Joseph & His Big Brothers: A Lesson on Brotherly Love

Joseph & His Big Brothers A Lesson on Brotherly Love By: Ebony Williams

brotherly love In this lesson you will learn about a certain love known as “Brotherly Love” by reading a story about a man named Joseph and his eleven brothers.

In the bible, God has commanded us to love one another (John 13:34-35) “A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

This type of love is called brotherly love. There are four more types of loves as well: Parental love, self love, conjugal love, and most importantly divine love (this is when you love God).

The Story of Joseph

Let’s read and find out about how brotherly love was and was not carried out in the story of Joseph.

This is how it all began...

There was a man named Jacob who had 12 sons. One of his sons was named Joseph. Jacob especially loved his son Joseph because he was born when Jacob was very old.

Joseph was the youngest of all his brothers and he was only 17 years old through most of this story.

Joseph’s father decided to make him a beautiful coat. This beautiful coat was covered in many dierent colors.

Joseph Tattles (but it was important to do so!)

One day Joseph was feeding the flock with his brothers, when he noticed his brothers doing very bad things. Joseph reported these things to his Father and his brothers became very angry with him. His brothers were also angry with him because they knew their father loved Joseph the most.

Joseph’s dreams The Lord sent Joseph a dream which predicted Joseph’s future and the future of his family. The dream indicated that Joseph would one day be a ruler and that his family was going to have to bow to him.

Joseph’s brothers did not like that at all! As a matter of fact they became very angry with him.

Joseph also told his father this dream and even his father became upset with him.

The Brothers’ Wicked Plans As the brothers were in the field one day feeding the flock, Joseph’s father asked him to find his brothers and make sure things were going well.

So Joseph went to check on his brothers. However, he couldn’t find his way and got lost. Luckily, there was a kind gentleman that helped him find his way and Joseph located his brothers.

When his brothers saw him coming they planned to do something very terrible to Joseph.

They decided to kill him!! They hated their brother so much that they wanted to see him dead!

More of Their Wicked plan As Joseph got closer to them, they said one to another “Behold, this dreamer cometh!”

They then went on to say, “Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, “Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”

So, not only did they plan to kill Joseph, but they were going to lie to their father and say a beast killed Joseph instead. Oh my!

Reuben to the rescue Well, Reuben was the oldest of all the brothers and he did not think it was a good idea. He thought his plan would be better.

Reuben told him not shed his blood (or kill him), but cast him into a pit that was in the wilderness instead.

Reuben actually wanted to save his brother’s life and return him to their father.

The wicked 11 So when Joseph finally got to where his brothers were, they took him and his coat of many colors and threw him into the pit. This pit was empty with no food or water for survival.

When the wicked 11 brothers completed their dirty work, they sat down to eat when they noticed a group of Ishmaelites.

This group of people were taking some balms and myrrh (fragrances and spices) down to a place called Egypt.

Joseph sold into slavery Judah (another brother) convinced them to sell Joseph to the Ismaelites as a slave, and they all agreed.

They all made money by selling Joseph into slavery. How awful!

They then removed Joseph from the pit and sold him into Egypt and into slavery for 20 pieces of silver.

They did all of this wickedness without Reuben’s knowledge.

Reuben returns to the pit When Reuben returned to the pit, Joseph was gone! He did not know what had happened to Joseph or what his brothers did.

Reuben was actually very shocked, because he planned to return his Joseph to his father.

But, when he saw that Joseph was gone he tore his clothes and became very very sad.

Reuben was concerned for his baby brother Joseph and told the other brothers that he was no longer in the pit.

Receiving the bloody coat So the brothers took a baby goat, killed it, took the blood from the goat, dipped the coat of many colors in the blood, and sent the coat to their father.

What?! Really!!

When, Jacob, the Father received the bloody coat, the brothers told him that they had found it and asked their father if he knew if this was Joseph’s coat (as if they didn’t already know).

Jacob cries for joseph Jacob knew right away it was the coat that he had given his son Joseph.

Joseph said an evil beast had killed Joseph and eaten him. Jacob was very upset that he tore his clothes, put on his sackcloth (his mourning clothes) and cried for Joseph for many, many days.

All of his children tried to comfort him but they could not make him feel any better. He loved Joseph so much that he said he would cry for Joseph until the day he died.

Joseph the ruler Joseph eventually became ruler over all the land of Egypt second to the Pharaoh of course.

The city where his brother and father lived was experiencing some very diďŹƒcult times. They had no food because they were in a drought (a time when there is no rainfall and food could not grow).

So they had to travel to the land where Joseph was.

They did not know that Joseph was the ruler.

Joseph shows love towards his brothers Joseph recognized his brothers right away but his brothers did not recognize him. His brothers came with money to purchase food.

Joseph gave them a hard time only because he wanted to see his father and the rest of the brothers they did not come with them.

After seeing all of his brothers and his father too, Joseph gave them all they needed in order to survive.

He still loved them after all the wickedness they did to him!

Brotherly love!

So as you can see that even after all that Joseph went through, he still showed love towards his brothers.

His brothers, on the other hand did not show any love towards him. They hated him, they were jealous of him, and they even plotted to kill him.

What they did to their brother was everything short of love.

God commands us to show love towards our brothers (which includes everyone).

When you illustrate love to your siblings, other family members, and even strangers you are obeying God’s commandments by demonstrating brotherly love.

What did the bible say 1 Peter 2: 17 “Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the King.”

Hebrews 13:34: “Let brother love continue.”

1 John 4:7: “Beloved, let us love one another:” Romans 12:10: “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another!”

The End!

Questions?

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