Genesis 39:15
And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out. And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out.
The verse is the lying report of Potiphar's wife that Joseph ran away when she screamed, after he had left his garment in her hand in his flight and it was seized as false proof against him.
His flight was a deliberate refusal to commit sexual sin against God, betray his master, and surrender his virtue and loyalty.
For preserving his integrity he was falsely charged with a foul crime he did not commit and suffered reproach, disgrace, and imprisonment in fetters though innocent and upright.
God did not forsake him but watched over him, overruled the enemy's plot for good, guarded his blackened reputation until it shone, and in His own time turned the prison into the way to honor and great responsibility.
His innocent suffering for doing right points to Christ falsely accused and condemned despite His righteousness, and stands as a pattern to all generations that God is a present defense against the severest temptation, so those who fall have only themselves to blame and virtue will in time bring its reward.
Flight and False Accusation
The verse records the lying claim of Potiphar's wife that Joseph ran away when she raised her voice and cried out. In making that false charge she turned his flight into supposed proof of guilt, bringing suffering and disgrace upon an innocent man.
In his flight Joseph left his garment behind, and it was seized upon and turned into evidence against him. He fled rather than yield, yet the abandoned garment was used to malign and persecute him as a criminal because he had preserved his integrity.
His running away was refusal to yield to sexual temptation rather than transgress the law of God and prove untrue to his master. It was refusal to surrender his virtue and to compromise his loyalty to God, showing faithfulness under pressure by honoring God in adversity.
The assault on his morals came from one of influence, the person most likely to lead him astray, pressing him with inducements and threats. Yet he promptly and firmly resisted from fear of God and faithfulness to his master. He resisted also from hatred of ingratitude and of abuse of confidence placed in him.
In Egypt he was a youth tried and proved who stood firm to principle and preserved his integrity in the fear of God despite being charged with a crime he had not committed. He stood surrounded by idolaters, yet as a tested and proven representative man his faithful character reflected a righteousness whose source was God. By so standing he became a pattern of integrity worthy of imitation and an example of steadfastness.
Suffering, Vindication, and Example
Because he preserved his virtue and integrity, Joseph was maligned with a false charge of a foul crime he had not committed, and his uprightness did not spare him reproach, persecution, disgrace, and imprisonment bound with fetters despite his innocence. In consciousness of innocence he did not sink in despair but trusted God with his reputation and interest through unjust accusation and imprisonment. His virtue and integrity brought him reproach and persecution for remaining true to God and for the truth's sake.
His experience proves that those who closely connect with God and follow Christ may not prosper in the things of this life but will often be sorely tried and afflicted for remaining true to God. This holds for God's appointed witnesses for the truth's sake, who expose themselves to reproach and persecution because they preserve virtue and integrity. In the world there is tribulation but in Christ there is peace, and God leads His children through trial to perfect trust, for it is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God.
God watched over Joseph, did not forsake or forget him, but overruled the enemy's devices for good and in His own good time raised him from disgrace to honor. He turned the misfortune into a blessing to prepare him to fill an important position of great responsibility, leading him from prison to responsibility in Egypt. He gave him favor with the keepers of the prison until the charge of all the prisoners was committed to him, safely guarded the reputation blackened by the wicked accuser until He caused it to shine, and made even the prison the way to elevation and victory despite appearances of suffering. The false charge brought suffering and disgrace, but Providence in due time raised him to honor.
Joseph's innocent suffering for doing what was right, when his integrity and virtue could not be corrupted, illustrates Christ, who was falsely accused, rejected, and condemned through false testimony despite His righteousness. He stands as a youth tried and proved who stood firm to principle, preserved integrity while tested, honored God in adversity as His representative, and thereby became a representative man and a pattern of integrity worthy of imitation and an example to all generations. Although exposed to the severest temptations there is a defense at hand in God as a present help and His Spirit as a shield and source of strength to apply and resist, so it will be their own fault if they are not preserved, while virtue will in time bring its own reward. His course teaches that forming a character that will stand the test of the judgment is serious business, that each person is responsible for the kind of character built and decides his own eternal destiny, and that the present probationary time is the only opportunity to stand the test and proving of God with no second probation.