|
JOSEPH’S
DOWNS AND UPS AS
FOUND IN GENESIS CHAPTERS 37, 39 – 45 CHARACTERS
NARRATOR 1
NARRATOR 2
NARRATOR 3
JOSEPH
RUBEN (Joseph’s kinder brother)
JUDAH (Joseph’s very jealous brother)
JOSEPH’S OTHER BROTHERS
JACOB
THE MIDIANITE TRADERS
POTIPHAR
POTIPHAR’S WIFE
THE PRISION GUARDS
THE CUPBEARER
PHAROAH
PHAROAHS GUARDS Narrator
1: This
is the story of the family of Jacob from the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible. Jacob had lots of children; one daughter and twelve sons.
He loved one of his sons, Joseph, more than all the others, and he
spoiled him. One day Jacob said to
Joseph… Jacob:
Joseph,
come here. I
love you more than all your brothers and your sister.
I love you so much that I made this special coat of many colors for you,
to show you how much I love you.
Here, put this coat on and then go find your other brothers out in the
field to see what they are doing and come back and tell me.
Narrator
1: So Joseph put
on his special coat and went and found his brothers working in the fields.
He said to them… Joseph:
Hello, brothers. Look what Dad made for me.
He loves me more than he loves you.
I’m better than you are. I
even had two dreams that showed me that I am better than you are. In my first
dream we were binding sheaves of wheat in the field.
Suddenly, my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered
round it, and bowed down to my sheaf. Narrator 2:
Joseph’s brother, Judah, was particularly angry with Joseph for being so
conceited and said… Judah: You think you are so important. I hate you! Brothers: We all think you are just a spoiled brat. Get out of
here! Narrator
2: So Joseph went
back to his father. Jacob:
How are your brothers?
Joseph:
They were mean to me. Jacob:
Well, they are in trouble then. I’ll punish them for being so mean to you. Narrator 3:
So Joseph went back to the field to tell his brothers that they were in trouble.
But while he was still far away, his brothers saw him and said… Judah:
Here comes our brother. I hate him.
I think we should kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then
we’ll tell Father that wild animals killed him. That will show him and end all these dreams where he thinks
he’s better than we are! Ruben:
No, we can’t kill him. That would
be wrong no matter how much of a brat he is!
Let’s just throw him into the pit alive for awhile and teach him a
lesson. Narrator 1:
So they all grabbed Joseph, ripped his beautiful coat off of him, and threw him
into a pit. Later, when Ruben wasn’t around, the other brothers saw some
Midianite traders passing by and said… Judah: Hey, Midianite traders, you buy slaves, don’t you? Midianite
traders: Yes, why? Judah:
Well we’ve got someone here in this pit we’d like to sell to you. Narrator 2:
So the brothers took Joseph and sold him for twenty pieces of silver, and the
traders took Joseph off to Egypt to sell him in the slave market.
Then Ruben came back to where his brothers were and asked Judah… Ruben: What have you done with Joseph? Judah: We sold him to traders. Ruben:
What are we going to tell Father? Judah:
Let’s kill a goat and dip Joseph’s coat in the blood and tell father that
wild animals killed Joseph. Narrator 3:
So that’s what they did, and Jacob thought his son was dead. Narrator 1:
Even though Joseph was a brat, God was looking out for him and made sure the
traders sold him to a very nice man in Egypt named Potiphar.
Potiphar was impressed by how intelligent Joseph was and told him… Potiphar:
Joseph, you are a very good slave and very smart.
I’m going to make you the overseer of my house and put you in charge of
everything I own. Narrator 2:
So Joseph worked for Potiphar. But
Potiphar’s wife thought Joseph was cuter than her husband and said to
Joseph… Potiphar’s wife:
Joseph, you are way cuter than my husband is.
I have a huge crush on you. Come
over here and kiss me. Joseph:
No, that would be wrong. You are
married to Potiphar, and I could get into really big trouble if I kissed you! Potiphar’s wife:
Well then I’m going to tell my husband that you wanted to kiss me and then
he’s going to throw you in prison! Narrator 3:
And that’s exactly what she did. She
lied and her husband believed her and got so mad that he had the guards come and
throw Joseph in prison. But God was
still looking out for Joseph and the head jailer was very nice to him and put
him in charge of the other prisoners. While
Joseph was in prison, he met a man who used to be the cupbearer to the Pharaoh.
One night the ex-cupbearer had a strange dream, and the next morning he
looked very troubled because he didn’t know what the dream meant.
Joseph noticed how troubled the man looked and asked… Joseph:
What’s wrong? Cupbearer:
I had a strange dream last night and there is no one to interpret it. Joseph:
God can interpret all dreams. Tell me what it was and I’ll ask God. Cupbearer:
In my dream there was a vine before me and on the vine there were three
branches. As soon as it budded, its
blossoms came out and the clusters ripened into grapes.
Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them
into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. Joseph:
God says the interpretation of the dream is that the three branches are three
days. In three days Pharaoh will
bring you out of prison and restore you to your former place in the palace and
you will be his cupbearer again. Just
make sure you remember me when you get out of prison. Narrator 2:
And so it all happened as Joseph said. Then
one night the Pharaoh had two very strange dreams and called everyone in his
court together to see if anyone could interpret them. Pharaoh:
In my dream I was standing at the Nile river and there came up out of the river
seven very fat cows. Then seven
very skinny cows came out of the river Nile and ate the fat cows.
Then in my second dream seven plump ears of corn were growing on one
stalk. Then seven thin and diseased
ears of corn sprouted and grew next to them and swallowed them up. Narrator 3:
None of the court magicians or anyone else could interpret the dreams.
The cupbearer spoke up… Cupbearer:
I know someone who can interpret your dreams. His name is Joseph and he’s in
prison. Pharaoh:
Guards, go get Joseph out of prison and bring him to me. Narrator 1:
And so they did, and Pharaoh told Joseph his dream.
Joseph asked God what it meant and then told Pharaoh… Joseph:
God says that your dreams mean that your country will have seven years of
good harvests, like the fat cows and plump ears of corn. Then you will have seven years of famine, like the skinny
cows and diseased ears of corn. If you are smart, you will find someone who can
help your country save part of the food during the first seven years so that
your people will have enough to eat during the next seven years. Pharaoh:
I think you are the smartest person here. And
God is obviously with you. I want
you to be in charge and make sure we save enough food to get through the seven
years of famine. Narrator 2:
So Joseph became the most powerful man in all of Egypt, second only to the
Pharaoh himself. Joseph helped the country store lots of food so that when the
famine happened there was food enough for everyone and no one starved.
The famine was not just in Egypt. It
was also in Joseph’s home country, and his family was starving.
Joseph’s father, Jacob, sent his sons to Egypt to see if they could buy
food. They came before their
brother Joseph, but they didn’t recognize him because it had been so many
years and Joseph had grown up and now he dressed like an Egyptian.
Joseph, however, did recognize his brothers and was still angry with them
for selling him into slavery. He
spoke to them in Egyptian and had someone interpret so they wouldn’t know he
understood their language. Joseph’s Brothers:
Oh great and powerful man, we are starving. Would you please help us and sell us
some food? Joseph:
No, I think you are spies. Ruben:
No, we are not spies. We are the
sons of one man, Jacob. There were
twelve brothers in our family and one sister. Joseph:
Then go, bring your youngest brother and your father to see me so that I can
believe you are telling the truth. While
you go to get them, one of you should stay here in prison until everyone gets
back. Narrator 3: The
brothers were all frightened of Joseph, and Ruben said to his brothers…
Ruben: This is very hard.
I think we are being punished for selling our brother Joseph into
slavery! I wish we hadn’t done
that! Joseph’s
brothers: We were
so wrong to sell our brother! Narrator 3:
They did not know that Joseph could understand what they were saying.
He saw that his brothers were truly sorry for what they had done, and
Joseph had grown up into a wise man; he was no longer that conceited spoiled
boy. Finally, Joseph spoke in his
native language to his brothers… Joseph:
Don’t you recognize me? I’m
your brother Joseph who you sold into slavery.
Don’t be scared. You sold
me into slavery and I was sent to prison, but when I was in prison I interpreted
a man’s dreams. He got me out of
prison to interpret the Pharaoh’s dreams, and because of that everyone in
Egypt has enough food to eat. God
can always bring good things out of bad. Go
and get the rest of our family and live here with me where there is plenty to
eat. Narrator 3:
And so they did. The end. Deepening Faith: Youth Ministry Resources and Some Miscellaneous Advice Rev. Lizann Bassham, Front Porch Spirit Press Copyright © 2001
|
|
|