Directing the Conversation
“Do you see what the slave that my husband brought into the house wanted to do?”
Potiphar’s wife wasn’t complaining about Joseph, but her husband. She was blaming him!
Joseph had taken over the management of all of Potiphar’s properties. He was the man in charge. Potiphar’s wife could not afford any questions: If Joseph ran because she screamed, how come no one heard the scream? Why were Joseph’s clothes there and not hers?
She used a common strategy: She attempted to control the conversation. She intended to have everyone speak about Potiphar’s failure, not Joseph’s sin!
Potiphar understood exactly what happened and he needed to reassert his control. (No wonder the Sages say that he had been castrated!) He simply needed to get Joseph out of the house. He did not want to kill him. He knew that Joseph was innocent.
However, once people begin to speak, the conversation is difficult to control. Potiphar had no choice but to focus on the fact that he was the master.
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