Potiphar's wife tried every day to seduce Joseph. She dressed in her finest ornaments, changed her clothes constantly, and spoke to him with increasing urgency. But Joseph mastered his inclination—and it was precisely this strength of will, according to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, that made him worthy of ruling Egypt.
One day, all the noble women of Egypt gathered to see what the fuss was about. When Joseph entered to serve them, his mistress handed each woman an apple and a knife to peel it. The women began peeling—but every single one of them cut her own hand. They were so captivated by Joseph's beauty that they could not look away long enough to watch the blade.
Potiphar's wife turned to them and said: "If you do this after seeing him for one hour, how much more should I be excused—I who see him every day?" This scene, preserved in a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled by Jerahmeel ben Solomon and translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, stands within Jewish midrashic storytelling about Joseph's extraordinary physical beauty and equally extraordinary restraint, turning a moment of spectacle into a test of moral discipline.
XXXIX. (1) After these things the wife of his master
raised her eyes unto Joseph. Potiphar's wife, his mistress,
used to entice him every day by her conversation, and used to
bedeck herself with all kinds of ornaments and array herself
in many dresses in order to find favour in his eyes. But he
prevailed over his inclination. It w^as for this strength of
mind that he became worthy of being made king and ruler
over Egypt.
(2) One day all the Egyptian women assembled together
to see Joseph's beauty. When Joseph was brought before
them to wait upon them, his mistress offered each of them an
apple and knife to peel it; but when they started peeling
their apples they all cut their hands, since they were so much
captivated with Joseph's beauty that they could not take
their eyes from him. She (Potiphar's wife) then said, ' If
you do this after seeing him but for one hour, how much
more should I be captivated who see him continually?'
[Here I think it right to return to the book of Josippon
at the place w^here we left, viz., the generations of Noah's
sons. Josippon commenced to enumerate the generations
of Adam, Seth, and Anosh, and gave a list of the names
of the families of the children of Japheth, and the boundaries
■of their lands until Kittim and Dudanim, as I have WTitten
above, among the generations of Noah's sons. Afterwards
he wrote the following, which I write down here, as it seems
to belong to this portion.]
