Joseph Forgives His Brothers

Hi Kids! Do you remember what happened to Joseph in the last lesson? The Pharaoh of Egypt made Joseph the governor of Egypt after interpreting his dream about the upcoming famine. Our story for today will be about how Joseph meets his brothers again and forgives them.

During the seven years that Egypt had plenty of harvests, Joseph gathered up as much grain as they can and stored them. After the seven years of plenty, the seven years of famine began, as Joseph had said to Pharaoh.

Image from Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing / CC BY-SA 3.0) Wikimedia Commons

There was a famine in all lands. But there was food in Egypt. The people cried to Pharaoh for food and the Pharaoh said to them that they should go to Joseph. Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grains to the Egyptians.

Joseph Interprets the Dreams of the Cupbearer, the Baker and the Pharaoh

Hi kids! Do you still remember what happened to Joseph? In the last lesson about Joseph, Potiphar and his Wife, Joseph ended up in prison because Potiphar's wife lied that Joseph did something wrong.

So poor Joseph was placed in the prison but God continued to be with him. The prison warden soon put Joseph in charge of all those held in prison.

One day, the Pharaoh became angry with his chief cupbearer and chief baker and put them in prison where Joseph was in charge. Then, one night, each of the two officials had a dream.

The following morning, Joseph asked the two what's wrong because they looked sad. They told Joseph that both of them had a dream but they did not know what they mean. Joseph said that God knows what dreams mean and they told Joseph their dreams.

The chief cupbearer said that in his dream I saw a vine with three branches. The vine blossomed and brought forth ripe grapes. Then he saw the Pharaoh's cup in his hand. He squeezed the grapes and gave the juice in the cup to Pharaoh.

Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Joseph, Potiphar and His Wife - Trusting God in Difficult Times

Hi Kids! In our past lesson, we learned about Joseph, His Coat and Dreams. Do you remember what happened to Joseph in our last lesson? (Ask some questions about the past lesson such as: Who gave Joseph his coat? How do the brothers of Joseph feel toward Joseph? What did the brothers do to Joseph?)

Joseph was sold by his brothers to Ishmaelite traders and he was taken by them to Egypt. In Egypt, he was sold again and was bought by Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the Captain of the Guards, to become his slave. 

If you were Joseph how would you feel as somebody who came into Egypt? (Afraid? Shocked?) 

Remember he is in a new environment with different language, culture and beliefs.  Consider that Joseph was taught by his father that there is only one God but in Egypt there are many gods. So, I guess, it's a big and scary adjustment for Joseph.

Joseph, His Coat and Dreams - Lesson on Jealousy

Hi Kids! Do you still remember who Jacob is? Jacob married Leah and Rachel and had 12 sons from both of them. Joseph is the favorite of Jacob among all his sons and he made a colorful coat for him. Because of this, Joseph's brother were very jealous and hated him.

Joseph dreams of his future. Image from Wikipedia.

To make matters worse, Joseph had a dream which he told his brothers. He dreamed that all of them were binding sheaves of grain, and then his brothers' sheaves bowed down to his sheaf. This made his brothers even angrier because of the thought that Joseph will reign over them.