KIDS STORY: Joseph and His Coat of Many Colours

Todays Short Story is titled: 

"Joseph and His Coat of Many Colours".

 

Once upon a time, in a land called Canaan, there lived a man named Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons, but his Favourite son was Joseph. Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other children because he was born to him in his old age. To show his special love, Jacob made Joseph a beautiful coat of many colours.

 

Joseph's brothers saw the beautiful coat and knew their father loved Joseph more. This made them very jealous and angry. They didn't like Joseph and couldn't even speak kindly to him.

 

One night, Joseph had a strange dream. He dreamed that he and his brothers were in the field binding sheaves of grain. Suddenly, Joseph's sheaf stood upright, and all his brothers' sheaves gathered around it and bowed down. Joseph, excited about his dream, told his brothers, "Listen to this dream I had! We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."

 

His brothers were not pleased. They said, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" Their jealousy grew even more because of Joseph's dreams and his words.

 

Joseph had another dream and again told his brothers. "Listen," he said. "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."

 

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

 

One day, Joseph's brothers went to graze their father's flocks near Shechem. Jacob said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them."

 

"Very well," Joseph replied.

 

So Jacob sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?"

 

He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?"

 

"They have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.'"

 

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."

 

When Reuben, the eldest brother, heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

 

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

 

As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

 

Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.

 

So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

 

Back in Canaan, the brothers took Joseph's beautiful coat and dipped it in goat's blood. They took the coat back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."

 

Jacob recognized it and cried out, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces." Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave." So his father wept for him.

 

Meanwhile, in Egypt, the Ishmaelites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard. Even though Joseph was far from home and his family, he remembered that God was with him. He worked hard and earned the respect of Potiphar.

 

Joseph's journey was not over, and he faced many more challenges. But through it all, he kept his faith and trust in God, who had a special plan for his life.

 

And that, dear children, is the story of Joseph and his coat of many colours. Though his brothers meant harm, God had a greater purpose for Joseph. But that's a story for another day!

 

The End

 

Story by Alan

Graphics by Alan

 

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