Lesson: Joseph: The Son of Jacob Part 1 (No. CB014

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Lesson on Joseph: The Son of Jacob Part 1 (CB14)

Activity associated with the lesson.

Close with prayer.

Lesson:

Read through the paper Joseph: The Son of Jacob Part 1 (CB14) unless it is read as a sermonette with the children present.
Children’s questions are in bold. This is a general review of the material covered in the lesson.

Q1. Who were Joseph’s mother and father?

A. Joseph was the son of Jacob and his mother’s name was Rachel.

Q2. Who was Joseph’s uncle or twin brother of Jacob, Joseph’s father?

A. Jacob’s brother was named Esau and they were the sons of Isaac. Jacob’s brother Esau wanted to kill him because Jacob tricked him into selling his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup.

Q3. Where did Jacob run or flee when his brother Esau wanted to kill him? How did things work out for Jacob there?

A. Jacob went to a far-away country where his mother’s brother, Laban, lived. Laban had two daughters named Leah and Rachel. Jacob’s favourite was Rachel and he wanted to marry her. But things didn't work out so well for him there. Laban tricked Jacob into marrying his other daughter Leah. However, after seven more years of hard work, Jacob was able to also marry Rachel.

Q4. What are the names of Joseph’s other brothers and who are their mothers?

A. Leah, Jacob’s first wife, had Reuben the first-born son; then came Simeon, Levi, Judah and later Issachar and Zebulun. Rachel’s female servant Bilhah gave birth to two sons Dan and Napthali. Zilpah, Leah’s female servant, gave birth to two more sons named Gad and Asher. Then, God blessed Rachel and allowed her to give birth to a son. This son was named Joseph.

Q5. What does Joseph’s name mean?

A. When Joseph was born, Rachel said “God has taken away my reproach”(Gen. 30:23). The name Joseph means “Yahovah has added”.

Q6. Who was Joseph’s youngest brother and what happened to Joseph’s mother Rachel?

A. Joseph’s youngest brother was named Benjamin. His mother, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin.

Q7. How did Jacob view his son Joseph compared to his other sons? How did the other sons react?

A. Joseph was special to their father (Gen. 37:3). Jacob gave Joseph a cloak of many colours. Joseph’s brothers saw their father’s favouritism towards Joseph and became full of jealousy.

Q8. What was Joseph’s first dream?

A. Even though Joseph was one of the youngest sons, he dreamed while they were tying bundles of wheat in the field, his bundle of wheat rose up and stood straight, while their bundles bowed down to his bundle (Gen. 37:6-8).

Q9. What was Joseph’s second dream and how did Joseph’s father and brothers react?

A. In Joseph’s second dream, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to him (Gen. 37:9). He told this second dream to his brothers and his father. Joseph’s father said: “Do you expect your whole family to come and bow down before you?” Because of these dreams, Joseph’s brothers hated him even more.

Q10. Eventually, did Joseph’s dreams come true?

A. Yes, Joseph’s dreams did come true (see Gen. 42:6; 43:26; 44:14). Joseph would later become prince among his brothers (Deut. 33:16). He would also receive the right of the first-born (1Chro. 5:2). This was to be a double portion of the inheritance because his father, Jacob, had adopted his two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh).

Q11. What do the sun, moon and stars in Jacob’s dream symbolise?

A. The sun symbolises Joseph’s father, Jacob. The moon symbolises Joseph’s mother, Rachel and the stars symbolise the tribes of Israel or the physical nation of Israel. Jacob becomes the sun as the ancestor of Messiah. His nation is called he shall rule as God or Israel. The moon symbolises Rachel as the mother of Israel. She also represents the nation. The Church is also called the wife of Messiah or the bride of Christ. So the moon stands for the nation Israel and also for the Church. The moon has no light of its own, but is given light from the sun, which is a star. This sun is also the star that shall come out of Jacob (Num. 24:17). This is talking about Christ who was one of the Morning Stars.

Q12. When Joseph’s brothers were tending the sheep in Dothan and they saw him coming from afar, what did they plan to do and who intervened? Gen. 37:20-22.

A. Joseph’s brothers planned to kill him, but Reuben intervened. Reuben told them to make it appear that Joseph had been killed and place him in a pit. After the brothers did this, Reuben was planning to take Joseph out of the pit and bring him back home (Gen. 37:22).

Q13. What happened when Joseph was put into the pit?

A. Instead of killing Joseph with their own hands, Joseph’s brothers decided to sell him as a slave to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver.

Q14. What did the brothers tell their father about Joseph’s disappearance?

A. Joseph’s brothers ripped Joseph’s coat of many colours, dipped it in the blood of a goat and told Jacob that Joseph must have been killed by a wild beast.

Q15. Did Joseph stay with the Ishmaelites; if not what happened?

A. No, the Ishmaelites sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of the Egyptian Pharaoh and captain of the Guard.

Q16. Was God with Joseph and was he blessed?

A. Yes! God made Joseph successful and Joseph became in charge of Potiphar’s house and all that he had.

Q17. How did Potiphar’s wife feel about Joseph and what did she do to get him in trouble?

A. Potiphar’s wife liked Joseph because he was handsome and she asked him to lie with her. Joseph refused, so she lied and told Potiphar that Joseph had tried to force her to lie with him against her will.

Q18. What happened to Joseph?

A. He was put in prison where the King’s prisoners were held.

Q19. Was God with Joseph while he was in prison and was he blessed?

A. Yes! Joseph was given authority by the prison guard over all things that the prisoners did.

Q20. God gave Joseph the ability to interpret dreams. Whose dreams did he interpret in prison?

A. Joseph interpreted the dreams of the chief baker and the chief butler who had been placed in prison.

Q21. What were the dreams and what did they mean?

A. The butler dreamed a vine with three branches blossomed into grapes and he pressed the grapes and gave the juice to Pharaoh to drink. The baker dreamed that he was carrying three baskets of food on his head to Pharaoh, but hungry birds came down and ate the food. Joseph told them that the butler’s dream meant in three days he would be out of prison and be given his job back. Unfortunately, the baker’s dream meant that in three days Pharaoh would kill him, hang him on a tree, and birds would destroy his flesh.

Q22. How did Joseph get out of prison?

A. Two years later, Pharaoh had some puzzling dreams and the butler remembered how Joseph had correctly interpreted his and the baker’s dreams. Pharaoh sent for Joseph to interpret his dreams. Joseph told Pharaoh that his ability came from God.

Q23. What were Pharaoh's two dreams?

A. In the first dream the Pharaoh was standing by a river and up came seven fat cows out of the water. Then he saw seven thin ugly cows come up out of the water and eat the seven fat cows. Even stranger is the fact that these seven thin ugly cows still remained thin after eating the seven fat cows (Gen. 41:17-21). In the second dream Pharaoh saw seven plump heads of grain growing out of one stalk. Then seven thin withered heads of grain, blown about by the wind, sprang up and ate the seven good heads (Gen. 41:22-24).

Q24. What did Joseph tell Pharaoh that the dreams meant?

A. Joseph told Pharaoh that both dreams had the same meaning. The reason was that God wanted to make sure that the Pharaoh would heed the warning of the dreams. There would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine in Egypt.

Q25. How did Pharaoh treat Joseph after he interpreted the dreams?

A. Joseph was appointed leader of all things, second in charge only to Pharaoh. He put a plan in place to store one-fifth of the produce during the years of plenty so there would be enough to feed the people when the famine came. At thirty years old he was made ruler of the most powerful nation at that time.

Q26. Did the dreams come true?

A. Yes! There were seven years of plenty and Joseph gathered up all the extra food in the cities and stored it in special places. There was so much grain to be stored that Joseph could not count it all! After seven years the rains stopped and the famine began. The famine was all over the Earth and Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. Eventually, all the other countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph. Many lives were saved because Joseph had listened to and obeyed God.

Q27. List some of the times God was with Joseph?

A. There were numerous times the Lord was with Joseph! Being sold to the Egyptians instead of being killed by his brothers, Potiphar taking favour with Joseph and placing him in charge, the officer of the prison placing Joseph in charge.

Joseph obeyed God even when everything seemed to be going wrong in his life. This is a good lesson for us also. We must trust in God and obey His Laws even when things seem to be going wrong and He will always look after us.

Activity Options:

Paper Bag Puppets - Joseph’s Coat of Many Colours

Supplies: small paper bag, markers, scissors, glue, fabric and any other supplies desired to create the puppet.

Directions: Have the children create a puppet with the head on the side of the bag with the fold. Use the body of the bag for the body/coat of many colours. Use markers or fabric scraps to create Joseph’s coat of many colours. Have the children write “Yahovah has added” on the back next to Joseph’s name.

Joseph’s Dreams - Shrinky Dink Mobil

Supplies: Shrinky Dink paper, sharpies, scissors, string

Directions: Create a mobile using shrinky dink art of Joseph’s dream(s). The children can create a stars, sun and moon mobile with the 11 stars, sun and moon below the central star, or 11 wheat stalks below the central wheat stalks so that they appear to be bowing down.

Learning about Blessings that come from Trials Using Cookies:

Supplies: Ingredients to make cookies

Directions: Talk to the children about Joseph’s life and how the challenging times that he faced were necessary in order for him to be able to save his family and lead the nation. The same holds true for our lives as long as we obey God.

Let the children know they will be making cookies and talk about how good cookies taste! Allow the children to try some salt, baking soda, vanilla and flour and talk about how those taste. Relate these to hard times in our lives and have the children share some of the challenges they have faced or are facing. Now make the cookies and talk about how the non-sweet items were necessary to be mixed in with the sweet items and go through the “heat” of the oven to create a wonderful treat. We know if we obey and trust God all things work out for the good Rom 8:28 Just as with the cookies, we needed the ‘yucky’ tasting baking soda to have the cookies puff up and although the sugar was good by itself, it is so much better with all the ingredients. Joseph trusted God no matter what and he, his extended family and even the nation of Egypt were blessed by his actions.

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