YEA Lesson Library
Favorite Son
About This Lesson
This lesson uses the story of Joseph, his dreams, and his brothers’ response to Joseph to warn the student against becoming prideful.
Scriptures
Genesis 35:1-29
Genesis 37:1-36
Proverbs 9:7
Proverbs 16:1-8
Proverbs 16:18
Proverbs 18:1-7
Proverbs 21:23
Philippians 2:3-7
James 1:17-18
James 3:17-18
James 4:7-12
Words to Know
CISTERN - an underground tank for storing liquid
COMPLEX - repressed desires that exert a dominating influence upon the personality
BALM - any of several aromatic plants of the mint family
MYRRH - aromatic gum resin with a bitter taste
The Lesson
If you have a brother or sister, do you think your parents play favorites? Are you the one who gets doted on, or is it one of your siblings? How do you feel when you think your sibling gets special treatment? Maybe you feel either your mother or dad actually loves one of your siblings more than you. If you're the one who is their Favorite Son, how do your siblings react when you get special treatment? Our Bible lesson today is about a 17 year-old Favorite Son.
Jacob, or Israel, as God had renamed him, set up a stone where he wrestled with God. He started with his 11 sons towards Bethel where his father, Isaac, lived. Israel's wife, Rachel, was pregnant. Along this journey, Rachel went into labor. It was a difficult birth. Just as Benjamin, Joseph's only full brother, was born, Rachel died in childbirth. Israel buried Rachel, the wife he worked 14 years to have, in Bethlehem. Then Israel continued his journey to see his 180-year-old father, Isaac. Not long after Israel and his family arrived, Isaac died. Jacob and Esau buried him.
Joseph, a teenage boy, tended the flocks with his brothers. Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons. He made a beautiful, ornate robe for Joseph. It was evident to the other 11 sons that Joseph was Israel's Favorite Son and the other boys were jealous. What happens when jealousy creeps into your life? You start picking apart the person you're jealous of. You can't see any of their good qualities. So you enlarge every fault that person has and create others in your mind. Then you begin to hate that person. And that's exactly what happened to Joseph's brothers.
Joseph had a dream that made him feel very important. Rather than cooling it and not saying a word to his brothers who hated him, he began blabbing. "Listen to this dream I had," he said to his brothers. "We were bringing sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."
All of this bowing down stuff sounded to Joseph's brothers like he had some kind of a "king complex." After all, Joseph was just another brother and no better than they. Why should they gather around him and bow down? Now they hated him all the more.
Joseph had another dream. If he'd only kept his mouth shut, he could have saved himself some trouble. But he just had to tell his brothers about his dream. He told them, "The sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." Eleven stars? Well, those boys could count. There were 11 brothers. Now Joseph was making it even clearer that his 11 brothers would bow down to him. Talk about being jealous, these boys had a load of it. Joseph had now added fuel to the flame. Then Israel questioned his son about his dream. Perhaps Israel wondered if Joseph was forgetting the eternal principle that is in today's memory verse, "Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall."
The 11 brothers went to Shechem to graze their flocks. Israel sent Joseph to check on his brothers in Shechem and report back to him. By that time, the boys had moved on to Dothan. So, Joseph went to Dothan and found them. Joseph's brother had been busy plotting to kill him. When Joseph showed up, they said to each other, "Hear comes that dreamer!"
Reuben, the oldest brother, didn't like the idea of his siblings killing Joseph. He suggested throwing Joseph in a cistern in the desert. Secretly, Reuben planned to rescue Joseph and take him back to his father. The brothers agreed that throwing Joseph in the cistern was a good plan. So they stripped him of the beautiful, ornate coat of many colors that Israel had made for Joseph. They threw him in the cistern, but it didn't have any water in it.
Meanwhile, a caravan of Ishmaelites on camels, loaded down with spices, balm, and myrrh, was making its way towards them on their way to Egypt. By now, Judah realized there was no financial gain in killing Joseph. Maybe, just maybe, they could make some money if they would sell him to these Ishmaelites. The brothers agreed. They pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him to the men, but kept the robe that his father made. They slaughtered a goat and put some of its blood on Joseph’s beautiful robe. They headed home to their father, Israel, and showed him the robe with the blood on it. Israel immediately thought that Joseph was dead. The boys allowed him to believe this lie. Israel tore his clothes and mourned many days for his son and refused to be comforted. In Egypt the Ishmaelites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's captain of the guard. This Favorite Son had now been sold twice.
What lesson can you learn from this? When God blesses you or uses you in some way, don't be proud. Always keep in mind what James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (Kids NIV Bible). We shouldn't be taking credit for what God gives us - our looks, brains, wealth, or whatever. We should give thanks to God for giving us these things.
Student Prayer
Great God,
You are the giver of every good and perfect gift. Help me to never think more highly of myself than I should. I owe you everything. Please help me to be humble.
In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen.
Daily Devotions
Sunday - Proverbs 16:1-8
Monday - James 1:17-18
Tuesday- James 4:7-12
Wednesday - James 3:17-18
Thursday - Philippians 2:3-7
Friday - Proverbs 18:1-7
Saturday - Proverbs 21:23; 9:7
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. Explain the problems they will experience from being proud and haughty.
2. Discuss the benefits they will receive from having a humble spirit.
3. Talk about how Joseph’s brothers hated him because he was favored and had dreams that indicated he would rule over them.
Topics & Themes
Benjamin
Dream
Egypt
Envy/Jealousy
Jacob
Joseph
Joseph’s Brothers
Joseph’s Coat
Potiphar
Rachel
Slavery
Materials Needed
Bible,YEA student's and teacher's books, attendance and memory verse charts, songbook, paper, pencils, timer, newsprint and marker
How to Teach This Lesson
After opening the class with prayer, divide the class into groups of threes and give them paper and pencils. Divide the statements under Group A evenly between the groups. Give each group a copy of Group B, and one slip of paper with Group C on them, depending on the number of students you have. Have the students go to different sections of the room with their Bibles. Explain they are to match up the "proverb" or statement with the correct scripture. Then each group is to write a "proverb" using the scripture from Group C. Give them about 20 minutes to do this project and call them back together to sit in a semicircle.
Debrief - Let your students know there are no wrong or right answers. Ask: How did you feel about learning about pride vs. humility from this activity? What did this mean to you? How was this activity like or unlike some other experience in your life? Which proverb or statement had a special meaning to you? What scripture verse did you match up with that proverb or statement? Continue to extract all of the proverbs or statements from the students. Have them tell what it means to them and give the scripture verse they put with it. Write them on the newsprint. Have each group read the proverb they wrote in Group C.
Application - Ask: What were the things Joseph did to cause his brothers to hate him? What should Joseph have done differently to prevent his brothers’ anger? Remember, Joseph was only 17 when his dad made him the coat of many colors - you're almost the same age as he was. Some people believe that Joseph was arrogant or prideful, but the Bible doesn’t say this. Nevertheless, he could have been; it’s very difficult to remain humble when you are obviously your father’s favorite and you have dreams which indicate that you will rule over your family. In what ways have you seen a proud and haughty spirit expressed in your peers? What are some of the most common prideful, or arrogant things young people do? Can anyone give an example of one of your peers or a celebrity who had a prideful and haughty spirit and then the rug was jerked out from under him or her? How can you avoid bad things happening to you by having a humble spirit? What bad things are you likely to bring upon yourself if you have a proud and haughty spirit? How can you benefit each day from being humble rather than having a proud heart? Which proverb, statement, or scripture will change your life the most? How will it change your life?
Teacher-Directed Activity
The activity is woven into the lesson.
REACH Activity
Memory Verse Spotlight: Proverbs 16:18
Have you ever heard “Pride goeth before a fall”? That’s not actually what the Bible says. Read Proverbs 16:18. Look up the words “destruction” and “fall.” Are they synonyms? Write down the Hebrew words and their meanings. Then find three other Scriptures where this word is used. Do you think this will help you to remember the actual verse?
Where in the World? Buried
Did you notice where Rachel was buried? Do you know where Sarah and Abraham were buried? Where did they bury Isaac? Where did Jacob live with his sons? Where had the sons taken the sheep to graze? Add these locations to the map you started in Lesson 3.
They Did What Back Then? Caravan
Did you ever think about how much shipping happens in our world? You can get food that was grown clear across the country from where you live - in fact, it was still growing in the field last week! But it wasn’t that way in Biblical times. You ate what you grew or what was grown locally. Occasionally, a caravan would come by with very expensive stuff. The caravan in today’s story was on its way to Egypt. Do some research to find out where they might have come from. What route would have been most likely for them to travel? How many camels would have been in the caravan? How long would it have taken to travel from the Babylon region to Egypt? Once you do the research, organize your notes and share your information with your family.
Making It Mine: Jealousy
Have you ever had someone get angry at you, or become really jealous of you, when it wasn’t your fault? Maybe they misunderstood the situation. Maybe they just really wanted what you had. Maybe they wanted to get the attention you got. They never stopped to think that it wasn’t your fault. Someone else made the decision that put you in that place. I know this description is pretty vague, but, in reality, people can be jealous of another person for all sorts of reasons. It’s really too bad. If they really wanted that thing, they should either work really hard for it, or they should realize that God doesn’t want them to have that thing, or that honor, or that position. Write about this topic in your Bible notebook.
Worldview Collisions: Relationships With Others
One secular worldview says to hate your enemies and love your friends. We do that pretty naturally. If it’s someone who has hurt us, or just someone we don’t like, we hate them, say bad things about them, stay as far away from them as possible, or we may even try to hurt them. But a Biblical worldview says to treat others the way you want to be treated. That doesn’t mean that if you like people giving you flowers that you should give everyone flowers. It does mean that, just as you like people going out of their way to do nice things to you, you should voluntarily do nice things for others. Can you think of three more examples to explain how the Golden Rule actually works? Write about this topic in your Bible notebook.
Questions
As you’re working through the YEA lesson, Daily Devotionals, doing the activity, or reading the Bible, be sure to write down any questions you have. That way you’ll remember to ask someone. Also remember to share the really interesting things you’re learning with family and friends.
Song
A" Perfect Heart" is on page 3 of The Group Songbook.
Closing Prayer
Have the students form a circle and join hands. Ask each student to give one benefit that comes from humility. Lead in prayer asking God to help each student to put this lesson into
practice.
Printable Pages
