Genesis 39:14

He hath brought in. It is interesting to note that in telling the other servants of the affair Potiphar’s wife spoke of her husband simply by the pronoun “he.” This shows how little respect she had for him, and accentuates her already vulgar and wanton character.

It seems ever to have been a weakness of human nature to blame others for one’s own misdeeds. Thus it was with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:12, 13). This is but a reflection of the spirit of the “accuser of our brethren” (Rev. 12:10), who seeks to justify himself by maligning those who serve the Lord (Zech. 3:1). His ultimate purpose is, of course, to prove God unfair in His dealings with created beings (see Job 1:8-11; 2:1-5). Stressing the defects of others, whether real or imaginary, is supposed to make the speaker appear better by contrast.

An Hebrew. That is, a descendant of Eber (see chs. 10:21; 14:13). It was generally thus that the descendants of Jacob referred to themselves as a people, and that others referred to them (see Gen. 39:17; 40:15; 41:12; 43:32; Ex. 1:15, 16, 19; 2:6; etc.). Originally, a “Jew” was a descendant of Judah, but after the captivity the term lost its strictly tribal application.

To mock us. In Gen. 26:8 the same Hebrew expression is translated “sporting.” It would seem that here, as with Isaac and Rebekah, it must refer to conduct proper only between husband and wife (see also on ch. 21:9).