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Kids Bible Blog: Joseph
Testing, testing
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 42:1-17
TO CHEW ON: “Joseph said to them, ‘It is just as I told you: You are spies! And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.’” (Genesis 42: 14,15)
Joseph was made a ruler in Egypt
The dream Joseph explained to Pharaoh came true. After seven years of good crops the rains stopped and crops were poor. Everyone was hungry. When the people came to Pharaoh for food, he sent them to Joseph.
Joseph had collected food in storehouses during the good years. Now he sold the storehouse food to the hungry people. Soon people from countries all around were coming to Joseph for food too.
One day ten foreign travelers came to Joseph. They looked familiar. Suddenly he knew why. They were his brothers! What thoughts do you think went through Joseph’s mind as he saw his brothers again after all those years?
Joseph’s brothers didn’t recognize him. And he didn’t tell them who he was. “Where are you from?” he asked them roughly. When they told him, he said, “You’re lying. You’re spies.”
“No!” they said. “We’re all sons of one father. Only our youngest...
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Tears of Joy
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 46:28-34
TO CHEW ON: "Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father, and wept for a long time." Genesis 46:29
Have you ever been separated from people you love?
Perhaps you spent a week at camp. Or your parents live apart and you get to see one of them only seldom. Or you moved far away from your grandparents.
What feelings do you have when you’re about to meet them again:
nervous, excited, like crying, like laughing, worried, impatient, scared, happy
I’m sure Joseph was having some of those feelings while he waited for his father to arrive in Egypt. Finally the day arrived. Judah went ahead of the others. He found Joseph and said, “The whole family is here. Where do we go?”
Joseph got in his chariot and rode out to meet his father. What did he do when he saw Israel?_______________________ (Genesis 46:29).
We usually think of people crying when they are hurt or sad. But people also cry when they are happy. Getting back together with the people we love most, like family, is one time we easily cry tears...
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Perfect Timing
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 41:1-16, 39,40
TO CHEW ON: “Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.’” (Genesis 41:39,40)
Two years passed after the cup bearer was set free, Joseph was still in prison.
One night Pharaoh had a dream. It scared him and he wanted to know what it meant. But when he called his wise men and magicians, they couldn’t tell him the meaning of the dream.
Then someone remembered a dream he had had, and the young Hebrew prisoner who told him what it meant. It was the cup bearer. At last he remembered Joseph!
Servants came for Joseph. They took off his prison uniform, put new clothes on him and brought him to Pharaoh.
Pharaoh told Joseph his dream – and Joseph told him the meaning! Then Pharaoh did something amazing. He made Joseph the second boss in the whole land.
I’m sure Joseph often wondered, will the cup bearer ever think of me? Will I ever get out...
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Tags: storytelling Joseph God’s timing God’s omniscience Genesis Egypt dreams
Pass or Fail?
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 44:1-13,33-34
TO CHEW ON: “’Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.’” (Genesis 44:33,34)
Joseph’s brothers went back to their father with food. They told him about the mean Egyptian prince who said they must bring Benjamin with them next time. But Jacob said he would never let Benjamin go.
Soon the grain was gone and the family was desperate for food again. The brothers begged Jacob to let Benjamin go with them. Finally Benjamin’s older brother Judah promised that if the Egyptian prince threatened any harm to Benjamin, he would take his place.
When the brothers got to Egypt, the prince did a strange thing. He invited them to his home and served them a banquet. He even seated them in order of age from oldest to youngest. Then he gave Benjamin five times more food than everyone else. Finally he sent them on their way with the supplies they needed.
No sooner had they...
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Tags: memory verse love Joseph Genesis Egypt
Made Good by God
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 45:1-15
TO CHEW ON: “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” Genesis 45:5
After hearing Judah’s offer to take Benjamin’s place, Joseph knew his brothers were changed. Suddenly all the feelings he had been holding inside – the sadness at being hated and sold by his brothers, the fear, the homesickness, the years of being away from his family, the mixed-up feelings he got when he saw his brothers again – needed to come out.
Joseph dismissed his servants, and began to cry. “I am Joseph,” he told his brothers between sobs. “Is my father still living?”
Joseph greeting his brothers - Artist unknown
His brothers were scared of him. Now Joseph was the powerful one. He could do anything he wanted with them. Would he want revenge?
But he told them, “Don’t worry. God was in everything that happened. You meant to do a bad thing to me, but God made something good out of it. Because I am here in Egypt, our whole family can be saved from the famine.”
We too may have experienced things we don’t understand....
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Tags: storytelling problems Joseph God’s timing Genesis Egypt
Jealousy’s Rotten Fruit
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 37:12-36
TO CHEW ON: “... So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.” (Genesis 37:17b,18)
Joseph’s brothers were far away from home, herding their father’s flocks. One day Joseph’s father Israel (also called Jacob) sent Joseph to see how his brothers were getting along. Finish the story by filling in the answers from the words at the bottom:
When Joseph was still far away his brother recognized him and planned to 1. _______ (Genesis 37:20).When he got there they 2. ________ and 3. _________ (Genesis 37:23,24).But they didn’t kill him. Instead they 4. ____________ (Genesis 37:27)...
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Jealousy
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 37:1-11
TO CHEW ON: “His brothers were jealous of him (Joseph), but his father kept the matter in mind.” Genesis 37:11
Joseph was his dad’s favorite. Joseph’s brothers knew this because their dad made Joseph a special coat.
Joseph also had dreams. In them his brothers and parents bowed down to him. When his brothers saw his special coat and heard his dreams they became jealous of him. Soon they hated him.
What is jealousy? It’s a bad feeling we have toward someone who:- gets what we think we deserve.- gets what we would like to have.- gets what we once had and lost.
Jealous feelings can start with something as small as not liking someone. But if we let them grow they become hate. Have you been jealous at times like these?- a brother or sister gets a lot of your parents’ attention.- someone else gets picked for the position you wanted on the team.- the trophy you won last year now goes to someone else.Can you name more?...
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Isn’t this the plan?
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 40:1-23
TO CHEW ON: “But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.” (Genesis 40:14)
- Maybe the teacher will forget about giving the test.- Maybe the new kid will turn out to be my friend.
When we’re not ready for a test or we need a friend, we can think of ways God might answer our prayers.
I’m sure Joseph had been praying to get out of prison. Now he probably thought Pharaoh’s cup-bearer was going to be the answer to that prayer. After Joseph told the cup-bearer that he would be be going free, Joseph asked him to talk to Pharaoh. Pharaoh could get innocent Joseph out of jail.
Can’t you just imagine Joseph watching the prison door after the cup-bearer was set free, waiting for someone to tell him he could go free too? But day after day no one came. Soon he realized his prayers to go free would not be answered in the way he thought.
God often doesn’t answer our prayers the way we expect. But still we can trust Him. Because He knows everything and will answer at the right time...
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Hard Times
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 39:7-23
TO CHEW ON: “But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.” (Genesis 39:20b,21)
Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do? That’s what happened to Joseph.
At first everything went well. When the Ishmaelites who had bought Joseph got to Egypt they sold him to Pharaoh’s servant Potiphar. Joseph liked his job and did such good work, Potiphar soon put him in charge of everything he owned.
But Mrs. Potiphar liked Joseph too – in a sexual way. She tried over and over to get him to sin with her. Over and over, Joseph said, “No.” One day she tricked him. She got him alone in the house. “Come to me,” she said to Joseph.
Again Joseph said, “No!” Then he ran out of the house.
Mrs. Potiphar was angry and humiliated. “Joseph tried to rape me,” she lied. Immediately Potiphar arrested Joseph and put him in the king’s prison.
But instead of feeling sorry for himself, Joseph got right back to work helping the jailer. In no time the jailer put him in charge of all the prisoners....
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