Reclaiming our Stories: Potiphar's Wife

By Jennifer Roberts 

Read more of Potiphar's Wife's story: Genesis 39

Prayer: Holy One, all creation bears the story of your love and grace. Forgive us when we do not stop to hear the stories of others, when we do not share space for your story to continue to be written. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that are open to your image and your story in and through all of creation. In the name of Jesus Christ, who bore the story of forgiveness and grace in his very body for us. Amen. 

When I first told my spouse that I would be writing a devotional about Potiphar’s wife for a devotional series on Reclaiming the Stories of Women in the Bible, he was flabbergasted that Potiphar’s wife would be included among these other women. “How are you going to talk about a woman who tries to seduce another man?” he asked. Admittedly, I was not sure how this was going to go, but being stubborn I insisted that it could be done and that she was simply misunderstood. Secretly, however, I laid in bed that night begging the Spirit to figure something out and quick! 

Reading this story over and over again on a surface level, it seems very obvious that there is a person in the wrong and a person in the right. This story begins giving great detail about the relationship that Joseph has with God. And it’s not just favor with God that Joseph has, but favor with his Egyptian master, Potiphar. This story sets the reader up to see Joseph as a man who is a humble servant, while setting Potiphar’s wife up as a tricky woman who waits on her husband to leave before sneaking up on her prey. And while I am not suggesting that Joseph did anything wrong, I am suggesting that we have been given the gift of Joseph’s story; insight into a favor that has placed him on the right side, leaving the seat on the wrong side wide open for Potiphar’s wife. 

The gift of someone’s story is sacred. 

Yet, Potiphar’s wife doesn’t even have a name in this story, much less a space to be vulnerable and offer the gift of her own story. And the little space that she has been given is occupied by the imaginations of all those who will read this story on the surface level without stopping to ask questions about what she’s been through, how she sees the world, and where she will end up. Her story may contain truths that have left her neglected, longing for companionship and attention that has not been given to her by her absent husband. 

Additionally, it may be that in this story the character the author seeks to display is one that our own society has long burdened women with as they seek to have their voices heard, to have their stories believed, and who remain nameless, which creates just enough space that men who wish to excuse their behavior have called themselves Joseph and given Potiphar’s wife the name of their victim – wielding the power of their story against those who have long had to fight for their own.

Stories are not only sacred, but they hold power. God is calling each of us to hear the stories of those around us and to find the image of the Divine in them. And not only that, we have a baptismal call to be caretakers of these stories – listening carefully, looking for who has been given power and who has not, and offering the space to hear more, reserving judgment until we too have been willing to share our own. When the gifts of stories are exchanged we often find that we have more in common than we do different and that stories are not always as they seem until we are willing to be vulnerable with one another. 

Your story is sacred. 

Your story has power. 

May your story be known and believed in its fullness, because your story is part of God’s story!

Amen.

Reclaiming our Stories: Lot's Wife

by Alexandria Long

Read more of her story: Genesis 19:12-29 

Two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening and were invited to spend the night at Lot’s home.  Due to the depravity and wickedness of the men in Sodom, the angels were used by the Lord to destroy the town.  Lot, his wife, and two daughters were taken away from the town and told not to look back and to flee to the hills to survive.  Lot only wanted to go to a small, nearby town however, because he said he would die if he went to the hills.  The angels agreed.  As they were fleeing, Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.

That’s all we have for Lot’s wife.  She is not named in the Bible, although some Jewish traditions (the Midrash) have named her “Edith.”  She doesn’t argue with the angels, she doesn’t defend the men or their actions in the town, and she certainly doesn’t offer up anyone else to be raped, like Lot did with their two virgin daughters.  She definitely doesn’t rape anybody herself, like Lot’s daughters do to Lot after the destruction of the Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding area.  She actually doesn’t say a word.

I thought, when I picked Lot’s wife to reflect on her story, it was going to be a story about a test of faith and Lot’s wife failed.  She turned into a pillar of salt because she didn’t have faith or trust in God.  And, it’s true that some commentaries say that.  Women in Scripture reads, “Salt preserves her in a fixed state.  Is this symbolic of her still being tied to the security that city culture is assumed to offer?”  Some traditions come in super aggressively, saying Lot’s wife disobeyed the angels and looked back because she was betraying her secret longing for that way of life (Schrafstein, Torah and Commentary), while some opinions are kinder, saying she was checking on her daughters.  All the text says is: The angels said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed,” (Genesis 19:17).  Lot’s wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).  All the traditions and commentaries are just offering opinions and conjecture that the Bible certainly doesn’t have.  

There’s no real judgement or test in the Bible.  It wasn’t about her faith or her past sins.  The angels cautioned the humans to keep running and not to look back so they wouldn’t get distracted.  A natural disaster courtesy of God’s judgement and wrath was about to rain down on that area and any human still in the area was going to be consumed.  The text says “sulfur and fire,” and the Lutheran Study Bible says this could have been an earthquake with associated fires and natural bitumen deposits.  Lot’s wife becoming distracted and hesitating wasn’t about her faith or sins, it was about her getting caught up in an explosion in an environmental disaster because she didn’t flee the area.  The biblical text does not comment on Lot’s wife: she’s just another human, in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught up in an act of God.

How have natural disasters affected you or your faith community, especially when they’re blamed on God’s judgement for perceived wickedness (e.g. hurricanes and tornadoes being blamed on God for people accepting gay marriage)?  How do you react when life just happens, when you’re caught up in something damaging through no fault of your own and you just have to learn how to deal with it?  What does it mean to your faith or your outlook on God, that the oppressed and the oppressors are treated the same in this story? (The entire area was destroyed; those who sinned, those who were innocent, elderly, children, all animals, etc).

Reclaiming our Stories: Hagar

By Sarah Locke

Read more of Hagar's story: Genesis 16; 21:1-21

The story of Hagar that we read in Genesis consists of three main acts. It is a difficult story to read for some, as it involves multiple layers of abuse.  

Act I - Sarai gives her slave-girl Hagar to Abram in order for Sarai to “obtain children by her” (Genesis 16:2) and Hagar becomes pregnant. Sarai becomes jealous, is cruel to Hagar, and Hagar runs away (Genesis 16:6). 

Act II - An angel of the Lord appears to Hagar and speaks directly with her, making an annunciation and giving a name to her child. God tells Hagar to return to Abram and Sarai. Hagar names the Lord, returns to Abram, and gives birth to Ishmael (Genesis 16:7-16). 

Act III - Sarah gives birth to Isaac and, after some time, sends Hagar and Ishmael away. God saves Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness. God is with the boy as he grows up and Hagar finds him a wife in Egypt (Genesis 21:1-21). 

The first thing that I recognize about Hagar’s story is that I should not be the one reflecting on it and giving my own perspective. I am, for all intents and purposes, Sarai in this story. I have a comfortable home, I have privilege and status inherent in my ethnicity (whiteness for me, Hebrew for Sarai), I hold promises from God that I do not always understand or believe. Who am I to shed light on Hagar’s story? When people who look like me have spent the majority of history using, oppressing, and discarding women in positions like Hagar’s? 

Perhaps all I can do is confront the harsh reality of this story and the ways in which it has been distorted throughout history. Perhaps I can allow space for Hagar to speak into her own story. 

This story is about two women pitted against one another, under the forces and pressures of a patriarchal society. But unlike we hear in this text, Hagar “foreigner” is not just some random slave woman. Many rabbinical commentators claim that Hagar is actually pharaoh's daughter, given to Sarai when she was part of the pharaoh's harem (Genesis 12:15). Some rabbis even say that Hagar’s true name is Keturah, and that when Sarah died Abraham sought her out, married her, and had six more children with her. 

It stands to reason that many rabbinical commentators regard Hagar with much more dignity than Paul, who uses Hagar as an example of being in bondage to the law, while Sarah is freed by grace (Galatians 4). Later Christians like Augustine, Aquinas, and Wycliffe continue to abuse an already abused woman, claiming that she is "unredeemed." Perhaps Christianity’s hatred toward Hagar has more to do with her part as the matriarch of the Islamic faith (the prophet Muhammed would come through Ishmael). 

Whatever the reason, Hagar has received very little sympathy and almost no voice in the Christian tradition. 

In fact, the only time that Hagar speaks in the entire Genesis narrative is when she is approached by a messenger of the Lord in the wilderness, stating that she is running away from her mistress and when she names God (Genesis 16:8, 13). Then God sends her back to her abusers. Read that again. God sends her back to her abusers. I imagine this is why Phyllis Trible includes this story in her book Texts of Terror-- not even God is on the side of the oppressed in this story.

This encounter with the divine is remarkable. Hagar is the first woman to receive an annunciation from God and “the only person in the Bible who named God... [and] the one doing the naming has a kind of power over the one who is named” (Rev. Dr. Lynn Japinga, Preaching the Women of the Old Testament). She is also the only woman to receive a divine promise of descendants. 

How is it that a woman with this much power in the wilderness, even power over God, is held captive and silenced in the bondage of Sarai and Abram? Perhaps this woman is more than a slave, perhaps she is the daughter of the Pharaoh, perhaps she is one who is seen by God and redeemed by the birth of her son. Perhaps we owe her the dignity of telling her story truthfully and fully every time we encounter it. 

Questions for reflection: 

Have you ever lost your voice or the ability to tell your own story? Has it ever been taken from you? 

What can we do to advocate for and amplify the voices of minorities and the historically oppressed? How can we tell stories more truthfully and fully?

Reclaiming our Stories: Noah's Wife

By Rev. Victoria (PV) Hamilton - Retired ELCA Pastor

Read more of Noah’s Wife's story: Genesis 6:5-22, Chapters 7 & 8

This text is the story of Noah and his call and journey, in what is known as The Flood Story.

Noah is a righteous man and is seen by God as the right person to execute God’s plan. God is very unhappy with humankind at this stage in history and is thinking of destroying ALL of earth and anything living; humans, animal and vegetation too. But, Noah has God’s heartstrings and God’s plan includes Noah carrying out that plan. Building an ark, gathering his family, male and female animals (for reproduction) as well as vegetation. He and his family, his wife (6:18), sons and their wives would be the only humans on board. The waters came for 40 days (7:17-24) and remained 150 days (7:24). At the end of the flood, the earth was ‘clean’ with new vegetation, the animals on the ark and Noah with his family were then to inhabit the earth. 

As I read this account that was very familiar to me, my senses/spirit, became somewhat agitated because this was Noah’s story. If this was to be a reflection for and about women, this was such a weak account. In fact, I know I’ve read over and missed that Noah had a wife!!  

In this account Noah’s ‘wife’ is mentioned 5 different times. 5 times only! 6:18, she’ll get to go on the ark, 7:7,13 she’s on the ark, 8:16, she’s there when the waters subside and 7:18, she went off the ark with the others. 

How many times in your life have you felt overlooked? Do people know your name? How do you think you’re seen by others? Do You feel your worth? Are you considered ‘wife’ or ‘mom’ or  ‘neighbor’ or ‘so and so’s something or other or simply ‘friend,' just because of the company you keep? How are you able to be that multi-talented woman, that I know you are, putting your encouragement and presence in your family, job or community and feel whole? Do you feel whole? Are you just going through the motions of life or what others think you should do and be? What makes you stick around in your present circumstance? Do you feel respect for yourself, as solely ‘presence’?

This text, is prevalent even in today’s society, in one form or another. I may have sensitive eyes/heart, as an almost 69 year old woman who hasn’t always, and may still not, have been heard or seen. In my early years, I chose to be a “house executive," better known as housewife, to raise my children. (long story)  Today, I will tell you that was and is the best ‘job’ I’ve EVER had. Those that may seem silent or less than, have a zillion ways they are contributing to life and to society, just as Noah’s wife did. She was a valuable part of her household and God saw fit for her to accompany her husband on the journey God had called him too. She too, had been called! 

Never doubt who you are and why. Let’s make a practice to listen to God and ask for God's leading in the life God has call us too. We are not to journey through life alone. Remember: I am somebody, ‘cause God don’t make no junk! You, my sister, are beautiful and wonderfully made.

Side Note: Noah’s wife had a name. Her name was NAAMAH (which means "the beautiful") according to Jewish tradition. 

Reclaiming our Stories: Eve

by Sarah Locke

Read more of Eve's story: Genesis 1; 2; 3:1-23; 4:1-15 

"The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them" (Genesis 3:20-21). 

There is a lot that can be said about the story of Eve. In fact, a lot has already been said about Eve, and generally speaking, it has not been favorable to her or the rest of her sex. But what seems to be the very end of Eve’s story is my favorite part. She would become “the mother of all the living,” so her name would literally mean “to give life.” 

Unlike Adam, who is made from the soil and would toil in the soil, Eve was made from the living and brings forth life into all the world. Her name, even without knowing all the details of the narrative, tells the story of a woman who will go forth into the world, providing for the world, abiding in God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, creating as God first created. 

Even before I became pregnant with our son, my husband and I talked endlessly about names. We looked up meanings of names, thought of people we admired, and went back and forth until we settled on something that felt right. Eventually we decided on Bennet Alexander. Bennet is the surname of my favorite literary family from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It also means “blessed.” Alexander is my brother’s middle name and means “defender,” making Bennet Alexander a “blessed defender,” something we hope he will grow into some day. 

Regardless of how we read these stories in Genesis— as history, as allegory, or as truth— this is strong encouragement to women throughout the world who are given the names of their ancestors. May it give courage to those who are named into a legacy, those whose names carry the weight of thousands of women before them, and those whose names hold deep and abiding meaning for the namers. Eve would give life to all living. Even us. Especially us. 

What is the story of your name? Does it have significant meaning? Does it hold a certain power or give you a certain power? If you could choose meaning for your name (and you can), what would you choose? Who would you be? How does your name give life to all living?

Reclaiming our Stories: Women of Genesis

If you know me at all, you know that I don't think the women of the Bible get the credit that they deserve. They barely get any face-time in the three-year lectionary, and are mostly used to prop up the stories for, of, and about men. I don't love it.

But I do love the stories of these women. So as time got slower and my theological brain began to fill with cobwebs, I reached out to some of my trusted and fantastic colleagues and friends, wondering about what it could mean for us to write for, of, and about the incredible women of Genesis.

Over the next twelve weeks we will be looking at parts of these women's stories and lifting up our own reflections and inviting you into the conversation as well. You'll find it posted every Monday morning right here.

Here are the women we will encounter:

Eve by Sarah Locke
Noah's Wife by Vicki Hamilton
Sarai/Sarah by Mandy Achterberg
Hagar by Sarah Locke
Lot's Wife by Alexandria Long
Rebekah by Tobi Fleck
Rachel by Hannah Bardin
Leah by Sarah Locke
Bilhah & Zilpah by Sarah Locke
Dinah by Sarah Locke
Tamar by Vicki Hamilton
Potiphar's Wife by Jennifer Roberts


I invite you into this sacred space over the next twelve weeks to explore a little more of what these women's stories might be speaking into your own story. They are our ancestors, after all. Their blood runs in our veins and we are made of the same breath that created them. Dig deep into their stories and you might find out something about yourself along the way.

Peace to you and be well.



**If you're a church leader and your context is fully affirming and celebrating of the LGBTQIA+ community, please feel free to use these reflections in your own contexts. If your community is not, please feel free to ask permission before using. At the end of the twelve weeks, we will package it all into a pretty little Bible study booklet for your use.**