YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

Have you ever met anyone who seems to have everything and to get all the favors? Is that person prideful? Are the people around him jealous of his success and status? Was this what was going on with Joseph? Today’s lesson is about this seventeen year-old boy.

Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son. And Jacob showered him with more good things than the other 11 brothers got. He had this very expensive coat of many colors made for Joseph. Doubtless, every time he wore it the other boys were reminded of how special he was to their father. Genesis 37:4 says, “But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him” (ESV).

God also looked upon Joseph in a special way. One night Joseph had a dream. He shared it with his brothers, who were less than impressed. In fact, Genesis 37:5 says that when Joseph told his brothers what he’d dreamed, they hated him even more. What could possibly have caused this reaction? He dreamed that they were out in the field binding sheaves. His sheaf stood up. All of the brothers’ sheaves gathered around it and bowed low before it!

Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers and to his father. “Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” His father rebuked him, saying “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” (Genesis 37:10) As you might expect, Joseph’s brothers continued to be jealous. But here’s the interesting part: His father “kept the saying in mind.” He thought about what Joseph had said and remembered it.

All the brothers took the sheep to graze in Shechem, but Joseph staved home with his dad. A few days later, Jacob sent his son Joseph to check on the boys and come back and let him know how they and their flock were getting along.

Joseph headed out for Dothan to find the 11 brothers. But the boys saw him coming and plotted his murder. “‘Here comes that master- dreamer', they exclaimed. 'Come on. Let's kill him and toss him into a well and tell father that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we'll see what will become of all his dreams.’”

Joseph's brother Reuben wasn't as hard hearted and wanted to spare him and not shed any blood. His solution was to throw Joseph alive into a well. He reasoned that way they wouldn't actually be shedding any blood. However, Reuben, having a softer heart than the others, was actually going to come back later and return him to his father.

Joseph arrived and the first thing they did was to remove his beautiful coat of many colors that his dad had given him. They threw him in an empty well and sat down to have dinner with no conscious thought for what they had done.

They looked up and suddenly noticed a string of camels in the distance coming their way. These were Ishmaelite traders taking gum, spices, and herbs from Gilead to Egypt. Judah, piped up and said, "Let's sell Joseph to them! Why kill him and have a guilty conscience? Let's not be responsible for his death, after all, he is our brother!" The brothers agreed with Judah. And he pulled Joseph out of the well.

The brothers had to come up with an explanation they could give their dad as to what happened to Joseph. So they killed a goat and spattered its blood on Joseph's beautiful coat. Then they took it to their father and lied to him. The explanation they gave was that they found the coat in the field, and Jacob assumed that his favorite son had been killed and eaten by wild animals. Jacob was grieved beyond words, believing his sons' story. They tried to comfort their dad without telling him that they had sold Joseph and that he was very much alive.

When Joseph arrived in Egypt as a captive of the Ishmaelite traders, they sold him again to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s (king of Egypt) personal assistant. Joseph was a hard working, well-organized young man and it paid off. God had a plan for Joseph, and He blessed him with favor in Potiphar's eyes. Soon he was put in charge of the administration of Potiphar's household and all of his business affairs. Because God looked upon Joseph with favor, he also blessed Potiphar, his crops, flocks, and everything he did. Potiphar recognized the potential of this good young man and promoted him to be the administrator over everything he owned.

So what can you learn from this lesson? Life is not always a bed of roses. We find ourselves in trouble sometimes because of what we do and other times because someone is out to get us. Then how do we make the most of it and come out a winner in the end as Joseph did?

In the booklet Staying Power, by Ronald .L Dart, he says, "And we also have to stay the course. The author of Hebrews wrote that it [life] was like a race. 'Let us lay aside every weight,’ he said, and run with patience the race that is set before us.' We have to keep running. We have to endure the pain, the boredom, the sacrifice. It requires patience, because it isn't the first lap that wins, or the second. We have to be there at the finish. . .

"What that means, in the simplest terms, is that we must bear up under whatever burden we have to bear. We have not merely to passively endure, but to positively, actively endure.”