HEBREW WORD STUDY – MY LORD – ADONI  אדני  Aleph Daleth Nun Yod

Genesis 39:3: “And his master saw that the LORD [was] with him and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.”

I read today where rabbis said that if you only read the English version of the Old Testament, you will only read about 50% of Holy Scriptures.  The other 50% is buried deep in the Hebrew language.  I would like to give you one example of this.

Genesis 39:3 “And his master saw that the LORD [was] with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.”  This is the story of Joseph who was sold by his brothers into slavery into Egypt.  He was purchased by a high ranking Egyptian commander named Potiphar.  Curious that the man is referred to in this verse as his master and not by his name Potiphar.  There are probably a number of reasons for this and it is not the only time Potiphar is referred to as master and of course in English we think nothing of this.

In the Hebrew, however, you quickly see a play on words. The word for master is adonain from the word Adonai which is a name of God and means my Lord. Now it is proper to assign the word adonain to one like Potiphar as adonain from the root word adon can also be used as just a title of respect as “My Lord, PrinceWilliams. But to be used in this context shows a deeper meaning going on her. This passage says: “And his adonain saw that YHWH was with him.  Potiphar might have thought he had godlike powers over Joseph but for some reason, he recognized a greater Adonai that ruled over Joseph.

How could Potiphar know this?  He was likely a Hyksos, a pagan who would never have heard of Jehovah.  Did Joseph witness to Potiphar?  Not likely, a slave would never discuss anything of a personal nature with his master.  Beside the text says he saw, ra’ah that the Lord was with him.  How could he see it?  I read something in Jewish literature where a rabbi made a very interesting observation.  Based upon this wordplay which suggested a comparison of the role Potiphar played in Joseph’s life and the role that God played, he translated this verse as “the name of the Lord was continually upon Joseph’s lips. In other words, Potiphar was closely observing Joseph who was likely in a continual state of prayer as were most slaves praying continually to their gods.  But Joseph was praying to a God he loved.  Everything he did, he did as unto God, not to Potiphar. Here was a slave who was sold off by his brothers and rather than be bitter and complaining to his God or pleading for deliverance, he would approach every task, no matter how menial, no matter how degrading and offer that task to his God, indicating that he was doing it for the pleasure of his God and not his adon Potiphar.

What probably really spooked Potiphar out was that everything Joseph did, God prospered him which in turn prospered Potiphar.  This may be why Potiphar did not have Joseph put to death which he should have done as there were no prisons in Egypt except a holding cell outside the Pharaoh’s compound where men were sent waiting for Pharaoh to make a ruling on whether the prisoner was a traitor or not.  As there were no prisons, the ruling was either not guilty in which you were free to return to your normal duties or guilty which meant you immediate got your head lopped off.   I mean you had to be pretty sure of your innocence and the ruling of Pharaoh to request that he make a ruling on your case. Most hoped Pharaoh would forget about them, then you would continue to live, albeit in prison.  With an accusation of raping a high official’s wife, the odds are against you as a foreign slave.

That is another study, the point of this study is that Joseph did not sit around complaining to God over his situation. He had had a prophetic dream that he knew God sent to him. Rather than complaint he just praised God and no matter how degrading or menial his task, he did it unto God, for the sake of God.

Maybe you are a pastor of a small church that is not growing, or you have a small ministry that seems to be shrinking.  Maybe you don’t have the job you wanted or the life you dreamed of getting.  Do you complain to God or do you, like Joseph, have the name of God continually on your lips and every little task, every time you preach or teach your tiny congregation you do it with the name of the Lord on your lips, you do it as unto Him.

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