Joseph Forgives His Brothers: The Day He Made Himself Known

The Secret

For years, Joseph had lived in Egypt with a secret. His own brothers had sold him as a slave when he was young, and now, after all that time, he stood before them in the palace of Egypt. They did not know who he was.

Joseph could not hold it in any longer.

He cried out, "Cause everyone to go out from me!" So no one else stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard it. The house of Pharaoh heard it.

Everyone else has left the room. Only Joseph and his brothers are there now, and Joseph is crying out loud.

What do you think he is about to tell them?

Turn the page.

Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Does my father still live?"

And his brothers could not answer him. They were terrified at his presence. The man they had sold as a slave was standing in front of them, the most powerful man in Egypt.

Joseph said, "Come near to me, please." So they came near.

And he said, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life."

His brothers hurt him. They sold him. And now Joseph tells them not to be grieved or angry with themselves, because God sent him ahead to save lives.

What do you think it was like for the brothers to hear those words? What do you think it was like for Joseph to say them?

Turn the page.

Joseph told them about the famine: two years of it already, five more to come. "God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth," he said, "and to save you alive by a great deliverance."

"So it was not you who sent me here, but God."

Then he told them to hurry home to their father. "Tell him God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Do not wait. You shall dwell near me, you and your children and your flocks and all that you have. There I will nourish you."

Then Joseph fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.

He kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that, his brothers talked with him.

How to Talk About This Story With Your Child

This is a chapter about a family. It does not start with a lesson about forgiveness. It starts with a man who can no longer keep a secret, emptying a room and weeping so loudly that the whole palace hears him.

The forgiveness is not announced like a moral. It comes through what Joseph says and does: he sends everyone out, he tells them who he is, he says it was God, not them, and then he weeps on them and kisses them.

For a child, the family part matters most. A brother they had hurt, and who had every reason to be angry, was not angry. He was crying, and he pulled them close.

You do not need to add much. The scene does the work.

Pray Together

You do not have to use these exact words. You can tell God what you think about the story in your own words. Or you can pray this together:

Thank You, God, for the story of Joseph and his brothers. Thank You for the day a family came back together, and for the words: "It was not you who sent me here, but God." Help us forgive the people we love, even when it is hard. Amen.

Joseph emptied the room and wept aloud. "I am Joseph!" he told his brothers, who had sold him as a slave years before.

"Do not be grieved," he said. "God sent me before you to preserve life. It was not you who sent me here, but God."

He fell on Benjamin’s neck and wept. He kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that, they talked.

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