Lessons from the Life of Joseph pt 1: Anti-Bullying

This story is part of the Beyond the Story: Life Application Series for kids. These are perfect to be used in your jr church/jr high classes or to be used as part of your homeschool discipleship program. You can download all of the additional resources for this lesson here, or you can grab the entire pack of 52 lessons and resource packs here. This series is ideal for kids who know the Bible stories already, and are ready to hear them with a deeper understanding of how they relate to their every day lives.

If you’re new here, I’m Tonya Johnson, founder of Helping Hearts Homeschool where I specialize in working with parents and ministry leaders who are focused on building a solid foundation for the next generation. I believe that it’s important to stay ahead of the crowd when it comes to keeping the attention of our children. As homeschoolers, we have the unique advantage of being able to tailor our child's education in a way that fosters that child/parent relationship and ignites their love for both learning and Jesus. The world is fighting for their hearts; we need to fight 10x harder. 

The scavenger hunt, bingo review game, verse cards, song sheets, lesson (printable form with review questions highlighted) and craft are all part of the Download Pack. 

Hide the scavenger hunt pieces around the room, give each kid a scavenger hunt sheet, and let them go hunting! 

This is a super fun snack to make if you're doing this lesson as part of a homeschool discipleship program, or if you have a small class. If you have a large class, I suggest making them ahead of time. Personally I like to let the kids eat them as I'm teaching, but if you prefer, you can have a designated snack time. 

Items needed: Graham crackers, white frosting, mini m&ms. Here's a picture for guidance. 

You may choose to read the story of Joseph directly from the Bible (Genesis 37), a bible story book, or by writing out your own words. I always recommend using scripture throughout your story, regardless of which route you decide. Personally, I like to write out my own words. This lesson is focusing on Joseph’s life from birth up until he was sold into slavery (so only chapter 37). The life application is treating everyone with kindness no matter how different they may be from us. You can grab free bible story images here for every Bible story.

Joseph was one of the youngest sons of a man named Jacob. He was also the favorite. the Bible says (3) “now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children”. Israel, is the name God gave to Jacob, so in this passage, Israel and Jacob are the same person. Any guesses as to why that might be? (You’ll receive a lot of varying answers for this). Those are all great answers! Joseph was the favorite because (3) “he was the son of his old age.” His dad had 2 wives, God doesn’t like that, we’re only supposed to marry one person, but his dad didn’t do that. He married two women. Joseph’s mom, Rachel, was his favorite wife and didn’t have any kids until many many years after they were married. When she finally did have a kid, that kid was Joseph. I can only assume they prayed for a long time to have a baby, so when Joseph came along it was easy to treat him special and have him become the favorite. the Bible says that Jacob loved him and thought a lot of his ideas and input on things.

Ok, so Joseph was the favorite. That’s the first reason his brothers picked on him and treated him unkindly. He had 11 brothers by the way! Can you imagine having 11 siblings that you have to share everything with?! Let’s see who has the most siblings in here. Raise your hand if you have 3 brothers and sisters. 4.. (keep going until you find the most). Ok, so Seth has 5 siblings, that’s a lot right?! Seth, what is the best thing about having so many brothers and sisters? And what’s the worst? Sharing 1 bathroom? Man that’s rough! But can you imagine sharing one bathroom with 11 siblings. No way!

So Joseph’s brothers treated him unkindly because he was the favorite. That probably made them very jealous. Now luckily, your parents don’t have any favorites. They love all of you the same just like God loves all of us the same, but have you ever felt jealous of a brother or sister? Maybe you though they got a nicer toy than you at Christmas, or maybe they get to have a later bedtime than you because they’re a little older? Maybe it’s not a sibling, but maybe it’s a friend you’re jealous of? Maybe that friend got to go on a Disney vacation or got a new puppy! Anything like that? It’s easy to get jealous of what someone else has, but does that make it ok to treat someone unkindly? No, the Bible says Luke 6:31 "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise". That means we should treat everyone like we would want them to treat us, with kindness, no matter what. Btw, sometimes treating someone unkindly turns into something else. Any guesses what that might be? Bullying. Bullying is a pattern of repeatedly harming or humiliating someone else.

So what’s the first reason Joseph’s brothers may have treated him with unkindness? They were jealous. Ok, remember that.

So Joseph was the favorite, next, in genesis 37:5-9 we see that Joseph had two dreams. The first dream he saw him and his brother binding sheaves in the field. Who knows what sheaves are? Sheaves are a bundle of grain, and they would bind them before harvest (show pic of a sheave if possible). In his dream, Joseph’s sheave rose above all of the others and all the other sheaves obeyed that one that rose above the others. In his second dream, Joseph dreamed that the sun, moon and stars all obeyed him. He told his brothers about these dreams and told him that the dreams meant one day Joseph would basically be the boss and all his brothers would obey him. Now, if your little brother told you that, what would you think? Would you laugh? Would you be mad? the Bible says that Joseph’s brothers were angry about this and I can imagine they said some very unkind things to him.

Again, is it ever ok to be unkind to someone? No. What was the first reason they were unkind to Joseph? That’s right he was the favorite. The second reason was that he was annoying and bragged about himself a lot. Now, we all know that one kid who brags on himself and is always telling us whey they’re better at everything than everyone else is. Don’t say it out loud, just think it in your head. We all know that kid, but is it ok to be mean to them just because they’re annoying? Again, no. Remember, we should always treat people how we want to be treated, and God made every single person for a unique purpose. We may find another person annoying, but somebody probably finds us annoying too. We’re all special and made in the image of God, so we should keep that in mind when we’re interacting with one another.

So, Joseph was the favorite, Joseph was annoying, let’s talk about the 3rd reason his brothers treated him unkindly… Joseph was a tattle tale.

In genesis 37:14, the Bible says that Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers while they were supposed to be out taking care of their flocks and to report back to him. Now, we know that Joseph was the favorite, and Jacob trusted him a lot. It’s only fair to assume that Jacob probably sent Joseph out to check on his brothers and report back often.

Now, raise your hand if you have a younger sibling that likes to tattle tale on you. Raise your hand if you have an older sibling that likes to tattle tale on you. Now maybe, you don’t have a sibling that does that, but you know a kid that loves to go and tell the teacher and get other people in trouble. How does that make you feel? Let me ask you this, if you were doing what was right in the first place, would they have a reason to tattle? Just a little thought there. So Joseph’s brothers treated him unkindly because he was a tattle tale.

The Bible says they got so mad at him for 1) being the favorite 2) being annoying, and 3) being a tattle tale that they want to kill him. Now that’s pretty extreme right? Hopefuly none of you have ever been THAT mad at your sibling or at a friend.
Luckily, Joseph had an older brother, Reuben, that convinced the rest of the brothers not to kill Joseph, but they did end up shoving him into a pit and then selling him as a slave to Egypt. Come back next week and we’re going to look at how Joseph reacted, but first, let’s play a little review game. (Pass out bingo cards)

Pass out the bingo cards and appropriate "markers" depending on class size. Keep in mind, if you have a large class, students can use clipboards or can get on their knees in front of their seats and use their chairs as writing space. 

Ask the class a question from the review question sheet (included in download), when someone gives the correct answer, everyone gets to mark that answer on their bingo board. For an extra incentive for students to participate in answering questions, pass out candy during this review game as well. M&Ms or skittles are a great way to keep with the "coat of many colors" theme. 

Before class: Choose appropriate puzzle, print on white card stock, cut out the pieces and put into a bag.

When craft time comes, each child chooses a puzzle piece from the bag to color and put their name on. If you want to shorten this craft, print on colored cardstock instead of white. (Having the kids color their own pieces makes the craft turn out better). After all of the pieces are colored and returned, piece them together and glue on a piece of poster board and display in your classroom for the next few weeks as a reminder that we are all unique in God’s world and we all deserve kindness.

If you’re using this as part of a home school discipleship plan, you may choose to write in names of friends or family members to complete your puzzle.

Geared toward children ages 7+, this series is designed for kids who know the basics of each Bible story already. Maybe they've been in church since birth, or maybe they're just a bright child who memorizes facts easily. Either way, they're ready to look beyond the story. 

They're ready for a more in depth look at each major story in the Bible with an emphasis on how they can apply the biblical principles in their every day life, real world style.

If this sounds like something that could benefit your homeschool or your church, click the button below.

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