Joseph-From Jealous brothers to Ruler of Egypt
Genesis 37-42
Key Verse: Genesis 42:6
Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.
Materials: Bibles
Lesson Note: This lesson is intended to be slightly shorter than the others in the series. If you have a full class time you may be able to do more extra time activity than other days.
Lesson Introduction: Yesterday we learned about how Isaac was born to Sarah and Abraham even though they were quite old. Today we are going to learn a little bit about another descendant of Abraham. His name was Joseph. Joseph had a special connection to God through dreams.
Ask the students to Hold up your fingers to show how many brothers of sisters you have. Joseph had 11 brothers and at least 1 sister. He would have had to borrow someone else’s hand to show how many siblings he had. Put your hand on your head if you ever fight or don’t get along with one of your brothers or sisters. (Share your own experience here if you would like, but don’t let the students get carried away with bad stories.)
Bible Time: When Joseph was 17 years old, he had a problem. His problem was that he didn’t get along very well with his brothers, but as I mentioned before Joseph had a special connection to God through dreams. Let’s read about Joseph’s dreams in Genesis 37:5-11 Read or have a student read the verses. What do you think these dreams meant? (Joseph’s brothers would bow down to him) Do you think this made his brothers happy? No in fact it made his brothers so mad that they sold him into slavery. That is they gave Joseph to other people, and Joseph would have to work for them. (37:28)
As time went on one of the people Joseph was working for had him put in jail. This might sound like a bad thing, but Joseph not only received special dreams from God, he was also able to tell other people what the dreams they received from God meant. One person who had a dream, but didn’t know what it meant was Pharaoh. Raise your hand if you can tell me who Pharaoh is. (Pharaoh is the term that is used for whoever is the ruler of Egypt at the time) Pharaoh heard about how Joseph could tell what dreams meant, he asked for Joseph to tell what his dreams meant.
When Joseph told about how the Egyptian ruler’s dreams meant there would be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years where food would not be able to grow well, Pharaoh not only kept Joseph out of jail, put also made him the second highest ruler in all Egypt. (41:39) Wow, Joseph went from being in jail to being a ruler in Egypt.
Do you remember the dream Joseph had? Who remembers what it meant? (Joseph’s brothers would bow down to him) Well guess what, it really happened. The people in Egypt were not the only ones who had 7 years where it was hard to grow food. It happened in Canaan too where Joseph’s brothers lived. Let’s read what happens in Genesis 42:6 (Read or have a student read the verse) What did Joseph’s brothers do? (bowed down to Joseph) When we read the rest of the chapter we find out it took a little bit for everyone to realize what had happened, but in the end everyone was able to tell that God had a big plan for Joseph all along.
Close in prayer: Dear God, Thank you for bringing each precious child here this week. Help us to remember how much you love each and everyone of us. Help us through the tough times. Help us to remember you are there for us just like you were for Joseph. Amen
Extra activities: Will be added soon