Joseph Is Sold And Taken To Egypt

(Genesis 37:12-36)             Review Activities for this Lesson

One day when Joseph’s brothers had taken the sheep to a pasture, his father Jacob said to him, “I want you to go to your brothers and find out how they and the sheep are doing. Then come back and let me know.” Joseph left and found his brothers. But before he got there, they saw him coming and made plans to kill him. They said to one another, “Look, here comes that dreamer! Let’s kill him and throw him into a pit and say that some wild animal ate him. Then we’ll see what happens to his dreams.”

Reuben heard this and tried to protect Joseph from them. “Let’s not kill him or even harm him. Just throw him into a dry well.” Reuben planned to rescue Joseph later and take him back to his father.

When Joseph came to his brothers, they pulled off his fancy coat and threw him into a dry well. Then they sat down to eat their lunch. As they sat down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. So Judah said, “What good will it do us if we kill our brother and hide his body? Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites as a slave and not harm him. After all, he is our brother.” And the others agreed. When the caravan of merchants came by, Joseph’s brothers took him out of the well and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

When Reuben returned to the well and did not find Joseph there, he tore his clothes to show how upset he was. Then he went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”

Joseph’s brothers killed a goat and dipped Joseph’s fancy coat in its blood. After this, they took the coat to their father and said, “We found this! Look at it carefully and see if it belongs to Joseph.” Jacob said, “It’s my son’s coat! Joseph has been torn to pieces and eaten by some wild animal.”

Jacob mourned for Joseph a long time, and to show his sorrow he tore his clothes and wore sackcloth. All of Jacob’s children came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will go to my grave, mourning for my son.” So Jacob kept on grieving.

Meanwhile, the Midianites had sold Joseph in Egypt to a man named Potiphar, who was the king’s official in charge of the palace guard.

Credits Text by Jerri Fusch, used here with the kind permission of the author. Users are free to reproduce for use, but not for publication.