Moses found and reunited (Exodus 2)

 When we left off last time, Moses was just 3 months old. By the king’s order, his mother was supposed to throw him into the Nile river when he was born, but she hid him for three months. Finally, she could hide him no more and decided to make a floating basket for him. She wrapped him in a blanket and placed him in the river. That must have been so hard for her. I’m sure she was crying. Miriam was Moses’ sister. She must have been sad when her little brother was floating away down the river.


 Do you have a little brother or sister? I know that you can understand how sad and afraid for Moses she was. She began running along the river, watching the basket that carried Moses. It got caught in some weeds. Miriam stayed and watched. Then she saw someone coming down to the river. It was the king’s daughter and her servants. The king’s daughter waded into the water. The servant girls waited on shore with towels to dry herr when she was done swimming.
 "What is that in the weeds?” The king’s daughter asked. “Go get it and bring it to me.” She commanded one of her servants.

 The servant girl reached into the water and pulled out the basket. The baby was covered and quiet. When she brought the basket to the king’s daughter, she pulled back the blanket.


 "Why it’s a baby!” Exclaimed the king’s daughter. “ I can see that he is very special.” She said smiling. Just then, the baby began to cry.  “This must be one of the slave women’s babies.” The king’s daughter said as she picked the baby up and patted him to get him to stop crying. “I think I will keep him and raise him as my own son.” She told her servants.
 Miriam saw the whole thing from her hiding place along the river. She was trying to get up enough courage to come out of her hiding place and speak to the king’s daughter. Miriam thought about how sad her mother was and it gave her a burst of courage. She emerged from the weeds and approached the king’s daughter.
  “Would you like me to get one of the slave women to nurse the baby for you? Miriam asked.
  “Yes, that’s a wonderful idea!” The king’s daughter replied.

  Miraim ran as fast as she could to get her mother. When she finally reached her mother, Miriam told her all about how the King’s daughter wanted to raise the baby, and that she needed someone to care for the baby. She grabbed Moses’ mother’s hand and they both ran back to the king’s daughter.


 “Please care for this baby.” The king’s daughter said to Moses’ mother. "I will pay you for your time as well.” She added. Miriam and her mother took the baby and thanked God as they turned to go home.
  "Oh one more thing,” the king’s daughter added. “His name is Moses because I pulled him out of the water.”
 In Egyptian, moses means to pull out.
 So Moses’ mother not only got her baby back, but the king’s daughter paid her to take care of him! God is so amazing!
 We can read the story of Moses and think to ourselves, “Wow! He was so lucky! But God had a plan for Moses. Everything that happened was part of God’s plan. We will see more of God’s plan unfold as we follow the life of Moses.
 Did you ever think to yourself. “ That was a lucky break", or, “ what a coincidence.” God is in control of all things. There isn’t any luck or coincidence involved. God is working his plan in your life, just as he did in Moses’ life. Isn’t it exciting just wondering what God has in store for us!

The Birth of MOSES (Exodus 1-2)

 We just finished the story of Joseph, and even though he lived hundreds of years before Moses, the stories are connected. Joseph brought all of his relatives over to Egypt because it was the only place that had food. The king at the time loved Joseph because of all that he had done for him and for Egypt and he didn’t mind all the Israelites living in Egypt. The Israelites had many children. Their children had many children. Many years after Joseph had died, a new king forgot all about Joseph and how he helped Egypt. He was just worried that there were too many Israelites, and that they might start a war and take over Egypt. So he  used his army and forced the Israelites become slaves to the Egyptians. The king wanted to build a huge city, so he used the Israelite slaves to make bricks out of hay and mud. The Israelites were not treated very well.

 The Israelites kept having children and the king was getting more nervous than ever. He told the Egyptian nurses to kill the baby boys as soon as they were born.  Months and months later, the king noticed that there were still many Israelite boys being born so he called the Egyptian nurses before him. “Didn’t I order you to kill all the slave boys right after they were born? Then why am I seeing all these little slave boys everywhere?” He scowled.

 “Yes my king, we tried to follow your orders, but the Israelite women have babies so fast, that the babies are born and already in their mother’s arms by the time we arrive.” Said one of the nurses.

The nurses knew that it was wrong to kill the babies, so they purposely took their time getting to the Israelite women when they were having their babies.  God was pleased with the nurses and blessed them with many children of their own.


The king was getting angry.  He made it a law, that all slave boys, born from this day forward, must be thrown in the Nile river! The baby boys would drown if the crocodiles didn’t eat them first. The Israelites hated being slaves and they hated the kings laws. They prayed that God would free them.

An Israelite woman had a baby boy. Her and her husband hid the baby for three months. When they knew that they could hide him no longer, they mad a difficult decision. The baby’s mother made a basket out of papyrus (which they used to write on. It’s where we get the word paper) and his father coated it with tar so it wouldn’t sink.








They wrapped the baby in a blanket, placed him in the basket, set him in the Nile river and prayed. The baby’s older sister, Miriam, ran along the banks of the nile and watched as the current carried the basket with the baby further and further from his family. Wow! That must have been so hard for the family!  The baby didn’t have a name yet, but we know him as Moses. Next time we’ll find out if the crocs got him! What do you think?

Next up.... Moses

 I hope you enjoyed and learned something from the series on Joseph.
He is one of my all-time favorite Old Testament characters. There is so much to learn from his life. (Genesis 37:1-50:26)                                                                    

    Let’s review some of the lessons that we took away from studying Joseph’s life and other Bible passages that go along with what we learned.

 1: Jealousy is a sin. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and it lead to other sins.

 Let us behave decently, not tearing each other down or with jealousy.   Romans 13:13 



2: We can choose the right thing (God’s way) or the wrong thing. Joseph chose to do the right thing.

Hate what is evil and cling the what is good. Romans 12:9



 3: Always do our best at everything we do. Joseph was the best slave EVER!

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord.   Colossians 3:23



 4: Sometimes doing the right thing causes problems, but God has a plan. Joseph ended up in prison .
    
Blessed is the man, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good rather than for doing evil.   1 Peter 3:17
 

 5:Trust God and obey Him... He is working behind the scenes. Joseph became head of the prison.

Blessed is the person who hangs in there during hard times because God promises a crown of glory to those that love Him.   James 1:2



 6: Be patient. God’s time is not our time. Sometimes it takes a while. Joseph was in prison for 13 years.

“I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". Says the Lord. Jeremiah 29:11


7: God does far more than we can imagine! Joseph became head of Egypt.

God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or even imagine.   Ephesians 3:20



8: God can change a heart! Judah, (Joseph’s brother who sold Joseph into slavery) became loving and compassionate.

 I will remove from them, their heart of stone, and give them a soft heart of flesh.   Ezekiel 11:19



 9: God is in charge... so don’t take revenge. Joseph could have had his brother’s thrown in jail or killed.

 Don’t seek revenge for yourself, but let God do what He sees fit.   Romans 12:19



10: God forgives us and He wants us to forgive others. Joseph forgave his brothers.

Forgive us as we forgive others.   Matthew 6:12                                    

MOSES

 Next time we will be looking at Moses. Most everyone knows about Moses and the ten commandments and  that he was found in the Nile river as an infant,
 but there are a lot of things that I found out about him. We’ll be looking as some very interesting things in the life of Moses in the upcoming weeks!
God bless you!

Joseph Reveals His Identity

 While Judah was pleading for his brother’s life before Joseph, Jacob was back in Canaan wondering why it was taking his 11 sons so long to return from Egypt. He was so afraid that something had happened to them, especially his youngest son Benjamin.
 Last time we saw that the brothers had left Egypt with the food they bought. They were on the way home. They were stopped by guards and returned to Joseph, the ruler of Egypt, because the king’s silver cup was found in Benjamin’s traveling pouch.  Joseph said that all the brothers could leave except Benjamin. This is when Judah started to plead for Benjamin’s life and offered to take his place in prison if Joseph would just let Benjamin go back to his father. Judah had promised his father that he would not let anything happen to Benjamin.
 Judah’s heart for his brother, and his sincerity at keeping the promise to his father really touched Joseph. His eyes began to tear up. He sent all his servants and attendants out of the room and began to cry in front of his brothers. He cried so loudly, that his servants heard him outside the door. Joseph’s brothers were terrified. "Now look what you’ve done Judah!” One of them shouted.                                                  


 “No no, you don’t understand,” said Joseph through his sobs. “I am your brother Joseph!”
All 11 of the brothers were speechless. They stared at Joseph in disbelief!  "It is me! Don’t you believe me? Remember when you threw me in the pit and were going to leave me there and then a few merchants came along. You decided to sell me instead.”
 The brothers realized that this WAS Joseph. Now they were really terrified. "Joseph will take revenge on us and we will die here in Egypt!” Whispered Reuben to the others.

 Joseph overhead Rueben. “God is so amazing! What you meant for evil, He used for good. Now I am in charge of all the food in the land. There will be another five years of famine (no rain for the crops and animals) . If God had not brought me here, our entire family line would have died of starvation!” Joseph continued. “So don’t be afraid, I brought you here to forgive you!” With that Joseph went over to his little brother, whom he had never met and gave Benjamin a great big hug!




 The brothers all broke down and wept. “After all we had done to Joseph, he still forgives us. We don’t deserve such love!”
 “Go get your father and all his belongings and move him here to Egypt so that you will be near the food and that I may spend some time with him,’ said Joseph as he wiped away his tears. So the brothers did what Joseph said. What a wonderful reunion Joseph and Jacob had!

  Forgiveness can be so hard sometimes. Have you ever had to forgive someone?  God asks us to forgive others, just as he has forgiven us. Jesus even forgave the people who nailed him to the cross!
Forgiveness is not excusing someone’s bad behavior. It is letting God take care of it. We may not see God doing anything, but we can trust that he is or will. Why does God want us to forgive? To make us miserable? No. Just the opposite. God cares for us. Holding a grudge against someone plants the seed of bitterness in our heart. The longer it goes.... the more bitter we become. Forgiving is more about our own well being than the other person.
   Have you ever had to carry something very heavy? Try this. Carry about 5 books around the room. Now add another and walk around the room again, now add another. Thats how it is when we don’t forgive. It gets heavier and heavier on our heart. Now put the books down. Doesn’t that feel great! A weight has been removed. When we forgive. A weight is lifted from us.  Now we don’t spend all day thinking about what the person did to us or we don’t  think about revenge all the time. We are free to enjoy the life that God gave us and spend more time with Him.

The Brothers Return (GN 44 & 45)

So the brothers finally convinced their father Jacob, to let them take Benjamin with them to buy more food. Judah promised his life that Benjamin would be safe.  Jacob prayed for the brothers as they left, but he was very worried.  Why was Jacob so protective of Benjamin? It was because, out of all twelve brothers, Joseph and Benjamin were the only ones born to Rachel. (Rachel was the only woman that Jacob truly loved with all his heart) Rachel had died and Joseph was gone too. Benjamin was all that was left of Jacob’s true love.

  Joseph looked out the window of his castle and saw that the brothers were back. He was so happy when he saw Benjamin with them. He had never met Benjamin because Benjamin was born after he himself had been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers.
"Take those men to my home and prepare a great feast for them.” Joseph told his assistant as he pointed to his brothers.”I will be there at noon to eat lunch with them.”
 Joseph’s assistant did as he was told and brought the brothers to Joseph’s home. The brothers were terrified! This was a very unusual thing to do. Foreigners and shepherds were looked down upon in Egypt and would never be invited into an officials home unless he was planning to ambush them. That’s what they thought.
“If this is about the silver that was in our sacks when we got home,” one of the brothers spoke up. “We have no idea how it got there! We even brought it back plus more to buy more food and gifts for Pharaoh.”
 Joseph’s assistant smiled and said, “God had retuned your silver to you . Don’t worry."
 Just then, Joseph walked in the door. “So you have returned. And with your little brother I see, and how is your father? He asked.
 “Our father is fine.” Said Judah as all the brothers bowed before Joseph.
 Joseph looked at Benjamin. He looked a lot like their mother. Joseph’s eyes filled with tears and he quickly excused himself from the room and found a place to cry so that no one would hear him. He dried his eyes, washed his face and returned to the dining area where his brothers were being seated. Remember Simeon, the brother that was tied up and left behind as assurance that the brothers would return with Benjamin?  He was released and able to join the brothers for lunch. I’m sure he wanted to ask them what took so long. All twelve brothers were together for the first time ever!
 Joseph went and ate in the other room because he could not share a meal with foreigners  although I’m sure he wanted to. All this time, not one of the brothers recognized Joseph as the brother they had sold into slavery 14 years earlier.

Benjamin’s plate was piled twice as high as the others.

 After lunch, Joseph talked with the brothers a while and then sent them on their way with the food that they came for. Before they left, Joseph told his assistant to take his silver cup and put it in Benjamin’s donkey pack.
  After the brothers had been on their way for a while, Joseph told his assistant to take some armed guards and find his silver cup that had been stolen and bring back the thieves. The brothers were startled as Joseph’s men rode up on them. “What’s going on?” They asked.
“Our master’s special silver cup has been stolen.” Replied one of the guards.
“Search us and our packs.” Said Judah confidently. “We would never repay your master’s goodness toward us with evil.”

  Just then one of Joseph’s men pulled the cup from Benjamin’s traveling pack. The brothers were so upset that they all tore their clothes. Benjamin was in shock! The guards escorted the brothers back into Joseph’s home. The brothers threw themselves on the ground, begging Joseph for mercy.
  Judah was the first to speak. “If one of us is guilty lord, then we are all guilty! Lock us all up!”
  “No, no, I would never do that.” Said Joseph. “You are all free to go except your little brother. My silver cup was in his possession!”
  Judah pleaded with Joseph. “Please, please lord! Let me take his place! It was so hard for my father to let Benjamin go with us. He was so afraid that something would happen to him. I promised my father on my life that Benjamin would return home safely. It would kill my father to lose another son! Please lord! Take me instead!”
  We’ll find out next time if Judah gets thrown into prison or not.


 Let’s take a look at Judah for a moment.  Judah was the brother who convinced the others to sell Joseph as a slave.  (GN 37:27) Then when they returned home after selling him, Judah lied to his father and told Jacob that Joseph had been eaten by a wild animal . He even gave his father Joseph’s blood-stained coat as proof.(GN 37:32) He was probably the one who came up with the idea to put animal blood on the coat to deceive his father. It is hard to believe that the Judah that is begging for Benjamin’s life, is the same Judah that sold Joseph and deceived his father. Joseph saw that God had changed Judah’s heart! Do you know someone who lies and cheats all the time? Don’t hate them. Pray for them. If God can change Judah’s heart, he can change someone you know. God doesn’t like the lies and the cheating, but he loves the person. He wants us to love them too.  It’s not easy, but God loves us... even when we make mistakes.

The Brothers’ Guilty Conscience

 So Joseph’s brothers did not recognize him and were bowing before him. They were asking for food since there was a great famine across all the land. Joseph was in charge now, because God interpreted Pharaoh’s dream through Joseph. Joseph stored up a lot of food during the good years, because he knew that the famine was coming. He looked down on his brothers and remembered the dream that he had when he was just a little kid.


  "You say that you have come to Egypt to buy food?” Joseph said harshly as the brothers nodded yes. “I don’t believe you! I think that you are ten spies sent here to check out the land and scope out our wealth.”Joseph snarled.
  “No, no, really sir. We are just ten brothers wanting to buy food. Our father and little brother are still back in Canaan waiting for us. We had one more brother, but he is no longer with us.” They said humbly .
  “If you are telling the truth, then leave one of your brothers here in prison and bring back your little brother.” Joseph said. “You will leave with food for your family, but this one,” Joseph pointed at Simeon, “will be left behind until you return with your little brother.”
 “Please sir!” Rueben begged. “Our father did not send our little brother along with us because of what happened to our other brother (Joseph). It would kill him if anything happened to him.”


 Joseph remembered how his brothers threw him into a pit, and the sold him as a slave to passing merchants. His brothers figured that Joseph was probably dead by now. If they only knew that they were speaking to the one they treated so badly, I wonder what they would have done.
 “Go!” Joseph commanded. “Or you will all be locked up!”
 Simeon was bound in front of his brothers and led off. The brothers got their food and headed home.
 On the way back to Canaan, Judah stopped to get something out of his pack that was on his donkey. He was shocked when he saw that the silver that he had used to buy some of the food, was back in his pack!
“How could this be?” Judah shouted.

 “What?” His brothers responded.
 “ Look!” He held out the silver. “It’s all the silver that I paid for my food!”
 The brothers were all scared to death now. Through some kind of mistake, Judah ended up with the silver. When Pharaoh finds out about this...... they knew it wouldn’t be good. Pharaoh would accuse them of stealing and have them either killed or imprisoned. They thought that they were being punished for selling Joseph. They had no idea that Joseph had told his servants to put all the silver that the brothers had brought with them to buy food back into their traveling packs.


 When they got home and were unloading their stuff in front of their father, Jacob, they saw that all their packs were filled with silver!
 Jacob cried out in fear. “What have you done?” And he tore his clothes. (That was a sign of distress in those days. I think mom would get mad if we tore our clothes every time we got upset now. Don’t you?)
“We didn’t do it father!” The brothers answered.
In the back of their minds, the brothers were still thinking that God was punishing them for what they had done to Joseph.
 Then the brothers explained all that had happened in Egypt and how Pharaoh wanted them to bring their little brother, Benjamin  back to prove that they are not spies.

 “Never!” Said Jacob. “I lost Joseph thirteen years ago. Now I’ve lost Simeon! There is no way that Benjamin is going to Egypt! I’m not going to lose him too!”
 Judah said, “I will not return to you if anything happens to Him. You have my word and my life father”
After weeks and weeks of arguing, the family was out of food again. Finally Judah put his foot down. "We could have been there and back two times in the time it has taken us to resolve this. Let us go father. Benjamin with be safe with me!”
 Finally Jacob said alright, but he made them take double the silver and a few gifts with them. The brothers, with Benjamin, headed back to Egypt.... To face Joseph again.






 Did you ever do something wrong and then felt like God was punishing you.  That’s how Joseph’s brothers felt. God is in control of everything, that’s true, but a lot of times we are suffering the consequences of our own decision to do the wrong thing. When someone goes to jail for robbing a bank, that is not God punishing them. It is the consequence of a bad choice. We all make bad choices. Things that we know are wrong. Things we know that God doesn’t like. God doesn’t like us to make bad choices, because He knows that there are consequences. He wants the best for us. The less time we spend paying for our mistakes, the more time we have to love Him. That’s what He wants.

Joseph is freed from prison (Genesis 41)

So, last time we left off, the cupbearer, who promised to put in a good word for Joseph to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, forgot all about Joseph. Joseph spent two more years in prison.

 One night, Pharaoh had two dreams. He called his wizards. He called his magicians. He even called his cupbearer to see if anyone could interpret his dreams, but no one could.  Finally the cupbearer remembered Joseph!

"Remember when you were displeased with me, oh king, and you had me thrown into prison for three days?” The cupbearer asked and the king nodded yes. “Well, I messed up big time. I should have told you about him sooner, but there is a man named Joseph that I met in prison. The baker and I both had dreams the same night and Joseph told us what they meant. He was right both times. I was restored as your cupbearer, and the baker.... well let’s just say that you made sure that he won’t be baking any more bread ever again, just like Joseph said!”

 "Bring him to me at once!” The king demanded.

 Joseph was given clean clothes and shaved before he was brought before Pharaoh. The king told Joseph about both of his dreams. “Can you tell me what they mean? The king asked.

 “No, I can’t” Replied Joseph, much to the dismay of the king.... and the cupbearer. “But God can!”

 “Your dreams are about a seven year abundance. During this time everyone will have more than enough food. Those seven years will be followed by a seven year famine. During this time your kingdom and surrounding countries will not have enough food. If you do not find a wise man that will store up five percent of the food for the first seven years so that you will have enough during the next seven, your kingdom with perish.” Joseph advised the king. 

 The king could see that God was with Joseph. He trusted Joseph’s words and his heart.  Can people see God at work in you? Do they trust you because they know that you are a Christian? We should always live our lives so that people will see God’s goodness and His love in us. That is living for God’s glory!

 The king not only freed Joseph from prison, but he put him in charge of his whole kingdom! The king put a royal robe on Joseph and a gold chain around his neck. He even put the governor’s ring on Joseph’s finger. Joseph had his own personal chariot! Would’t that be cool?  Nothing was done in the kingdom without Joseph’s approval. During the first seven years while Joseph was in charge, there was an abundance of food, just like God had said. Joseph saved some food in storehouses for the famine he knew that was coming. At this time, Joseph married one of the Egyptian official’s daughters and had 2 sons.

 During the famine, people from other countries would travel to Egypt to buy food. Egypt was the only place that had food. Because God was with Joseph, and Joseph obeyed God, Egypt was not only spared disaster from the famine, but it flourished, selling the extra food that they had stored up!

 Joseph’s father Jacob and his brothers were living in Canaan and struggling to eat. “Go to Egypt and buy us some food before we all starve to death.” Jacob told his sons. “But leave Benjamin here.” Benjamin was the youngest. Jacob thought that Joseph had died in the desert and he didn’t want the same thing to happen to Benjamin.

 The brothers left their father and Benjamin behind and went to Egypt and guess who they had to kneel before to ask for food?! Yep, Joseph! Their little brother that they had sold into slavery 13 years ago was now in charge of who gets food and who doesn’t. Joseph recognized them right away, but the brothers didn’t recognize Joseph.

 What do you think Joseph did? What would you have done? We will find out next time :o)