YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

Is any nation immune to droughts and famines? Well hardly. All nations are dependent upon rain for crops. Oh, it can irrigate, but water is a limited commodity that has to come from somewhere. Today's lesson shows the impact a drought can have on a nation and on history.

Pharaoh's dreaded dream came true. “The seven years of plenty came to an end. Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted." Egypt, along with all the surrounding countries, had crop failures. When the crops fail, there's little or no food to eat and people go hungry. These are the realities of a famine. We depend on rain so our crops will grow and we can eat.

Because of Joseph's ingenuity given to him by God, Egypt had food. Think what an enviable position they were in with plenty of grain in their storehouses. But people in other countries were starving because of a severe famine all over the world.

News traveled that there was grain available in Egypt. So Jacob told his sons that he had heard that there was grain available in Egypt and they should go there and buy some before all of them starved to death.

Jacob sent the ten older brothers to Egypt to buy grain. He had Benjamin, Joseph's younger brother, stay home with him. He was afraid that some harm might come to his other ten sons as he thought it had to Joseph. Benjamin and Joseph were Rachel's children. Rachel was Jacob's favorite wife who died in childbirth when Benjamin was born. So Benjamin was very special to Jacob.

All ten of Jacob's other sons headed off to Egypt. They arrived there with a lot of other people looking for grain. Because Joseph was put in charge of selling the grain, his brothers had to come to him. As they approached him they all bowed low before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph recognized his brothers, but never let on that he knew who they were. Remember, these ten men were fully responsible for Joseph being in Egypt. They sold him to the Ishmaelite and led their father to believe he was dead. They must have convinced themselves, as well, that he was dead. They had no clue that this was their own brother with whom they were dealing. But there is one thing we can always be sure of, our sins will catch up with us, and they were catching up with these brothers. Joseph hadn't forgotten what they had done. So he demanded roughly, "Where are you from?" They told him that they had come from the land of Canaan to buy grain. Joseph remembered a dream he had before they ever sold him to be a slave. "We were out in the field binding sheaves, and my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves all gathered around it and bowed low before it!” (Genesis 37:7). All of his brothers had just bowed before him. Now this dream had come true as well.

Joseph wasn't going to make it easy on these ten men since they had tried to kill him and then sold him to be a slave. So he accused them of being spies. They explained that there were 12 brothers, one was with their father, and the other was dead, not realizing they were talking to the brother they had just said was dead. That's all very interesting, but Joseph wanted to know what it proved. To prove it they couldn't leave Egypt until Benjamin was brought there. Nine of the brothers would be put in jail while one went to get Benjamin. "If it turns out that you don't have a younger brother, I'll know you are spies." So all of them were thrown in jail.

Three days later Joseph told them that he was a God-fearing man and would let them prove their honor. This time he would keep one in jail, and the others could go home with grain, but they must bring Benjamin back to prove they were telling the truth. These scared men said this had happened because of what they did to Joseph a long time ago.

Joseph continued to make life miserable for his brothers. But they went back home to get Benjamin, and Jacob wasn't about to let his favorite son go. . . until the famine got worse. That convinced Jacob that they better go buy more grain or they would all starve. They got to the palace entrance and told the household manager, about the money Joseph had put in their sacks, and they returned it. The manager told them not to worry because God must have put it there. Simeon was released from jail and the men were told they would be eating in the palace. Joseph entered the room and they again bowed before him. He looked at Benjamin and asked if he was their youngest brother. Joseph couldn't control his emotions and had to leave the room and cry.

They got their grain and headed home again. But Joseph had a silver cup put in Benjamin's sack. He sent his men after them. They returned to be slaves, but Joseph only wanted Benjamin. They told Joseph they couldn't go back to their father without Benjamin, or Jacob would die.

Joseph couldn't stand it and sent all of his servants out of the room. He wept aloud and his sobs could be heard throughout the palaces. Then he told his brothers that he was Joseph, their brother whom they had sold into Egypt. He told them not to be angry with themselves, because God did it and had sent him there to save their lives so that they would become a great nation. Joseph gave them wagons, food, clothing, and supplies to return to Jacob and tell him that Joseph was alive.

Jacob, or Israel as God had renamed him, went to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to God. During the night God told him not to be afraid to go to Egypt, "for I will see to it that you will become a great nation there. And I will go down with you into Egypt and I will bring your descendants back again." Jacob's entire family went to Egypt. This is how Israel came to live in Egypt, eventually becoming enslaved and needing God’s deliverance some 400 years later.