“Joseph in Egypt,” Old Testament Stories (2022)
“Joseph in Egypt,” Old Testament Stories
Joseph in Egypt
A slave becomes a leader
Joseph was sold as a slave to a man named Potiphar. Potiphar worked for Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt. Potiphar could tell that the Lord helped Joseph. He trusted Joseph and put him in charge of his house and everything he owned.
Potiphar’s wife liked Joseph. She wanted Joseph to break the Lord’s commandments with her. Joseph told her no.
Potiphar’s wife would not listen, so Joseph ran away. She was angry at Joseph.
She showed Potiphar a piece of Joseph’s clothing. She lied to Potiphar about Joseph. Potiphar put Joseph in prison.
Joseph had been separated from his family. He had become a slave, and now he was a prisoner. But the Lord still helped Joseph. Joseph did not give up. The Lord blessed the prison guard to see the good in Joseph. The guard began to trust him, so he put Joseph in charge of the other prisoners.
Joseph met two prisoners, a baker and a butler, who had worked for Pharaoh. They both had strange dreams. Through the Lord’s power, Joseph explained what their dreams meant. The butler’s dream meant that the butler would be freed. Three days later, he was set free to work for Pharaoh again.
One day Pharaoh was upset by his dreams. No one could tell him what his dreams meant.
Then the butler remembered that Joseph could explain dreams.
Joseph was brought out of prison to explain Pharaoh’s dreams. Joseph said the dreams meant that Egypt would have seven years with lots of food followed by seven years of famine with very little food. Joseph told Pharaoh that Egypt should save extra food during the good years.
Pharaoh knew that what Joseph said about his dreams was true. He set Joseph free from prison and made Joseph a great leader in Egypt. For seven years, Joseph helped Egypt store extra food.
Then the famine came. During this time, no one could grow any food. People traveled to Egypt to buy the food Joseph had stored. Because of Joseph, the Egyptians saved enough food to help them and others survive the famine.