And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got out.
All Commentaries on Genesis 39:12 Go To Genesis 39
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Further, she said to him, “Lie with me.” The first weapons of the adulteress are those of the eyes, the second those of words, but one who is not seduced by the eyes can resist the word. A defense is at hand when the passions are still free. And so it is written that “he refused.” Therefore Joseph first overcame her attack through a struggle in his heart and drove her back with the shield of his soul, so to speak; then he launched his word like a spear to force her retreat. “And he spoke to the wife of his master.” She is correctly called the wife of the master, and not the mistress of the house, for she could not extort what she wanted to obtain. For how was she the mistress? She did not have the power of one who rules; she did not observe the discipline of a mistress; she provided mere servants with enticements to lust. But Joseph was a master who did not take up the torches of that lover, did not feel the bonds of that seducer, was not terrified by any fear of death and preferred to die free of sin rather than to choose participation in guilty power. He was free who believed it shameful not to make recompense for favor. Indeed, Joseph does not make his excuses as a frightened man, nor is he on his guard as one fearful of danger. Rather, he flees the charge of ingratitude and the stain of sin as one who owes a debt to his master’s kindness and his own blamelessness, and, as a just man, he is terrified of the contagion of guilt. The adulteress threw her third dart by the persistency of her invitation, but Joseph did not listen to her. After the first words, one has something to guard against. Lust is not only impure but insolent, demanding and wanton as well, and the adulteress has respect for nothing. She who felt no sorrow at her first loss of modesty lies in wait to perform her seduction. Finally, when Joseph went in by reason of his duty and the office entrusted to him and the witnesses and household servants were far off, she seized him and said, “Lie with me.” He is absolved by the testimony of Scripture, because he was unable to abandon the service entrusted to him by his master. Indeed, it is not enough that Joseph entered the inside of his house without concern as one who could not be seduced; the just man had an obligation to take care not to give opportunity to a woman in a state of frenzy, else she might be undone by his sin. But while he perceived that the wife of his master was his adversary, still he had to guard against giving offense to his master by neglecting his duty. At the same time, he supposed her forwardness still consisted in speech, not in laying hands on him. Joseph is absolved for having entered in and praised for having slipped away; he did not value the clothing of his body higher than the chastity of his soul. He left the clothing, which the adulteress held back in her hands, as if it were not his, and considered foreign to him the garments that the impure woman had been able to touch and seize. Joseph was, after all, a great man. Although sold, he did not know the nature of a slave. Although much loved, he did not love in return. Although asked, he did not acquiesce. Although seized, he fled away. When he was approached by his master’s wife, he could be held by his garment but not seduced in his soul. He did not endure even her words for long, either, because he judged it to be a contagion if he should delay very long; else the incentives to lust might pass over to him through the hands of the adulteress. Therefore Joseph stripped off his garment and cast off the sin. He left behind the clothing by which he was held and fled away, stripped to be sure, but not naked, because he was covered better by the covering of modesty. Yes, a man is not naked unless guilt has made him naked.
