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Joseph meets his brothers

Joseph sees his brothers when they visit Egypt to buy grain.
Contributed by Sue Bentley
Story also available on our translated websites: Portuguese, Hindi
1
Pharaoh’s dream came to pass just as God had said. During the seven years when crops grew well Joseph collected all the extra food that was grown and stored it. There was so much grain it was like sand and could not be counted. – Slide 1
2
Joseph married an Egyptian woman called Asenath. She gave birth to two boys. The first was called Manasseh and the second was called Ephraim. God blessed Joseph with a lovely family. – Slide 2
3
Then the seven years of famine came. In other countries there was hardly any food but in the land of Egypt there was plenty food stored away. The Egyptians bought food from Joseph and those from other lands travelled to do the same. – Slide 3
4
The famine had spread to Canaan and Joseph’s family was staving. So Jacob told his sons to go down to Egypt to buy grain. But he would not allow Joseph’s younger brother Benjamin to go, as he was afraid that something might happen to him. – Slide 4
5
When the 10 brothers arrived to buy grain, Joseph recognised them but did not let on who he was. The brothers bowed down before him not knowing it was their brother Joseph. Joseph accused his brothers of being spies. – Slide 5
6
The brothers insisted they were innocent and explained how they had left their father and younger brother Benjamin in Canaan to buy food in Egypt. Joseph insisted they were telling lies and put them all in jail. – Slide 6
7
After three days Joseph brought them out of prison. He said they could buy food but they must return to Egypt with Benjamin. At this the brothers became very upset. ‘God is punishing us for how we treated Joseph,’ they said. When Joseph realised they were talking about him he turned away and began to cry. – Slide 7
8
To make sure the brothers returned with Benjamin Joseph kept one of them, Simeon, as a prisoner. Simeon would only be freed when the brothers returned with Benjamin. – Slide 8
9
The brothers handed over money to buy the grain. Joseph ordered his servants to load the brothers’ donkeys with sacks of grain and secretly told the servants to put the brothers’ money into sacks with the grain. He also gave them food for their journey back to Canaan. – Slide 9
10
When the brothers stopped to rest on the trip home to Canaan, they opened the sacks and saw the money inside. All of them were very afraid. Would the Egyptians think they had stolen it? They could not understand why their money had been returned to them. – Slide 10
11
When they arrived in Canaan, Reuben tried to explain to his father Jacob what had happened. When Jacob heard the Egyptian ruler wanted them to return with Benjamin he was very upset. Even though Simeon was held prisoner in Egypt, he did not want his youngest son Benjamin to be put at risk.‘If any harm should come to him I would die,’ he replied. – Slide 11
12
So Jacob and the brothers who had returned from Egypt stayed in Canaan with enough food to eat. Poor Simeon remained a prisoner in Egypt. – Slide 12
13
Slide 13