Powerpoint Pictures: Logos for the following supermarkets: ASDA; Tesco; Waitrose; Sainsburys; Morrisons; Marks & Spencers

Can you tell me the name of the following supermarkets where you can buy food from? [ASDA, Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Marks & Spencers]

Now in the next part of the Big Bible Adventure, we’ve reached a point in the story where there was only one place where you could buy food from.

This supermarket was called EGYPT.

Egypt had plenty of food because God had warned Pharaoh about the famine that was coming and Pharaoh had put Joseph in charge of making sure there was plenty of food available.

When Joseph’s family ran out of food, Jacob sent his 10 eldest sons to Egypt to buy grain.

When they arrived they bowed down to Joseph (remember the dream!)  They didn’t recognise Joseph, but he recognised them.  He accused them of spying and put them in prison.

After 3 days in prison, Joseph said they could go home, provided they left Simeon behind and returned with Benjamin their youngest brother.  The brothers agreed and returned home with the grain.  But after telling Jacob what had happened, he wasn’t so sure about letting Benjamin go with them.  He didn’t want to lose Benjamin, like he lost Joseph.

However the food they bought soon ran out and he had no choice but to let them return to Egypt with Benjamin.  After buying some more grain, the brothers made their way back home.  Unknown to them, Joseph had secretly hidden a silver cup in Benjamin’s sack of grain.  So Joseph sent men after them to catch them up and surprise surprise found the cup in Benjamin’s sack.

Joseph gave orders for Benjamin to be made a servant in Egypt, but Judah offered to take his place.  It was after this that Joseph realised that his brothers had changed, and finally it was time to reveal who he was.

This is what Joseph said to his brothers: “‘Come close to me.’  When they had done so, he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!  And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.'” (Genesis 45:4-5)

The last part of what Joseph said is the most important bit.  It was God’s plan for Joseph to be in Egypt in order to save many lives.  God had to save Jacob’s family from the famine if His promise of a land, people and blessing was going to be kept and He used Joseph to do just that.

The brothers returned home again, but this time it was to bring their father Jacob back with them.  The family would be together again and they would live in Egypt, which is where the next part of the Big Bible Adventure begins!