did not recognize him as being their brother. However, Joseph knew them and asked about his father, Jacob, and his younger brother, Benjamin. The brothers were told that they must bring Benjamin with them the next time they came, to prove that they were not spies. When it came time for them to return to Egypt, Jacob was very reluctant to let Benjamin go. After Judah had promised to re turn Benjamin safely, Jacob consented to let him go. Our lesson today considers Joseph as he deals with his brothers after the silver cup had been found in Benja min’s sack. Judah is before Joseph pleading for Benjamin’s release in order that he may go back to their father, Jacob. We will put the key in the enve lope and let it tell us the story. We now read “Judah implores Joseph, Ben j ami n , pitiful father.” Again Joseph is the key man among his peo ple. Next week we shall see how Joseph became the key man in mak ing peace with his brothers. April 22, 1956 A K e y M a n i n P eace OBJECTS: An envelope and the paper key used in the preceding lessons. (Cut the envelope as described. Print the word, “ peace,” near the cut end of the envelope. Put the key in the e n v e l o p e and u s i n g the word, “Joseph,” complete the following words, “Joseph, powerful, speaks, wept and happy.” ) LESSON: Today we shall again see Joseph the key man, but this time he appears as the important man in “ peace.” Joseph’s heart was moved with compassion and pity as he heard Judah pleading for Benjamin because of their father, Jacob.
happy that he wept for joy. The brothers feared that Joseph might want to treat them unkindly because they had sold him into slavery years before, but he assured them that they would be treated with kindness. In thinking of Joseph as a key man in peace, we are reminded of his likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was rejected by His brethren, the Jews, sold for the price of a slave and will some day be exalted to the rulership of the world. The peace of the world depends on the return of Christ to rule and reign.
JUNIOR KING’S BUSINESS
The Gift That Grew by Martha S. Hooker I t was Marilyn’s birthday. She had re ceived a blue bowl of flower bulbs from her grandmother. She always sent some thing nice. But Marilyn was disappointed this time. The bowl was beautiful, but the bulbs were so ugly, and brown and gray. Mar ilyn’s eyes were full of tears as Mother drew her up close and said softly, “ Dear, this year Grandmother has sent you a gift that is a real surprise, for hidden away in these dark, ugly bulbs is something very beautiful.” “ I don’t see how anything beautiful could ever come from these dark old things,” Marilyn sobbed. “ Just wait and see,” promised Mother. “W e will put some warm earth in the bowl for the bulbs to grow in. Then, each day you must be sure to give them some water. It will be fun to wait for the surprise.” Day after day Marilyn watched over the birthday bulbs, and then one day a tiny green sprout appeared. “Mother, Mother,” Marilyn called ex citedly, “ the little brown bulbs are wak ing up.” Mother came quickly to see what had happened—and there peeping out from one of the dark brown bulbs was a wee bit of something green. “ Is this the surprise, Mother?” asked Marilyn. “ This is only part of it,” Mother an swered. “ But you must go right on tak ing care of the bulbs and someday the best part of the surprise will come.” Then one day Marilyn and her mother discovered a tiny bud coming up among the green leaves. From then on, nearly every time she looked in the bowl Mar ilyn saw another bud. They grew so quickly that soon the blue bowl held a lovely little garden of beautiful, bright tulips—red and yellow and purple. Mother drew her close, just like she had done on the day when they had dis covered the first tiny, green sprout on the brown bulb. “ These tulips have brought us a , precious lesson, Marilyn. You see, while we are here on the earth, our lives are somewhat like the tulip bulbs—ugly and brown and gray. But we know that the Lord Jesus has told us: ‘Because I live, ye shall live also.’ That means that some day we shall go to live with Him, and then, just as He changed the bulbs into the lovely flowers, He will make us like He is—beautiful and glorious.” “ T h a t’s w o n d e r fu l,” said Marilyn thoughtfully. “ Mother, I think Grand mother’s gift is the best of all my birth day presents. It makes me love Jesus more than I ever have before.” END. 25
April 29, 1956 A K e y M a n in P r o spe r it y
OBJECTS: An envelope and the paper key used previously. (Cut the enve lope as described. Print the word, “prosperity,” near the cut end of the envelope. Put the key in the envelope
and complete the following words, “Joseph’s, people, prospered, given, plentiful and Goshen.” ) LESSON: Joseph is the key man in prosperity in the lesson for today. The letters of this envelope mean nothing without Joseph, the key man. We will place the key in the enve lope. We now read “Joseph’s people prospered, given plentiful Goshen.” Wh e n Pha r a o h l e a r n e d that Joseph’s brethren had come to the land of Egypt to be kept alive in the years of famine, he ordered that they be placed in the most fertile part of Egypt, the land of Goshen. The treat ment they received reminds me of a verse in the Bible, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abun dantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Eph. 3:20). The children of Israel had come to Egypt, fearful of what might happen to them. The key man, Joseph, was made known to them, and the treat ment they received was beyond any thing they might have imagined. This lesson illustrates Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called ac cording to his purpose.” END.
We will put the key in the enve lope and let it tell the story. We can now read “Joseph, powerful, speaks peace, wept, happy.” The Egyptians had been put out of the room before Joseph revealed himself to his breth ren. Although Joseph was powerful in Egypt, he spoke peace to his brothers and quieted their fears. He was so A P R I L , 1 9 5 6
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