The following is chapter 7 in the children’s series, If They Could Talk; the story of our redemption as it unfolds from Genesis to Revelation. This is the story of Joseph as found in Genesis 37-50.
My Friends,
If a nation would come from the line of Abraham, someone needed to have many sons. That someone would be Jacob. He had twelve of them.
I am a hearer of stories and keeper of secrets. Some consider me a pet, others a scourge, but to all I am simply known as the prison rat. Some of Egypt’s foulest are my acquaintance. Gruff and hard are most; quick tempered and mean spirited are those detained in my house of misery and gruel.
But in one cell there was a young man of a different spirit. I never wearied of his voice or story. He talked of his family, he talked of a faraway land, but most often he talked of his God. His name was Joseph, and his story I now tell.
He was eleven of twelve, this Joseph. “A dreamer and a favorite” decried his brothers. Such was their jealous ire; scorn and hatred blinded brotherly love. Sold to slavers and presumed dead by father Jacob, Joseph carted to Egypt alone and in chains.
Stuffed with zeal and talent this boy was. Not many seasons did pass before slave Joseph was entrusted with his wealthy owner’s estate. Daily decisions were his, and the household thrived.
But there was a wanton wife with a wandering eye. Spurned by Joseph, this owner’s spouse with malice and cunning; cried offense when Joseph refused her sinful advance. Not believed and cast into my celled asylum, Joseph was left to gray and wrinkle in darkness.
It was here I heard stories of a pledged relationship between God and man. He spoke in admiration and awe of God’s promises made to his Great Grandpa Abraham, to his Grandpa Isaac, and to his Father Jacob. He spoke of his lineage as a mouse speaks of fine cheese. A prison’s dark pit had not come between Joseph and his faith. The Creator’s imprint rested heavy upon him.
Acquaintance grew to familiarity as months turned to years. Through it all, Joseph did not forget God; God did not forget Joseph.
A puzzling Pharaoh’s dream opened prison’s doors when Joseph rendered meaning to the ruler’s troubled vision in the night. The interpretation’s reward was passage from prison’s dim. A grateful Pharaoh granted Joseph palace keys and a nation’s acclaim—Joseph now number two in all the land.
After many years of wise rule, unsuspecting brothers journeyed to Egypt for food. Disguise, drama, and suspense gave way to repentant brothers and a father’s grief turned to joy.
This patient man did teach me much. Abandoned by family, imprisoned by a lie—Joseph waited. He knew God had a plan; Joseph convinced it involved him and his brothers. Is he right? I suspect he is.
Sincerely, The Rat