Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children (7 page)

At the top of the ladder Jacob saw the Lord, and the

Lord spoke to him. The Lord told him he was the

God of his father and Abraham and that He would

bless him. He also told Jacob that all the people in

the world would be blessed through him and that He

would watch over and keep him safe.

When he woke up, Jacob said, “Wow! This is an

awesome place. It must be the gate to heaven.” So

Jacob made a promise to the Lord to serve Him.

Jacob went on his way and finally reached the

home of his uncle Laban. When he was near the house

he saw a girl looking after the sheep, and he thought

she was very beautiful. Her name was Rachel, and

she was Laban’s youngest daughter. Jacob fell in

love with her, and he agreed to work for Laban for

seven years if he could marry her. Rachel also wanted

to marry Jacob, so they agreed. After seven years it

came time for the wedding. Now Laban had an older

daughter Leah. Jacob wasn’t in love with her, but

Laban wanted Leah to get married first. Laban was

a naughty man, and he tricked Jacob into marrying

Leah by mistake. Jacob was sad when he realised he

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was married to the wrong girl, but Laban then let him

also marry Rachel if he worked for another seven

years. This Laban was a tricky kind of guy.

So Jacob worked for his uncle Laban for fourteen

years. In those days it was normal for some people

to have more than one wife although the Lord didn’t

like this, because He had created people to have only

one husband and one wife. So Jacob and his wives

had many children until they had a very big family.

Jacob also had many animals, sheep and goats, but

he was still scared that his big brother Esau might

try to pay him back for tricking him. Lots of tricky

people in this family.

Laban and Jacob decided that Jacob and his

family should leave and go back to his own home.

The Lord continued to take care of Jacob. This was a

good thing because as they were heading home they

saw Esau coming, and he had four hundred men with

him. Jacob was scared. He thought Esau might kill

him because he had played a bad trick on his brother.

Jacob did the most important thing to do when we

are scared. He prayed. He asked the Lord to continue

to look after him and his family just as the Lord had

promised.

Jacob decided to send his brother lots of gifts so

Esau would like him. So he sent his servants with

lots of sheep and donkeys and goats. He did this with

hundreds of animals, and each time Esau asked the

person what he was doing; he was told they were gifts

from Jacob. That night Jacob crossed the river near

where he was staying, and a strange thing happened

to him. A person came to him, and he and the man

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had a wrestling match. The wrestling match lasted

until the night was over, but Jacob was hurt during

the wrestling. He asked the person to bless him, and

the man told him he would be blessed and his name

was now to be Israel instead of Jacob.

The next day Jacob saw Esau coming down the

road with his four hundred men. Jacob went toward

him and bowed down on the ground before his big

brother, but instead of kil ing him Esau grabbed him

and gave him a big hug. I reckon it was like a bear hug

because Esau looked a bit like a big hairy bear. Esau

had never met Jacob’s wives and children so they had

a big family meeting, and everyone was happy. Jacob

gave his big brother the gifts even though Esau didn’t

want them, but this was fair because of the nasty trick

Jacob had played on him when they were young men.

After this Jacob returned to Bethel, the place

where he had spoken to the Lord. His wife Rachel

had another baby boy. Jacob, who was now called

Israel, had twelve sons. The nation of Israel and the

twelve tribes of Israel come from these boys.

So Jacob and Esau were final y friends. Jacob

had his family, and Esau had his. From Esau’s family

came many of the people in the world who are now

cal ed Arabs, and from Jacob came al the people who

are cal ed Jewish, the people from Israel. So God kept

His promise to Isaac that from him would come two

great nations. Jacob also learned he should never have

played a nasty trick on his brother. But the Lord still

helped him, Just Because he was truly sorry for what

he had done, and his brother Esau forgave him.

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Sometimes Israel was a silly man. Changing his

name from Jacob to Israel didn’t stop him from

doing silly things. You might remember that Israel’s

parents had favourite children and that this made

some big problems in the family. Well, some people

don’t seem to learn from their parents’ mistakes,

and Israel was one of those. He had a favourite son,

and that son was called Joseph. Israel made his son

a beautiful coat. It was made of lots of different

coloured pieces of cloth.

Joseph’s brothers became very jealous and angry

toward Joseph because their father didn’t make them

a beautiful coat. Jealousy and anger are very strong

feelings, and they can make people do bad things if

they let these feelings take over them. The brothers

did not stop their bad feelings. They made a terrible

plan to get rid of their brother Joseph.

One day when Joseph was out in the fields

looking after the sheep his brothers grabbed him and

pushed him down an old dry well. A well is a hole

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in the ground that usually has water, but you already

knew that from the story about Rebekah, right?

Anyway, then the brothers killed a goat and put the

goat’s blood all over Joseph’s beautiful coat. As they

were doing this they looked up and saw a slave trader

coming down the road. Now a slaver was a terrible

man. He was a man who bought people and then took

them to the city and sold them as slaves.

Joseph’s brothers pulled Joseph out of the well

and sold him to the slave trader and shared the

money. The slaver put big chains on Joseph so he

couldn’t run away and then left for the land of Egypt,

a very long way to walk. Joseph’s brothers then took

his blood-stained coat and gave it to Israel. They

told Israel a big lion had attacked Joseph when he

was looking after the sheep and had killed him. Poor

Israel thought the blood on the beautiful coat was

Joseph’s, and he was very sad that his favourite son

was dead.

But the Lord had seen everything, and He had a

plan as well.

Meanwhile Joseph was taken to Egypt and sold

to one of the king’s most important men, the captain

of the guards of Egypt, a man named Potiphar. Now

Potiphar’s wife thought Joseph was a handsome

man, and when Joseph refused to be her boyfriend

she told her husband bad lies about him and Potiphar

had Joseph thrown into jail. Poor Joseph was not

guilty. He knew that being the boyfriend of someone

who was married was a terrible sin against God, and

he had obeyed the Lord. Just goes to show that even

when we obey the Lord sometimes bad things can

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happen, at least for a while. But remember: God

always has a plan.

So Joseph was put into jail, and later two guys

who had worked for the king, his wine waiter and

his baker, were put into jail with him. One night both

the baker and the waiter had dreams, and they told

Joseph about their dreams. Now the Lord had given

Joseph a special gift so that he could tell people what

their dreams meant. He told the waiter he would soon

be let out of prison and he would get his old job back.

He had to tell the baker bad news because the baker’s

dream meant the king was going to kill him for doing

bad stuff. He asked the waiter to remember him and

help him, but sadly the waiter forgot.

Well, it happened exactly as Joseph said. The

waiter got his job back, and the baker was killed.

Poor Joseph was left in his cell all alone. But he

wasn’t completely alone because he loved the Lord

and the Lord was with him.

Two years later the king of Egypt had a bad dream

which worried him very much. He dreamed that

seven fat cows walked out of the river Nile in Egypt

and stood on the bank. Then seven skinny cows came

out of the river and ate up the big fat cows. Then the

king woke up and called all his magicians and asked

them to tell them the meaning of his dream. The

magicians thought and thought, and they couldn’t

work out the meaning of the dream at all. The king

was furious, and he sent them away. Standing nearby

was the king’s waiter, and he remembered Joseph.

He told the king how Joseph had understood his

dream and the baker’s dream, so the king ordered

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Joseph to be brought to him. When Joseph arrived,

the king told him his dream and asked him if he

could tell him the meaning. Joseph replied that it was

the Lord who gave him the answer to the dreams; he

didn’t want the king to think it was his own power.

The king told him the dream.

Joseph said to him, “The Lord has shown me

the meaning of your dream. The seven fat cows are

seven good years when there will be lots of rain to

make the crops grow and much more food than you

need in Egypt. The seven skinny cows are seven bad

years when it will not rain much and there will be no

food for the people of Egypt. The king must save up

the food in the first years, or the people of Egypt will

starve to death.”

The king sat back on his throne and looked at

this young man standing before him wearing chains

like a wild animal. Then he said, “Joseph, none of

my magicians was able to help me, but here you are

a slave who has told me the meaning of my dream.

I know in my heart what you have said is true. Your

God must be very powerful, and I can see He is

helping you, so I have decided to make you a prince

in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Here is my ring

to put on your finger, and all of Egypt will obey you

the same as they obey me.”

Told you God always has a plan.

So Joseph became the prince of Egypt, and all

the people loved and respected him because of the

wisdom he got from the Lord. He ordered huge

buildings to be made, and in the seven good years

he stored lots of food to prepare for the seven bad

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years. Joseph went from a slave in chains to being the

prince of Egypt with the king’s ring on his finger. He

never gave up hope when he was sold as a slave; he

never forgot the Lord when he was thrown into jail;

and he always had hope that the Lord would rescue

him, Just Because Joseph always made the Lord the

first and most important person in his life.

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Joseph was thirty years old when he became the

prince of Egypt. During the next seven years there

was much more food in Egypt than was needed.

Joseph traveled to each city and stored the food in

huge buildings so that when the bad years came

the people in every city would have enough to eat.

Everything the Lord explained to Joseph about the

king’s dream came true, so Joseph made sure Egypt

was ready for the seven bad years. Often Joseph

wondered how his family was back home, and he

missed them very much. But he loved the Lord and

trusted Him. He knew the Lord had sent him to Egypt

for an important reason, even though his brothers

were only trying to get rid of him.

Now the seven bad years began, and there was

no rain in the land of Egypt or the lands nearby.

Nothing would grow because the ground was so

dry, and there was no water to make the plants grow.

Joseph’s family started to run out of food, and they

were get ing very hungry.

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One day a slaver from Egypt was passing by,

and he met the brothers of Joseph again. He told

them there was a new prince in Egypt for the past

eight years and he had stored huge buildings ful of

grain for making bread and other food. He told them

people from al over the world were going to Egypt

to buy food.

“Do you think we could buy food in Egypt?” the

brothers asked him.

“Of course,” he replied, “as long as you have

silver or gold you can buy food.”

Now when Israel heard about this he sent his sons

to Egypt to buy food. He sent ten of his twelve sons,

keeping Benjamin the youngest at home. When the

ten brothers arrived they were brought before Joseph.

He immediately recognised them, but they had no

idea who he was. Joseph looked very different from