* LESSON
* HANDOUT
* JOSEPH PLAY
Bible Memory Verse:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;" Proverbs 3:5
Our memory verse is "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;" WHY DOES GOD SAY TO TRUST HIM WITH ALL OUR HEARTS? (He doesn’t lie, is all wise–knows everything)and He loves us so much. He knows that if we obey Him, we will be blessed (good things happen that give us peace, joy and love in their hearts).
Today we are going to learn about Joseph who trusted God even during the bad times. This was not the Joseph that was Mary’s husband; but another Joseph that lived many years before Jesus came to earth. Joseph was a great grandson of Abraham. Remember, Abraham was the first person of the Israelites, God’s people. Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, has twelve sons. Joseph was the next to the youngest son.
Joseph’s family lived in tents and had many cattle and sheep. The father, Jacob, gave Joseph a special coat of many colors (richly ornamented) because Joseph was his favorite son. God loves everyone the same and He was not happy that the father liked Joseph more than his other sons. It caused many problems. When Joseph’s brothers saw that Jacob loved Joseph more than any of them they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
Joseph had a dream. When he told his brothers, they hated him all the more. This was his dream: Joseph and his brothers were binding bundles of grain out in the field and Joseph’s bundle of grain rose and stood upright and his brothers bundles of grain gathered around it and bowed down before it. Joseph’s brothers said to him, “…Will you actually rule over us?…” And they hated him all the more because of his dream.
Joseph had another dream where the sun, moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. Even his father was angry with him. He said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" But God was showing Joseph what would some day take place.
Joseph’s family were shepherds. The brothers took their father Jacob’s sheep to different places where there was good grass for them to eat. One day, because they had been gone for a long time, Jacob asked Joseph to find his brothers and see how they were doing. When his brothers saw him coming, they said, "Come now, let’s kill and throw him into one of this cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams." Reuben, the oldest brother, said, "Let’s not kill him, let’s throw him into this well." They threw in a well without water, and the oldest brother, Reuben, planned to rescue him later. But while Reuben was gone, the others saw some men coming that were on their way to Egypt, and they sold Joseph to them as a slave. They put blood on his coat of many colors and took it to his father and said that a wild animal must have killed him. This made Joseph’s father, Jacob, sad, for a long time.
Joseph was taken to the land of Egypt. There he was sold as a slave to one of Pharaoh officials (worked for Pharaoh). Who was Pharaoh? (king of Egypt) Joseph was accused of something he did not do and was thrown into prison. Joseph still trusted in God and did his best to obey Him, even when bad things were happening to him.
In prison Joseph met two men who had been thrown into prison because they had offended Pharaoh. These men were sad because they had each had a dream that they could not understand. One was a cupbearer to the king. He tasted the king’s wine before the king drank it to make sure that no one had poisoned it. That meant if someone did put poison in the king’s wine, he would die instead of the king. How would you like that job?
Joseph told the cupbearer that God could explain his dream, so he told it to Joseph. In the dream there was a grape vine with three branches. He squeezed the juice from the grapes into a cup and gave it to Pharaoh. Joseph told the cupbearer that in three days Pharaoh will take him out of prison and give him back his job. Joseph said, “…But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”
When the other man, The chief baker of the king’s bread, saw that the cupbearer’s dream was favorable, he told Joseph his dream: In his dream he had three baskets of bread on his head, the top basket had all kinds of baked bread for the king. But birds were eating the bread. Joseph told him, "The three baskets are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will…hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat away your flesh."
Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday and he gave a great feast. He did just what God had said would happen through the dreams. The cupbearer got his job back, and the chief baker was hanged. But the cupbearer forgot to tell the king about Joseph.
Joseph had only done kind things to other people yet they had been cruel to him. He had always obeyed God even when everything seemed to be going wrong. He had trusted the Lord with all his heart and did not lean on his own understanding. Next week we will learn about the good that happened because he obeyed God.
QUESTIONS:
1. What special present did his father give Joseph because Joseph was his favorite son?
2. What special gift did God give Joseph? What could he do that other people cannot do.
3. Who sold Joseph as a slave to Egypt?
4. What did Joseph’s father think had happened to him?
5. Who was Pharaoh?
5. Joseph explained the meaning of their dreams to what two men in prison?
JOSEPH- PART 1:
Bible Memory Verse:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;” Proverbs 3:5
Words to choose from: BROTHER’S, TWO, KING, DREAMS, COAT, UNFAIRLY, TRUSTED, BOWED, JEALOUS, KILLED
1. His father gave Joseph a special __ __ __ __because Joseph was his favorite son.
2. God does not like it when someone is treated __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __.
3. Joseph had a dream where his brothers __ __ __ __ __ down to him.
4. Joseph’s brothers were __ __ __ __ __ __ __of him.
5. Joseph’s father was sad because he thought Joseph had been __ __ __ __ __ __by a wild animal.
6. Joseph’s __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __sold him as a slave to Egypt?
7. Pharaoh was the __ __ __ __ of Egypt.
8. Joseph __ __ __ __ __ __ __ in God even though he was put into prison and had done nothing wrong.
9. Joseph explained the meaning of dreams to __ __ __ men in prison?
10. God gave Joseph a special gift—Joseph could understand __ __ __ __ __ __.
Bible Memory Verse:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;” Proverbs 3:5
CHARACTERS: Jolly the Giraffe, Polly the Polar Bear, Leo the Lion
JOLLY: (enter) Hi, kids. I can’t wait to talk to Polly and Leo. Remember, Leo was going to introduce Polly to George the Grizzly Bear.
LEO: (enter) Hi, Jolly. Hi, kids.
JOLLY: Well…what happened?
LEO: What happened about what?
JOLLY: You, know–when you introduced Polly to George the Grizzly Bear.
LEO: Oh, that. Well, it was kind of embarrassing. Polly just said “Hi” and when he asked her how she was, she said, “fine.” Otherwise, I just talked to him some.
POLLY (enter singing) La, la, la
JOLLY: You look happy, Polly.
POLLY: I finally got to meet him. He wasn’t home so I couldn’t meet him till just a couple days ago. It was such a long wait. But he asked me how I was doing. Isn’t that romantic?
JOLLY: At least, you’re not like Potiphar’s wife in our story today. You don’t push yourself on boy bears.
POLLY: I wouldn’t act like that! I respect boys.
LEO: But you could talk to them.
JOLLY: Leo! Polly is shy, that’s all!
LEO: Sorry, Polly. You’re really nice, and I’m sure he thinks so, too.
JOLLY: I feel sorry for Joseph in our story today. He was such a nice guy, and all these bad things happened to him. But he trusted God anyway.
LEO: I guess we should be like that—he obeyed God when only God would know if he disobeyed or not.
JOLLY: Our memory verse is "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;" Joseph didn’t understand, but he trusted God.
LEO: That’s right. God knows everything and is all powerful so we’re smart if we obey Him.
POLLY: And He loves us!
JOLLY: That’s right Leo and Polly. Because God knows everything and is all powerful and loves His children and we know that what happens to Joseph will be good. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the story next week.
LEO: How will Joseph get out that mess? I bet he was praying lots.
JOLLY: And trusting lots, even though things looked hopeless. God did give him a responsible job in the prison because he was so honest and hard working.
LEO: I want to try and be like Joseph. Which reminds me—I need to go home and do the chores my parents asked me to do. Good-bye everyone! (exit)
POLLY: I need to go home and finish my homework—and try to do a good job. Good-be kids! (exit)
JOLLY: The Bible says that these stories were written so we could learn. I guess we could all learn from the example of Joseph—including me. I have to learn not to get upset when things don’t go the way I want them to go. Good-be kids and God bless you! (exit)