Intermediate Level, Block 3—Good Land to Egypt
Week 24
Joseph—Having Two Dreams and His Brothers Being Jealous of Him
Point to Emphasize: We need to be those who care and love others even when they don’t care for us.
Reference Reading: Genesis 35:22-26; 37:1-11
Memory Verse: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)
Story Sample
In the last weeks we heard about some of the many unbelievable experiences of Jacob. Today we move forward to hear about Jacob’s sons. Do you know how many sons Jacob had? Right! Jacob had twelve sons. These twelve sons were the sons of a chosen, holy family and they were to become the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel. But before they were the tribes of the children of Israel, they were just twelve brothers. Can you imagine having eleven siblings? I only have three siblings, and I have countless stories to tell. But let me say this to you, the best stories are found in the Bible! Out of the twelve sons, only two were good—Joseph and his brother Benjamin. The other ten were very naughty. These twelve brothers had the most unthinkable, unbelievable and incredible stories! Let’s find out some of their stories!
Joseph was the second youngest brother and his father’s beloved. His father gave him a coat of many colors, which made Joseph’s brothers envious of him. More than that, God gave Joseph two dreams. In the first dream, Joseph saw eleven sheaves bowing down to his sheaf. In the second dream, the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him as well. Joseph told his dreams to his father and his brothers, and Jacob told him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers come to bow down to you?”
Let’s imagine this for a minute. Imagine you are Joseph. Imagine you are your father’s beloved and he gives you something that he didn’t give to your eleven brothers. Now also imagine that God gives you dreams in which your family members are bowing down to you. Would you feel proud? Would you be bragging to your brothers about what your father and God gave you? [Storyteller, don’t let the children answer out loud, tell them to think and keep the answers to themselves.]
Now, imagine you are one of Joseph’s brothers. How would you feel if you see your father give something to your brother but not to you? How would you feel if your brother told you he is dreaming about you and your family bowing down to him? Would you be jealous of him? [Storyteller, again, don’t have children say their answers.]
As some of you know, I have three sisters. And my dad was not like Jacob; my dad loved all of us the same! I am really happy about that! However, I remember that one day one of our uncles came with small gifts for all of us. I got this cool game but my all sisters got dolls. I was the oldest, so my uncle maybe thought I would like something different. And, was I happy! My sisters really liked my game and they wanted to have it. But there was only one and it was for me. I could see in their eyes how they really wanted it and they started saying not nice things to me. I loved my sisters SO much that what I decided to do was to make my game a family game instead, so everyone could use it. In fact, I still have it! Many children and young people have used it! [Storyteller, tell a story of you being jealous of someone and they loving you back or someone being jealous of you and you loving them.]
Joseph was very genuine, he was frank and he was transparent. Joseph was happy to tell his brothers about his dreams. On the other hand, Joseph’s brothers were full of envy: they were jealous. Joseph’s brothers couldn’t even speak peacefully to Joseph. In the story of Joseph and his brothers, we can see that regardless of how we are treated by others, we still need to love them and care for them. This is not an easy thing to do. You might not want to be with them or play with them, but in the Bible, in Matthew 5:44, Jesus says, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” This is exactly what we need to do.