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Seed of Abraham

n the previous lesson, we learned aboutthe promises that God made to Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob. In this lesson, we will lookinto the life of Jacob and his son Joseph.You will see that, even when seeminglyunfair events took place, these men trustedGod to guide them. Be sure to have a pencil, paper and yourBible ready. Do not forget to look eachscripture up in your Bible and fill in theblanks.

Jacob in Canaan

After working for Laban for 20 years, Jacobwas finally able to return to his homeland.Notice God’s command to him in Genesis31:3: “Then the LORD said to Jacob,‘_________________________________________ and to your family, and I will bewith you.’”

Obeying God, Jacob gathered his familyand headed back to the land of his ances-tors. This was no easy task. Because of hismany years of obedience, Jacob was blessedby God with many possessions and muchwealth.

While journeying back to his homeland,Jacob was worried how his brother Esauwould receive him. Recall that Esau wantedto kill Jacob for stealing his birthright.While 20 years had passed, Jacob was con-cerned that his brother’s anger wouldremain.

In hopes of easing Esau’s anger, Jacobsent a caravan ahead to meet his brother. Hewanted to tell Esau that he hoped they couldbe friends again. He also sent gifts.

Putting his trust in God, he prayed aheartfelt prayer. Write out the prayer foundin Genesis 32:9-12: “Then Jacob said, ‘OGod of my father Abraham and God of myfather Isaac, the LORD who said to me,“____________________________ and toyour family, and I will deal well with you:”I am not worthy of the least of all the mer-cies and of all the truth which You haveshown Your servant; for I crossed over thisJordan with my staff, and now I havebecome two companies. ____________________________________________________________________________________;for I fear him, lest he come and attack meand the mother with the children. For Yousaid, “I will surely treat you well, and______________________________________________________________________________________________________.”’”

As you can see, Jacob remained faithfulto God and trusted Him to solve hisproblems.

Titanic Wrestling Match

On the way to meet his brother, Jacob wasmet by a person during the night. The twobegan to wrestle in a relentless struggle.Jacob was a very strong man and an equal-ly strong opponent. Each tried to outmaneuver the other—but with no success!

As dawn was breaking over the horizon,Jacob began to realize that his opponentwas no ordinary man. The man then struckJacob’s thigh, causing it to come out ofjoint. Even though Jacob was in intensepain, he refused to give up. During the

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Seed of Abraham

1 Children’s Bible Lesson

Illustrations by Paula Rondeau

match, Jacob came to understandthat the Being with whom he waswrestling was God—the Onewho would later become JesusChrist (Genesis 32:28-30; Hosea12:3-5).

Jacob refused to quit untilGod blessed him. Upon seeinghis motivation and endurance,God was very pleased with Jacoband gave him a new name. Hisname, Jacob, which means “sup-planter” or “one who takes theplace of another unfairly” waschanged to Israel, meaning “onewho overcomes” or “a championwith God” (Genesis 32:38-30).

Recall that Jacob did somedishonest things to receive thebirthright from his father. Overtime, Jacob (now Israel), grew incharacter and repented of thethings he had done. He changedhis attitude and learned to trustGod when difficult situationsarose.

Before you reach the age ofbaptism in God’s Church, youshould already be learning God’s Law andperfect way of life. Even if you cannot doit perfectly, you should be striving to livethis way. But God will test you, just as Hehad tested Israel.

It is certain that some friends at schoolpush you to do things that are against whatGod wants. They will try to pressure you intodoing wrong things. Always remember that

God is watching and if you ask Him, He willgive you the strength to resist those pulls.

When you know something is wrongand you choose not to do it, you are build-ing character. If you do this every day, itwill become a habit. And there is no betterhabit than obeying God!

Test Your Memory:

1. With whom did Jacob wrestle?___________________________________________2. To what was Jacob’s name changed?____________________________________3. What does Jacob’s new name mean? ____________________________________

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Expanding God’s Covenant

As Jacob was ready to continue his journey,he spotted Esau and his men coming towardhim. Immediately, he began to worry abouthow his brother would receive him. Wouldhis anger and resentment have been build-ing all those years?

Unsure of the result, Jacob separated hiscamp into sections, hoping that if Esau didattack, most of his family would be safe.However, Jacob’s worry was unnecessary.He prayed that God would cause Esau toforgive him, and this is exactly whathappened.

Instead of anger in Esau’s eyes, Jacobsaw tears of joy (Genesis 33:4). After allthose years, his brother had forgiven him

and was deeply thankful that they couldshare a friendship again. Even though Jacobdid not need to give gifts to his brother, hewas so thankful that he insisted his brotheraccept them.

With their relationship re-established,Jacob continued his journey to Bethel.There, he once again talked to God. Thistime, God reminded him of Jacob’s newname, Israel, and greatly expanded thepromises passed to him through Abraham.He further explained that these great prom-ises would be fulfilled in his descendants.

After stopping in Bethel, Jacob (nowIsrael) continued his journey to Hebron,where Isaac lived. Then a very sad thinghappened. During his travels, Israel’s wifeRachel died when she gave birth to Jacob’stwelfth son, Benjamin.

Also, soon after Jacob arrived inHebron, Israel’s father also died.Isaac had lived to the age of 180.This meant that Israel was now thepatriarch of their family and all theblessings promised by God wouldpass through him.

Unique Dreams

You will recall that Israel lovedRachel so much that he worked 14years to marry her. So, when shehad her first son, that child wasextremely special to Israel. Thechild’s name was Joseph. The spe-cial attention that Joseph receivedfrom his father did not go unnoticedby Joseph’s brothers. Over time,they developed resentment towardtheir brother.

However, this did not stopJoseph from being a productivemember of his family. He workedhard and helped his brothers tend

his father’s vast flocks. One day while feed-ing those flocks, Joseph recounted a dreamto his brothers: “There we were, bindingsheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheafarose and also stood upright; and indeedyour sheaves stood all around and boweddown to my sheaf” (Genesis 37:7).

This caused his brothers to hate himeven more. They felt that this dream maymean that Joseph would one day rule overthem. Joseph was unable to make his broth-ers realize that he did not have this attitude.He just wanted to be a kind and lovingbrother—nothing more.

A short while later, Joseph had anotherdream, and told his brothers about it: “Look,I have dreamed another dream. And thistime, the sun, the moon, and the eleven starsbowed down to me” (Genesis 37:9). Hisbrothers became even angrier with Joseph.

Joseph’s brothers began to plot againsthim. In fact, they even plotted to kill him!Their oldest brother, Reuben, stopped thatplan, but suggested they throw him into awell.

And they did just that! Joseph wasthrown to the bottom of an empty well!

Even though Reuben did not wish to killJoseph, he wanted him gone as much as therest. When the brothers sat to eat, they sawa caravan traveling near. Under Judah’sdirection, they sold their brother to the

Midianite traders that were passing through. Upon returning home, the brothers lied

to their father about what had happened.They made it look as if Joseph was killed bya wild beast. Israel was heartbroken(Genesis 37:35). He thought that his specialson was dead!

The brothers had no idea how sad theirfather would be when they sold Joseph tothe traders. But now they were seeing itfirsthand! In performing this action, theybroke two commandments. They lied anddid not show honor to their aging father. Wemust always look at our own thoughtsbefore they lead to action. Are we honoringour parents and God with what we aredoing? If not, you will likely regret it later!

Test Your Memory:

1. What was the name of Rachel’s firstchild? _______________________________2. Where did his brothers throw Joseph?____________________________________3. To whom was Joseph sold? _______________________________________________

Joseph Sold to Egyptians

When reading these accounts, you maywonder why God allowed this to happen toJoseph. Time and again, Joseph tried to be

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friendly with his brothers. He wanted agood relationship with them.

God allowed all these events to takeplace. Just as you may experience thingsthat are unfair, so did Joseph. But God looksfurther into the future than we can. Heunderstands that struggles and trials willhelp us grow and develop. He also wants tosee how we deal with injustice. You mustalways remember that God is watching overyou and will help you when times seem toodifficult for you. He will turn negative cir-cumstances into positive ones if you obeyHim (Romans 8:28).

Remember, God allows you to gothrough difficult times. When somethinglike that happens, ask yourself what you canlearn from it. What lesson is God trying toteach you? Often, when you learn the les-son, the difficulty will end. This is exactlywhat happened to Joseph!

Upon arriving in Egypt, Joseph was soldto an Egyptian officer named Potiphar. Thisman was also captain of the guard. As timepassed, Potiphar saw that his household wasblessed by having Joseph as a servant.Joseph’s attitude and character greatlyimpressed Potiphar and led him to puttingJoseph in charge of the entire household.

This continued for a time until Potiphar’swife falsely accused Joseph of assault. Thisdeeply angered Potiphar, so he threw Josephinto prison (Genesis 39:20). But Joseph con-tinued to trust and obey God!

While in prison, Joseph’s honesty andcharacter was noted by both his fellow pris-oners and the head jailer. The head jailersaw that he could trust Joseph and gave himmore and more responsibility. God causedfavor to be shown to Joseph, and he was putin charge of all the prisoners. Again, we seean example of God turning a negative cir-cumstance into a good one, because Josephtrusted and obeyed Him.

Test Your Memory:

1. What was the name of the man to whomJoseph was sold? _____________________2. What position did this man have inEgypt? _____________________________3. What job did Joseph eventually have inprison? ____________________________

More Dreams

One day, two of Joseph’s fellow prisonerslooked very sad. Joseph inquired as to whythey looked down. They told him, “We eachhave had a dream, and there is no one to tellus what it means” (Genesis 40:8). Thesemen once worked for the Pharaoh. Theyeach offended him in some manner, andwhere thus cast into prison.

Joseph explained that God was able tointerpret dreams and that they should tellthe dream to Joseph.

Read the following lengthy quote fromGenesis 40:9-19, filling in all the missingwords:

“Then the chief butler told his dream toJoseph, and said to him, ‘Behold, in mydream a ________ was before me, and inthe vine were __________________; it wasas though it budded, its blossoms shot forth,and its clusters brought forth_____________. Then Pharaoh’s cup wasin my hand; and I took the grapes andpressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placedthe cup in Pharaoh’s hand.’”

“And Joseph said to him, ‘This is theinterpretation of it: the ________________________________. Now within three daysPharaoh will lift up your head and restoreyou to your place, and you will putPharaoh’s cup in his hand according to theformer manner, when you were his butler.But _______________ when it is well withyou, and ___________________________;

make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get meout of this house. For indeed I was stolenaway from the land of the Hebrews; andalso I have done ___________________that they should put me into the dungeon.’”

“When the chief baker saw that the inter-pretation was good, he said to Joseph, ‘I alsowas in my dream, and there were________________________ on my head.In the uppermost basket were all kinds ofbaked goods for Pharaoh, and the__________________ out of the basket onmy head.’”

“So Joseph answered and said, ‘This isthe interpretation of it: the three baskets arethree days. ___________________ Pharaoh

will lift off your head fromyou and hang you on a tree;and the birds will eat yourflesh from you.’”

These were two very dif-ferent dreams, and each hadvery different outcomes.Three days later, thePharaoh had a large feast.Both men were taken out ofprison and the butler wasallowed to return to his for-mer job—but the baker washung! Events happened justas God had said.Unfortunately, the joy ofbeing freed from prisoncaused the butler to forgetabout Joseph and his expla-nation of the dreams.

The Pharaoh’s Dream

Joseph knew that God woulddeliver him from the dun-geon. This happened twoyears later. Would you beable to patiently wait for

God for two years? You should rememberthis when your parents tell you to wait forsomething, or ask you to save your moneyto purchase an item.

The events leading up to his releasebegan when the Pharaoh had two verystrange dreams. In the first, he dreamed thathe was standing by a river. Suddenly, out ofthe river, came seven large cows, whichthen walked over and fed in the meadow.Following those seven cows, seven morecame up out of the river. They were sicklyand thin. Unexpectedly, the sick lookingcows ate the seven healthy ones. This star-tled the Pharaoh and it caused him to awak-en (Genesis 41:1-4).

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Soon after, he dozed off to sleep againand had another dream. Read this dream inGenesis 41:5-7, filling in the blanks as yougo: “He slept and dreamed a second time;and suddenly _______________________came up on one stalk, plump and good. Thenbehold, seven thin heads, ____________________________, sprang up after them. Andthe seven thin heads _____________________________ and full heads. So Pharaohawoke, and indeed, it was a dream.”

These dreams greatly troubled Pharaoh.So he summoned all his magicians and wisemen, yet none of these men could interprethis dream. The butler overheard the conver-sation and suddenly remembered Joseph!

Joseph was immediately broughtbefore the Pharaoh and was asked to inter-pret the dream. Joseph was quick to pointout that it was God, not he, that would beable to interpret the dream. Josephexplained that both dreams meant thesame thing. God was showing Pharaohthat a great famine would come upon theland. However, there would first be sevenyears before this famine, allowing Egyptto prepare. Joseph went on to explain thatthey should spend the time collecting one-fifth of all the grain throughout the landand store it for the seven years of famine.

The interpretation pleased the Pharaoh, somuch so that he put Joseph in charge ofpreparation. Pharaoh recognized that the

Spirit of God was in Joseph and that it madeJoseph very wise. Again, in his patience,Joseph was delivered from prison and givena vast amount of authority in Egypt.

Imagine that you were in Joseph’s shoes.In order to tell the truth, he had to give apowerful ruler very bad news. Yet, he trustedGod and told the truth no matter the circum-stances. Would you be able to do the same?

Joseph’s Authority

Things had certainly changed for Joseph.He went from a prisoner in the dungeons tothe second in command over all of Egypt(Genesis 41:39-41). The Pharaoh put himin charge of preparations for the famine,yet he was only 30 years old.

The Egyptian leader gave Joseph a sec-ond name as well, Zaphnath-Paaneah. Itmeans “the man to whom secrets arerevealed.” He also gave Asenath, thedaughter of a high Egyptian official, to beJoseph’s new wife. His wife bore him twosons, Manasseh and Ephraim. God haddefinitely blessed Joseph’s faith and obedi-ence. But God had many more lessons instore for Joseph. He had to prepare for theupcoming famine, and those experienceswould develop Joseph into a trained leader.

(In a similar way, God is training you tobe a leader when Christ returns in theworld tomorrow. That is why you must not

follow your friends when they do wrong.Also, you must obey your parents. God istesting you to see if you can someday be aleader in tomorrow’s world.)

Understanding the task at hand, Josephbegan to plan the enormous undertaking.One-fifth of all grain was stored in largehouses throughout the land (Genesis41:47-49). The plan was so successful thatby the arrival of the famine, there wasmore food than the Egyptians needed. Thiseven allowed them to sell food to the othernations around them.

Some of those wanting to buygrain were members of Joseph’sown family! Israel sent his sonsto Egypt to buy food on which tosurvive. Realize that none ofJoseph’s family knew that he wasstill alive. They thought he hadbeen dead for many years. Ontheir first trip to Egypt, Josephchose to keep his identity secretfrom them.

When he saw his brothersbowing down before him, heremembered his dream from hisyouth. It was being fulfilled rightbefore his eyes!

After a period of time, Israeland his family had run out offood, so Israel sent them to Egyptagain. Joseph could hide from hisbrothers no longer. At a dinnerthat he prepared for them, he tellsthem that he is Joseph, theirbrother.

He then understood that God’shand was in all that had happenedto him (Genesis 45:8). If Josephhad not been sold to theEgyptians, he would have neverbeen placed second-in-commandof Egypt. There would have been

no one to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. Thiswould have meant that a food surpluswould not have existed. And, in turn, Israeland his family would have starved! SoJoseph found it easy to forgive his broth-ers. And they all were full of joy when theymet.

Joseph sent his brothers to return totheir land and bring their father to Egypt.They quickly returned with their father,Israel. He was obviously overwhelmedwith joy when he found out that hisfavorite son was still alive. In fact, he did

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not believe it to be true until he saw cartsthat Joseph had personally sent for him(Genesis 45:27).

The family moved to the land of Goshenin northeastern Egypt so they could remainclose to Joseph.

Test Your Memory:

1. How many dreams did Pharaoh have?___________________________________2. What terrible thing was coming onEgypt? _____________________________

Israel’s “Mixed” Blessing

Seventeen years has passed since Israelhad moved to the land of Goshen, and hehad grown very old. He knew that it wassoon time for him to die, so he requestedthat Joseph come with his two sons,Manasseh and Ephraim.

When Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraimsat before the dying Israel, their patriarchexplained to them that God had promisedto build a multitude of people from hischildren. Israel told Joseph that he consid-ered Ephraim and Manasseh as “Reubenand Simeon,” which meant that he consid-ered the boys to be his own and wouldreceive the birthright blessing in place ofIsrael’s eldest sons (Genesis 48:5).

Israel asked that Joseph’s sons bebrought close to him so that he could blessthem. When Israel reached to bless the twoboys, he crossed his hands. Joseph thoughtthat, because his father’s eyesight was nowso poor, he was confused as to which boywas the eldest. The right hand signifiedwho would receive the birthright blessingfirst. This would typically go to the olderchild. Since he switched hands, thebirthright would go to the younger brotherEphraim. Trying to help his aging father,

Joseph told Israel that he was making amistake.

But notice Israel’s response in Genesis48:19: “But his father refused and said, ‘Iknow, my son, I know. He [Manasseh] alsoshall become a people, and he also shall begreat; but truly his younger brother shallbe greater than he, and his descendantsshall become a multitude of nations.’”

With the blessing completed, Israelreminded his son that one day they wouldreturn to Canaan as God had promised andthat the blessing given to Joseph’s sonsexceeded that received by his otherbrothers.

Israel called for the rest of the sons togather around so he could describe whatwould happen in the “latter days.” Israelwas talking about what the nations thatwould descend from the brothers would belike.

Read the entirety of Genesis 49 withyour parents and ask them to explain thedifferent aspects of prophecy found there.You may also wish to read the bookAMERICA AND BRITAIN IN BIBLE PROPHECYto learn more about these nations. Theidentities of those nations are important inunderstanding Bible prophecy.

Israel died when he was 147 years old.However, he did not want to be buried inthe land of Egypt. He wanted to be inCanaan with Sarah, Abraham, Isaac,Rebekah and Leah.

All of the respect shown to Joseph wasalso shown to his father. The land of Egyptmourned the passing of Israel for 70 days.When the time for the funeral came, all theEgyptian nobles and officials made thejourney to Canaan for Israel’s burial.Truly, God had given Israel and his familyfavor in the sight of the Egyptians.

The Israelites stayed in the land ofGoshen for many more years and greatly

multiplied under Joseph’s rule. Theyenjoyed peace with the Egyptians and hada very comfortable life.

When near death, Joseph reminded hispeople that God would eventually bringthem back to the land of Canaan. It was

promised by God, so one day it would hap-pen. Joseph died at 110 years of age, andhis coffin was stored so that it could alsobe brought back to the land of Canaan atthe time when his people departed(Genesis 50:24-26).

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BIBLE MEMORY: Israel’s Twelve Sons

Published by The Restored Church of God.Printed in the USA; All Rights ReservedCopyright © 2005

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MATCHING

Israel

Isaac

Jacob

Reuben

Abraham

Potiphar

Ephraim

Manasseh

Esau

Rachel

Benjamin

Directions: Match the name on the left to the description on the right.

Eldest son of Joseph

Egyptian officer that bought Joseph as a slave

Youngest son of Israel

Brother of Jacob

Original name of the man who had twelve sons

Youngest son of Joseph

Father of Jacob

Mother of Joseph and Benjamin

Father of Isaac

Name that God gave to Jacob after wrestling all night

Eldest son of Israel

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