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Torah Portion: Vayeshev meaning “and he sent” (Genesis 37:1 - 40:23) Key Text:
Topic: Joseph (Part 1) Genesis 39:23
Sabbath School

Introduction: The ninth reading from the book of Genesis is named

Vayeshev, which means "and he dwelt." The title comes from the first verse
of the reading, which says, "Now Jacob [dwelt] in the land where his father
had sojourned, in the land of Canaan" (Genesis 37:1). Despite the portion's
name and first verse, the story is actually about Jacob's son Joseph and how
he was removed from the land of Canaan and dwelt in Egypt. The narrative
follows Joseph from Canaan to Egypt to prison. In addition, this week's
reading contains the story of Judah and Tamar.

Gen 39:23 “…the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.”

God gave Joseph a Dream.

Joseph was a teenage boy that lived in the Land of Canaan and worked for his father tending
sheep and the fields. Joseph’s father Israel (who was also known as Jacob) loved Joseph so
much – much more than the rest of his brothers. Well one night, God gave Joseph two dreams
that both meant his entire family would bow down to him! Now that sounds kinda crazy
right? Being the youngest brother but having your entire family bow down to you because
you rule over them??? Well Joseph’s brothers were NOT happy about this at all. They started
to hate Joseph a lot! Do you know what they decided to do about that? They decided to sell
Joseph into slavery to get rid of him forever!

God gave Joseph a Dream.

WOW! Can you believe it? The brothers hated Joseph so much that they wanted to do
everything in their power to get rid of him. I don’t know about you, but that is super insane to
me.

Well, even though Joseph was sold into slavery, God was with Joseph and never left his side.
Joseph kept his faithfulness to God and did his work as unto the Lord. Because Joseph stayed
faithful, he was put in charge of all the belongings of a man named Potiphar. Now Potiphar
was an officer of the Egyptian Pharaoh. Oh my goodness, guys! God blessed Joseph and
allowed him to have a great position of serving a master that took care of Joseph and had a
good friendship.

After a while of Joseph being faithful to Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife got upset with Joseph and
tricked her husband into throwing him in jail. No way! Just when things were getting good
for Joseph, another disappointment happened to him. Even though this happened to Joseph,
he remained faithful to God and God stayed with Joseph and took care of him.

When Joseph was in jail, he became friends with the prison guard and was put in charge of
the prisoners there with him. Do you guys see a pattern? Each place that Joseph ends up at, he

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Torah Portion: Vayeshev meaning “and he sent” (Genesis 37:1 - 40:23)
Topic: Joseph (Part 1)

gets put in charge of things, kinda like his dreams that he was given… I don’t know about
you, but I find this very interesting.

Well back to the story, while Joseph was in jail, two of Pharaoh’s servants were put into jail
because they offended Pharaoh in some way. The Baker and the Cupbearer both had dreams
on the same night and they went to Joseph for advice about what they meant. Woah. More
dreams guys! Well, God gave Joseph wisdom and he was able to tell the men what the
dreams meant! Unfortunately, the dream for the baker meant he was going to die, but the
dream for the cupbearer meant that he was going to be put back into his position as serving
Pharaoh! As the cupbearer was being taken back out of jail, Joseph told him to tell Pharaoh
about him to get him out of jail. Well guess what guys… the cupbearer forgot about Joseph
and he ended up staying in jail for TWO WHOLE YEARS! Man, that sounds like a big
discouragement to me, but Joseph continued to stay faithful to the Lord and the Lord
remained with Joseph.

DISCUSSION

1. In what ways is Joseph different from his brothers? Genesis 37:2

2. Why did Joseph's brothers hate him? Genesis 37:4
3. Why was Joseph chosen above Reuben for the leadership of the nation of
Israel? Genesis 37:9. Read Genesis 49:22-26 as well.

Conclusion:
Joseph refused to take part in evil ways of his brothers; he rather to risk their friendship and
reported their wrongdoings to his father. His brothers hated him when they saw that their
father loved Joseph more than them. The LORD showed Joseph in two dreams that he was to
become the leader of the nation of Israel. He was destined to the leadership, just as he had
said to Pharaoh, "the dream was doubled... because the thing is established by God".

ACTIVITIES

INSTRUCTIONS
Use the clues to fill in the words above. Words can go across or down. Letters are shared when the words intersect.
Use your Bibles!