“Joseph in Jail”

 

The men who brought Joseph took him to Egypt and sold him to a man named Potiphar, who was an Egyptian army officer. Joseph became his slave and lived in his house.

The Lord helped Joseph to work hard. His master was pleased with him and put him in charge of all his other servants. God blessed Potiphar because Joseph was in his home.

But after awhile Potiphar’s wife wanted Joseph to do something very wrong. Joseph said no, and that made her angry. She decided to get even with him, so she told her husband a lie. She said that Joseph had tried to hurt her. Her husband believed her and put Joseph in jail.

But the Lord was kind to Joseph and made the man in charge of the prison feel friendly to him. He put him in charge of all the other prisoners. Joseph took the full responsibility of taking care of them. And the Lord helped Joseph do everything just the way it should be done.

One day Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, became angry with two of his officers; one of them was a baker, and the other was the man who brought him wine whenever he wanted a drink. Pharaoh put them both in jail where Joseph was.

One night both of these men had dreams. When Joseph came in to see them the next morning, they looked sad.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Why so sad this morning?”

“We had a strange dream’s last night,” they told him, “and there is no one to tell us what the dreams mean.”

“Tell me your dreams,” Joseph said, “and I’ll ask God what they mean.”

First the man in charge of the king’s wine told Joseph his dream. He had dreamed about the grapevine with three branches. As he was looking at it, buds appeared on the branches and became bunches of ripe grapes. He was holding king Pharaoh’s wine cup in his hand, so he took the grapes and squeezed out the juice from them into the cup. Then he gave the cup of juice to pharaoh to drink.

God told Joseph what the dream meant. Joseph told the man that the three branches he had in his dream meant three days; in three days Pharaoh would let him out of jail and give him back his job.

“When you get out, don’t forget about me!” Joseph said. “Ask the king to let me out, too.”

Then Joseph told him how he had been sold by his brother’s and brought to Egypt. He said he had done nothing wrong and shouldn’t be in jail.

When the chief baker heard what a nice meaning the first mans dream had, he told Joseph his dream, too. He said he was carrying three baskets on his head, one above the other. In the highest basket were all kinds of food for Pharaoh, and the birds flew down and ate it.

Then Joseph told him what his dream meant. The three baskets meant three days. Within three days, king Pharaoh   would kill him and hang him on a tree, and the birds would eat him!

Both dreams came true just as Joseph said. Three days later was Pharaohs birthday, so he had a big party for all of his officers. He sent a messenger to the jail to bring back to the palace the man who was in charge of his wine, to work as he had before. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph said.

I’m sorry to say that the officer in charge of the wine forgot all about Joseph and didn’t bother to tell Pharaoh about him or try to get him out of jail.

Two years later King Pharaoh had a dream. He was standing beside the Nile River in Egypt and saw seven cows coming up out of the water. They were fat and healthy, and they went out into the meadow to eat grass. Then seven more cows came up out of the river, the cows were thin and scrawny, and they ate the fat and healthy cows! Just then King Pharaoh woke up.

Soon he went back to sleep and had another dream. This time he thought he saw seven ears of corn growing on one stalk. They were plump ears, well filled with grain. But afterwards seven other ears of corn grew on the stalk. These were thin and withered, and they ate up the seven good ears! Then Pharaoh woke up and realized it was all a dream.

The dreams bothered him so much that he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and told them his dreams, but they couldn’t tell the king what his dreams meant.

Then the man in charge of the king’s wine remembered the young man in jail who had told him and the chief baker what their dreams meant. He remembered that the dreams came true just as Joseph had said.

So, the king sent for Joseph. He quickly shaved and put on other clothes and was brought to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream last night, and no one can tell me what it means; but I’m told that you can.”

Joseph said he could not do it, but that God would. Then Pharaoh told Joseph his dreams: the one about the seven thin cows who ate seven thin cows who ate the seven fat ones and still looked so thin and starved afterwards; and the dream about the shriveled-up ears of corn eating the fat ears of corn.

Joseph told him that both dreams meant the same thing; God was telling Pharaoh what was going to happen in the future. The seven fat cows and the seven good ears of corn meant seven years of wonderful crops, when everyone’s gardens would grow; and the seven thin cows and the seven withered ears of corn meant seven years nothing would grow. First there would be seven good years in Egypt. The corn would grow tall, and there would be plenty to eat. But afterwards there would be plenty to eat. But afterwards there would be seven years of poor crops when people would be hungry, for nothing would grow in their gardens.

Joseph told Pharaoh to put some one in charge of making the people of Egypt save up corn during the seven good years. Then during the hungry years, the people would have enough food. The king thought this was a good idea so he put Joseph in charge!

Questions:

Was Joseph a good worker?

Why did Potiphar put him in Jail?

What did the king’s cupbearer dream?

What did the king’s baker dream?

What did Joseph say the dreams meant?

Was he right?

What were King Pharaohs two dreams?

How did he know?

What job did Pharaoh give to Joseph?