COME AS A CHILD LESSON 118 - WHEN YOUR BEST EFFORTS ARE JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH

So by now Moses had his personal life with God straightened out, and both sons most likely had been circumcised (remember we think there is a possibility that the youngest son was not quite eight days old when God got mad about the first son not being circumcised, so probably he was circumcised shortly after that incident.)  

It seemed that Moses must have gone back to Midian, taking Zipporah and the boys back home for awhile.  They needed to heal and would not be able to make the long journey to Egypt until they recovered from the circumscism.  Moses would need to go without them.  They could join him later.   

God still had to deal with the fact that Moses was not wanting to be the speaker for him with Pharaoh.  Moses must have gone to Mt. Horeb to discuss this with God up on the Holy Ground where he had seen the burning bush.  We know that Moses was there because that is where Aaron found him when he sought him out because God had commissioned him to do so.  Possibly Jethro told Aaron where to look?  We are not certain how this transpired, but the two long lost brothers did meet on the Mountain of God.

So much of this reminds me of the relationship today of the Christians and Jews.  When will they find out they are REAL brothers?  When will one believe another?  It seems a lot of miracles take place up on The Mountain of God.  It will be like watching Moses and Aaron when this finally happens and the family is reunited.  Well - on with the current story.....

The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So Aaron went to meet Moses at The Mountain of God.   

It had been forty years since Moses had seen Aaron.  Aaron had been a slave and Moses had been a Prince of Pharaoh.  They probably had never accomplished that natural closeness that most brothers are able to develop.  They knew each other; but they didn't KNOW each other.   

Now that Moses understood that Aaron was his real brother, God brought the two together out in the wilderness on top of His mountain and then God began to instruct them on their mission.  The scriptures indicate that the brothers embraced.  The word used in the scriptures is "kiss," and it indicates that God was a part of this scene as well as the brothers.   God must have quickly repaired their relationship and brought them to the point of brotherly love.  It was customary for those cultures when meeting close friends and relatives to embrace and kiss both sides of the face.   

Moses explained to Aaron everything the LORD had been saying to him.  Perhaps that is why they went up to Mt. Horeb, so that Moses could show Aaron where he had this amazing experience with the burning bush.  Moses explained all the signs  and the things that God had commanded for him and Aaron to say to Pharaoh and the two headed off for Egypt together.

When they arrived, Aaron gathered all of the elders of the Israelites and told them everything the LORD had said to Moses.  They performed the signs before the people and the people believed.  The people were so relieved to hear that God was concerned for them and their misery!   They bowed down and worshiped God. 

So with the backing of the people of Israel, Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh and said:  “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:  ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go?  I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.”

Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh:  “The God of the Hebrews has met with us.  Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

The request to take a three day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to God is such a foreshadowing of the time when Jesus Christ was sacrificed for our sins and spent three days and three nights in the grave.  God was setting this pattern in motion with his people way back in the days of Moses speaking to Pharaoh.  Moses points out that without this journey there would be plagues or death by the sword, and this is what our salvation redeems us from.  Moses was so hopeful of redeeming the Children of Israel.   Pharaoh, however, was not in a listening mood.  

God's anger was the least of Pharaoh's concerns.  Pharaoh was disturbed that Moses and Aaron were taking the people away from their labor.  He told them all to get back to work.  He was angry with Moses and Aaron.   He gave orders to his slave drivers and overseers to no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks; but they had to go and gather their own straw, making their work much harder.  

This is so typical to what happens to someone desiring to worship God with all of their heart.  Satan is not concerned; except for his own causes.  He does all kinds of things to prevent this time alone with God from happening.  He might remove the essentials for survival, such as happened to the Israelites with Pharaoh's taskmasters.  He will do anything to make it hard for you to be totally dedicated to worshiping The One True God.  

Even though The Children of Israel had more work added on, they were required to make the same number of bricks as before.  This meant longer, even harder days of unreasonable labor without rest.    Pharaoh declared them to be lazy and claimed they were making excuses not to work by crying out through Moses and Aaron.  He called them liars and told his overseers to pay no attention to them if they cried out.  The slave drivers complied to Pharaoh’s demands.  When the people did not make their quota of bricks they beat them.  When the people complained to Pharaoh he just called them lazy and said they wanted to get out of their work and that was why they were saying they needed to go out to the wilderness to worship their God. 

When Pharaoh would not relent and The Children of Israel saw they now had twice as much work to contend with; they were angry with Moses and Aaron.  They complained to them that their suggestions had made Pharaoh even harder on them than before, and now they had lost any favor that they might have gained with working hard for Pharaoh in the past.  They were angry and frustrated!  Their faith began to crumble.  They told Moses and Aaron “May the LORD look upon you and judge you!”

So Moses went back to talk to God.  He had one question:  “Why?”  Why God?  Why have you brought judgment on these people instead of deliverance?  Why did you ask me to go and cause all of this trouble for them?

Now Moses was homeless, without any friends, tired and worn out and missing his family in Midian.  His mission now looked like a complete failure.  All he could do was sit with his questions for God as the people suffered more and more.  

What does one do if they have been obedient to God and things go south anyway?  

Should one be patient and keep trusting in spite of the horrible circumstances? 

Sometimes it always looks darkest just before the dawn.

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 96 HOW JOSEPH SAVED EGYPT

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

He put his signet ring on Joseph’s finger.  Ancient kings used signet rings to designate authority, honor or ownership.  A signet contained an emblem unique to the king.  Official documents were sealed with a dollop of soft wax impressed with the king’s signet, usually kept on a ring on his finger.  Such a seal certified the document as genuine, much like a notary public’s stamp today. 

Later in biblical history we can read in Kings 21:8 of the evil Queen Jezebel taking King Arab’s signet ring and writing letters in Ahab’s name and sealing them with his seal.  The ring’s stamp gave her letters the king’s authority. 

In Daniel 6:17 a signet ring was used to seal a stone covering a lions’ den.  A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords that nothing might be charged concerning Daniel.

 A royal signet ring is also featured in Genesis 41:41 and Esther 8:8.  We read in Haggai 2:23; “On that day, declares the LORD Almighty, I will take you, my servant, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel”  declares the LORD, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you.”  In Haggai’s prophecy God is giving Zerubbabel encouragement and hope.  The governor is “chosen” for a unique and noble purpose. As God’s signet ring, Zerubbabel is given a place of honor and authority.  He sits in the place of the authority of God.  God is reinstating the Davidic line and renewing His covenant with David.  Judah still has a future as they look forward to the coming Son of David, the Messiah, who would one day overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms.  But this is another story for another day!  

For now, just realize the power of the signet ring.  It means all authority of the King!  Joseph was given this much power over Egypt, yet he was a foreigner and a man who had educated himself after his childhood captivity and enslavement.  The one who had once been an innocent prisoner now stood with all the power of the land because of the ring on his finger. 

The fact that Pharaoh removed his own ring and placed it on Joseph’s finger also carries great significance.  It is as if this event wiped the slate clean for Joseph, and nothing would ever be held against his honor again, much like when the prodigal son came home and the happy Father gave him a ring and a robe. 

Pharaoh could have ordered another ring to be made, but he did not; he removed HIS ring and placed the only ring that made the signet within the power of Joseph.  What had once belonged only to Pharaoh now belonged equally as well to Joseph.  This showed Pharaoh’s great royal favor and was a token of the high office and great dignity to which Joseph was being promoted.

This act of “favor” has often played out down through the halls of history.  We know among the Romans when anyone was put into the equestrian order, a ring was given to him, even though originally none but knights were allowed to wear rings.  Sometimes rings were used to designate a successor in the kingdom, such as the time when Alexander was dying and he took off his ring from his finger and gave it to Perdicca and it was then understood though he did not express it, that Perdicca should become his successor.

In the Apocrypha 1 Maccabees 6 speaks of this act of the significance of rings:  “Then called he for Philip, one of his friends, who he made ruler over all his realm.  And gave him the crown, and his robe, and his signet, to the end he should bring up his son Antiochus, and nourish him up for the kingdom. 

In today's story, though Pharaoh was not pointing Joseph out as his successor to his kingdom, he did give him his ring as a mark of honor and trust.  It stood as a mark of Joseph being in place next to Pharaoh's viceroy or deputy and the ring contained all the rights for him to seal public deeds and patents.

Also, Pharaoh dressed Joseph in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain

around his neck.  Again, this was a way of showing honor and dignity and a way of proclaiming Pharaoh’s permission for Joseph to hold high power in the kingdom. 

The same honor was later bestowed upon Daniel when he revealed the meaning of the writing on the wall to the pagan king who let Jerusalem fall to waste.

Also, one cannot help but recall the story of the evil villain named Haman telling the king that one who honors him should be dressed in fine linen and given a purple robe and a gold chain and led through the city with someone proclaiming his honor.  Then the king gave it to Mordecai and crushed the evil plot of Haman to his own disgrace and he was humbled by having to lead the horse and make the public announcement. 

All through the ages rings and robes and gold chains have been used to honor men and show them in a place of authority.  One cannot help but pause here to remember how Joseph had been stripped of his beautiful coat of many colors and robbed of the heritage and authority of his Father's house as a young boy.  Now God had restored all that Joseph had lost and more.  Good men should not worry about their innocent loses; they should do as Joseph did and wait on God, who sees and knows all, to restore what was wrongfully done to them.  The scales of justice always swing around to those who follow God in due time.  

Pharaoh gave Joseph a chariot and made Joseph second in command.  When Joseph rode by people shouted “Make way!” because Joseph was in charge of all of Egypt and the people looked up to him with great respect. 

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all of Egypt.” 

Joseph was given the Egyptian name of Zaphenath-Peneah.  This name means “revealer of secrets.”  Some have even translated it to mean “Savior of the World.”  The Spirit of God in Joseph had revealed very important and valuable information, valuable enough to have saved the lives of all the people in all the land.  Pharaoh recognized this and appreciated this.  He honors Joseph with the new name and the new name commands the total respect and loyalty of the people of the land.  One day God will give each and every one of us a new name, a name that will proclaim the purposes He designed for our lives, a name that will replace the lies of the world and announce the truth of God.  A new name was an honorable thing for Joseph.  He would not longer be remembered as that slave, that prisoner, that man who had nothing.  

Joseph was given Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, as a wife. 

It would seem that Joseph had no choice in the giving of his wife, but God used this marriage to strengthen Joseph's new position as a national leader. 

The city of On was also known as Heliopolis, 'The City of the Sun.'  It was the center of worship of the sun god, Ra and it was located 10 miles northeast of modern day Cairo.  This pagan woman and her family certainly would not have been Joseph's choice had he been given power over the decision, nonetheless, it happened.  I can imagine that a few of the family gatherings might have been very uncomfortable though, and maybe the children might have been a bit sheltered from their grandfather!  Joseph certainly would have NEVER participated in any type of pagan worship.

The high priest in On, Joseph's Egyptian father-in-law held the title of "Greatest of Seers."  When Joseph married into this family, he joined a social class befitting a national leader.  Also implied in the marriage arrangement was Pharaoh's confidence that Joseph, too, was a 'seer,' or prophet, of the highest caliber.  The Egyptians believed in many gods, so they would not have thought this arrangement strange.  We do not know whether or not Asenath was truly a pagan, or if maybe there might have been a chance that she became a believer in The One True God of Joseph.  I like to hope that was the case.  At any rate, though it was a strange arrangement of a marriage, Joseph did not sin by taking Asenath as his wife.  He was given no choice in the matter.  

Further, the Old Testament Law had not yet been given.  The New Testament teachings regarding marriage did not yet exist.  There were no laws or guidelines set at the time of Joseph.  All marriages were honorable.  In addition, God worked through Joseph's marriage for it to serve as a blessing to many and to become an important part of the history of God's people.  

 Joseph was only thirty years old when he was given charge of Egypt under Pharaoh.  He began to travel throughout Egypt and during his time of reign the land produced abundantly.  When the crops came in Joseph collected all the food produced for the next seven years and stored it in the cities.  He put the food grown in the cities fields inside storage buildings within that city.  In other words, each city was commanded to store away its own grain.  

The quantities of grain Joseph stored were like the sands of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure.

During these times of plenty Joseph and Asenath had two sons.

They named the first born Manasseh and Joseph said “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.”  

He named the second son Ephraim and on his birth Joseph said:  “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” 

The seven years of abundance passed quickly, and just as the dream had foretold, the seven years of famine came.  There was famine in all the lands, but Egypt had food!  

When all of Egypt began to feel the famine the people cried out to Pharaoh and Pharaoh told them to go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you to do.  So Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. 

 Soon the famine spread throughout the whole world and all the people of the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph. 

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 95 PHARAOH HAS A DREAM

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Years went by.  Joseph continued his imprisonment.  The cupbearer went happily about his own life, never mentioning Joseph.  One thing to note about Joseph.  He didn't get bitter.  He didn't whine about how unfair life was to him.  He didn't blame God for his bad circumstances.  As a matter of fact; he leaned on God to help him through his circumstances.  Joseph was content and thankful in every place where God put him.  He simply trusted God for better days when things were not so well.  He did not lose faith.

One night, Pharaoh had a dream.  In this dream he was standing by the Nile River.  Out of the river came up seven cows.  They were sleek and fat and they grazed among the reeds.  After those cows came seven other cows.  They were ugly and gaunt.  They came up out of the Nile and stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank.  Then the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows.  After that Pharaoh woke up.

Perhaps this dream disturbed him, but he didn’t speak of it to anyone.  He was probably pondering what it meant and wondering if it was significant.  Maybe he would have let it pass, but he had yet another dream.  In the second dream he saw seven heads of grain.  They were healthy and good to eat and were growing on a single stalk.  After that he saw seven other heads of grain.  They were sprouted and thin and scorched by the east wind.  The seven thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy heads of grain. 

Well, this time Pharaoh WAS troubled.  Two similar dreams that he knew meant something, but he wasn’t sure what they meant.  It troubled him so much that he sent for his magicians and wise men.  Each man listened carefully to Pharaoh’s dream, but not one of them had an interpretation. 

Of course, the Chief Cupbearer was standing guard over Pharaoh and watching all of this as it transpired.  Suddenly he regained his memory!  He thought of Joseph.  He said to Pharaoh:  “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings.  Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard.  Each of us had a dream the same night.  Each dream had a meaning of its own.  Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard.  We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream.  And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us.  I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.

On hearing this Pharaoh sent immediately for Joseph.  They brought him out of the dungeon, allowed him to shave and change his clothes and sent him to meet Pharaoh.  Pharaoh said to Joseph:  “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it.  But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.

Joseph, always quick to give God the Glory for what God allowed him to do said:  “I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

Pharaoh just kept talking:  “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, when out of the river there came seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.  After them, seven other cows came up – scrawny and very ugly and lean.  I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt.  The lean ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first.  But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before.  Then I woke up.

Joseph didn’t say a word and Pharaoh kept talking.  He began to tell Joseph about the second dream.

“In my dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk.  After them, seven other heads sprouted – withered and thin and scorched by the east wind.  The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads.  I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.”

God gave Joseph the meaning of both dreams.  He said to Pharaoh:  “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same.  God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.  The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and same dream.  The seven lean, ugly cows that came afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind.  They are seven years of famine.  It is just as I said to Pharaoh.  God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.  Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them.  Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land.  The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe.  The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.   And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.  Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.  They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food.  This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.”

Pharaoh accepted Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams, and Joseph’s advise seemed good to him.  So Pharaoh asked those who ruled under him:  “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?”  He turned to Joseph and said:  “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.  You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders.  Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”   

God had given Joseph a good day!  

Little did anyone realize that God had given the sons of Abraham and the Family of God a way to keep from starving in the years to come.  He did it through His servant Joseph.  Because of Joseph Israel and His children would maintain life.  Because the Family of Abraham was being provided for by God; the children of Egypt benefited also.  Not one person realized exactly all that was going on.  No one saw or knew that Joseph had been put into his circumstances in order to preserve the ancestors of the coming Messiah.  They were simply thinking of their own stomachs.  Sometimes God even uses our greed and our twisted human nature for the benefit of The Kingdom of Heaven.  All anyone knew was that their own set of circumstances might bring them trouble and they must begin to prepare.  What better person to help them do this than Joseph, the one who interpreted dreams, who remembered details, who followed instructions and finished things well.

Joseph was released from prison and moved into a palace all in one day.  When God is in control, things can change quickly.  This was the moment Joseph had waited and prayed for.  God’s answer was better than any he could have visualized for himself.  Joseph went right to work managing Pharaoh’s palace.