Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children (8 page)

the last time they had seen him. He had an Egyptian

haircut and a crown on his head. Joseph decided to

teach them a lesson.

“Who are you?” he asked them in a stern voice.

“We are ten of the twelve sons of Israel who lives

in the land of Canaan,” they answered him.

“Where are the other two brothers?” Joseph

demanded to know.

“One brother is only seven years old. He was too

young to travel so we left him at home. The other

brother is no more; he was killed by a lion.”

Joseph was angry when he heard them tell this lie.

He decided to scare them. He told them he thought

they were spies come to see how much food was in

Egypt so they could send an army. The brothers were

74

Just Because

frightened when he said this, and they were starting

to shake in their boots. Joseph then decided to test

them.

“I will see if you are telling the truth,” he told

them. “One of you will stay here in my prison, and

the rest of you will go and fetch your youngest brother

and bring him to me. If you truly have a brother and

you bring him here I will believe you.”

They agreed. They bought the food, loaded up the

donkeys and headed for home. By the way, donkey

trains don’t smell as bad as camel trains. When they

arrived home they found the money they had paid

had been put back in the tops of their sacks. They

became worried that Joseph would think they were

thieves as well as spies. They didn’t know Joseph

had ordered the money to be put there. They told

their father everything, but Israel did not want to

send Benjamin to Egypt. After thinking about it he

realised there was no other way. They would need to

buy more food as well.

So the brothers set off and came again to Egypt.

This time they brought more money plus the first

money. They explained to Joseph, and he said God

had blessed them with the treasure in their sacks.

Then Joseph saw his youngest brother for the first

time. Benjamin was his own mother’s son. Joseph

was very happy to see him, but he hid his feelings

from the brothers.

He sent all the brothers away with their food, and

this time he told his servant to secretly put his own

gold cup into Benjamin’s sack. After the brothers

had gone a little way down the road Joseph sent

75

Just Because

some soldiers to catch up with them. The brothers

were scared when they saw the soldiers coming. The

soldiers stopped them and told them someone had

stolen the prince of Egypt’s cup. The oldest brother

was sure none of them had taken the cup so he said to

the soldiers, “If one of us has the cup in our sack you

can kill him, and the rest of us will be the prince’s

slaves for all our lives.”

The soldiers searched the sacks from the oldest

to the youngest, and then they found the cup in

Benjamin’s sack. The brothers were terrified. The

soldiers took them back to the city. When they came

to Joseph they got down on their knees and pleaded

with him not to kill Benjamin. They told him their

father was very old and if their youngest brother was

killed their father would die of sadness. The brothers

had come to realise God was punishing them for

trying to kill their brother. One of the brothers

offered to stay as Joseph’s slave if he would only let

Benjamin go.

Now Joseph was never going to kill Benjamin;

he just wanted his brothers to feel sorry for what they

had done and see if they truly loved Benjamin. Then

Joseph took off his crown and said to them, “I am

your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt.”

The brothers looked closely at Joseph without

his crown, and then they realised who he was. They

were scared—I mean they were terrified. They were

kneeling before the second most powerful man in all

of Egypt, a man they had sold as a slave. They had

made their father very sad with their lies, and Joseph

76

Just Because

had the power to kill them all. They thought he would

want revenge.

They asked forgiveness of Joseph, and like

all people who truly love the Lord Joseph forgave

them. He gave them all a hug, and then they had a

big feast together and talked about everything that

had happened since Joseph came to Egypt. Joseph

explained to his brothers how God can take the bad

things people do and make them into good things.

His brothers listened as he spoke because they knew

he was talking about how they threw him down the

well and then sold him to a slaver. Joseph told them

God had used him to save thousands of people from

starving to death, including his own family, so it was

part of God’s plan to have Joseph in Egypt.

After this the brothers went home and brought

their father and the whole family down to Egypt to live

near Joseph. Everyone was happy, especially Joseph

and his father, because Israel saw his son whom he

thought was dead, and Joseph was able to be with his

youngest brother, Benjamin. So the Lord turned the

bad into good Just Because He is an awesome Lord

and because Joseph always trusted Him.

77

Chapter 14

k

The king of Egypt, who was caled Pharaoh, gave

Israel and his family some of the best land in Egypt

in a place cal ed Goshen. There were seventy people

altogether in Israel’s big family after you counted the

brothers, their wives and kids. They were part of one

new kind of people God had promised to make into a

big nation, and they were cal ed Hebrews.

They took their sheep, goats and other animals to

Egypt with them, and they agreed to help take care

of Pharaoh’s animals as well. Seventeen years later

Israel died, and the brothers took him back to Canaan

to bury him beside his wife. Pharaoh sent many of

his most important people with Joseph’s family, and

they took Israel’s body over the Jordan River and into

Canaan. About seventy years after this Joseph died

as well, but before he died he asked his sons to take

his body back to Canaan and bury him in the land the

Lord had promised to Israel’s family forever.

During this time Satan had also been making

some plans. He was very patient and keeping quiet

79

Just Because

while Joseph and Pharaoh were such good friends,

but he was preparing a new Pharaoh who didn’t know

Joseph. Satan knew God had promised Israel’s family

the land of Canaan forever, so he was trying to find

a way to make it impossible for God to keep His

promise. Satan decided on a plan that had two parts.

When Joseph died all of Egypt was very sad, but

after a few years people forgot about him. Then a

new Pharaoh came to be king of Egypt, a king who

worshipped demons and not the Lord. This new

Pharaoh was a cruel man who listened when Satan

whispered bad things in his ear. Satan told him to be

careful of the Hebrews because they were becoming

too powerful. Many of the Hebrews had big families,

so now there were thousands of Hebrews and not only

seventy. So Satan whispered in Pharaoh’s ear that he

should make the Hebrews work for him without any

money. Pharaoh thought he had made this plan all

by himself, and he was pleased with himself. So the

Pharaoh made the Hebrews his slaves. This meant he

took all their land and animals, and they had to work

for nothing. Satan was very pleased because this was

the first part of his plan.

The second part was very bad also, just like

everything Satan does. He went to Canaan and again

created the Nephilim, just as he had done before the

big flood. Satan thought one day God would free the

Jews from being slaves and try to take them back

to Canaan, so he decided to have a BIG surprise

waiting for them. The big surprise would be BIG

giants everywhere, giants that obeyed him. Just like

before the flood, these giants would be partly human

80

Just Because

and partly demon, and they would be very scary and

very strong. So Satan left Egypt and went back to

Canaan to begin his work. The people in Canaan did

not know the Lord so it wasn’t hard to find people

who worshipped demons there. The demons married

some silly ladies, and they started having giant babies

just like before the flood when Noah was still alive.

Back down in Egypt life was very hard for the

Hebrews. Because of Joseph Egypt had become the

most powerful nation in the world; everyone had

brought their money to buy food. When their money

was gone people gave the Pharaoh their animals

and their land, so Egypt became wealthy because

of Joseph. But after Joseph and the good Pharaoh

died Egypt became nasty and cruel. That sometimes

happens when people love money and things and

don’t love the Lord. The Egyptians thought they

were pretty smart, and they could buy anything they

wanted; they even bought people and made them

work for nothing.

But God did not forget the Hebrews. He also

had a plan. He knew what Satan was doing over

in Canaan because He knows everything. But He

decided He would use Satan’s evil as a test for His

own people when the time was right. After a while

the cruel Pharaoh who had made all the Jews slaves

died. Egypt got a new Pharaoh, and he was just as

greedy and cruel as the one who died. The Lord

continued to bless the Hebrews, and they had many,

many sons and daughters. Now there were hundreds

of thousands of Hebrews, and the Lord was patient as

He waited for the right time to start His plan.

81

Just Because

Satan was also very busy in Canaan. Now there

were many giants in the land, and they were powerful.

The people everywhere worshipped Satan and didn’t

know the Lord. They were cruel and nasty people

who loved power. They sometimes killed people just

to try to get more power from Satan, and of course

Satan enjoyed this because he truly hates all people,

even the ones who worship him. He hates them

because all people are made in the image of God,

and Satan hates God.

So in Egypt the Lord was helping His people, and

they were having lots and lots of babies. But the cruel

Pharaoh forced the Hebrews to work all day from

sunrise to sunset. He put over them cruel men with

whips to force them to work. And over in Canaan, in

the beautiful land the Lord had promised to Israel’s

family, Satan was preparing his big surprise, an army

of giants who would make the Hebrews very afraid

when they came to Canaan. Satan was starting to get a

little bit concerned, though, because God was helping

the Hebrews to become a large number of people. So

one day Satan decided to have another whisper in the

Pharaoh’s ear. God watched and listened and decided

the time had come to start the next part of His plan,

the plan to fulfill His promise to Abraham and Israel,

Just Because the Lord always keeps His promises.

82

Chapter 15

k

One day the Pharaoh was sitting on his throne

and thinking about how great he was. He had

used his slaves to build great cities and buildings.

Maybe the big pyramids that are still in Egypt were

built by the Hebrew slaves—we don’t really know.

But we know they lived in Egypt for four hundred

years. Pharaoh suddenly had a thought. He thought

about how there were over one million Hebrews

now; if they all started a fight against Egypt then they

might win or even get away, and he would have no

more slaves.

“I wonder what I should do?” he thought.

Now you and I can guess Satan was standing

beside him whispering in his ear. Suddenly Pharaoh

had an evil idea. For a moment he considered this

idea was too evil, but then the more powerful thought

told him to do it anyway. He decided to kill all the

little baby boys of the Hebrew people by throwing

them into the river. Just the kind of idea that comes

straight from Satan’s head. A small voice warned him

83

Just Because

this was a very bad thing to do. But he was a servant

of Satan and was arrogant and proud just like Satan,

so he listened to the louder voice. Satan himself had

not forgotten a baby would be born who would crush

his head; so if you thought he was the one making

people think about killing babies all the time, then

you would be right.

There were ladies like nurses who helped the

Hebrew women have their babies, so the Pharaoh

ordered them to kill the babies if they were boys and

let the girls live. But the nurses loved God and were

afraid to kill a baby because they knew this was a

terrible evil. They told Pharaoh the Hebrew women