Wisdom & error in the Bible: Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. Genesis 39:20
Published on HivePostify by @bernie2002xp · Fri Jul 10 2026
The life of Joseph, as told in the Book of Genesis, is a story that teaches the importance of wisdom for living and achieving true happiness, that is, blessedness. Joseph was the son of Jacob and Rachel, and the Book of Genesis recounts that God spoke to Joseph through dreams, although their meaning was difficult to interpret. Because of these dreams and because he was his father Jacob's favorite son, his brothers despised him. The Book of Genesis recounts that Joseph was ambushed by his brothers in Shechem and thrown into a cistern. Later, some Midianites passed by, rescued him, and sold him as a slave to some Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt. And so Joseph was bought by a man named Potiphar, who was a royal official. The Bible relates that Joseph was handsome and good-looking, and while working in Potiphar's house, the wife of Potiphar tried to make Joseph her lover. It was then that Potiphar's wife set a trap for Joseph to accuse him. She managed to take Joseph's cloak, and with the cloak in her hand, she accused him before her husband. Enraged, Potiphar threw him into prison, and the Book of Genesis recounts the event with these words: "Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined" Genesis 39:20. The Bible doesn't say that Potiphar was a fool; however, due to a lack of wisdom, Potiphar made a mistake regarding Joseph. This is because prudence and justice alone are insufficient to attain truth. Potiphar committed what is called an error in judgment. It is because of these stories that the wisdom that comes from the sacred listening is so important. The listening brings wisdom and truth. Solomon, for example, who was the wisest man of his time, did not make the same mistake when he judged two prostitutes who were fighting over a child. Solomon had received from God a heart that knows how to listen, and thus, through the gift of counsel, he found the true mother as related in 1 Kings 3:16-28. The Bible then presents wisdom and the sacred listening as the opposite of error. And spirituality in its true sense consists of this: seeking that wisdom which, like a hidden treasure, must be discovered by avoiding error, because happiness is not in power or money but in the truth that comes from God.
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