t12papocrypha
Testament of Joseph 12
Potiphar's wife first encounters Joseph not through Potiphar's household but through report of the merchant's prosperity — a prosperity traced publicly to the Hebrew youth. Her counsel to her husband frames Joseph as an asset to be acquired through legal judgment rather than purchase, and her appeal invokes the God of the Hebrews as surety of blessing. The pattern established in Genesis 39 is here given a prior scene: Joseph's anointing is visible enough that even a foreign noblewoman names the source as heaven's grace, before she moves to possess what she cannot rightly hold.
1
About that time the Memphian wife of Potiphar passed by with great pomp, and cast her eyes upon me, because her eunuchs told her concerning me.
2
And she told her husband concerning the merchant, that he had become rich by means of a young Hebrew, saying, And they say that men have indeed stolen him out of the land of Canaan.
3
Now therefore execute judgment with him, and take away the youth to be thy steward; so shall the God of the Hebrews bless thee, for grace from heaven is upon him.
