's incarceration is punishment for the sin of rejecting mutual attraction and sexual intimacy in favour of loyalty to a slavemaster.
DO 10.1093/litthe/11.2.145