Then they took Joseph’s coat and dipped it in the blood of a kid, and sent it to their poor old father, saying they had found it, and making him believe that some wild beast on the way had eaten Joseph.  When the merchants arrived in Egypt, Potiphar, one of the king’s officers, bought Joseph, and brought him as a slave to his own house.  While there, Joseph was falsely accused of a great crime, and cast into prison.  While Joseph was in prison the king had a dream.  (Gen. 41).  He saw in the dream seven fat cows coming up out of a river, followed by seven lean cows; and the lean cows ate up the fat cows.  He saw also seven fat ears of corn and seven lean ears of corn; and the seven lean ears ate up the seven fat ears.  The king was very much troubled, and called together all his wise men to tell him what the dream meant, but they could not.  Then the king heard of Joseph, and sent for him.  Now Joseph was a very good young man, and God showed him the meaning; so he told the king that the seven fat ears of corn and the seven fat cows meant seven years of great abundance in Egypt, and that the seven lean ears and the seven lean cows meant seven years of famine that would follow, and all the abundance of the previous seven years would be consumed.  So he advised the king to build great barns during the years of plenty, and gather up all the corn everywhere to save it for the years of famine.  The king was delighted at Joseph’s wisdom, and made him after himself the most powerful in the kingdom, giving him charge of everything, so that Joseph himself might do what he had advised.  Now it happened years after this that there was a famine in the country where Joseph’s father lived, and he sent all his sons down into Egypt to buy corn. (Gen. 42).  They did not know their brother Joseph, but he knew them; and after forgiving them for what they had done to him, he sent them home with an abundance of corn.  Afterwards Joseph’s father and brothers left their own country and came to live near Joseph in Egypt.  The king gave them good land (Gen. 47), and they lived there in peace and happiness.  Learn from this beautiful history of Joseph how God protects those that love and serve Him no matter where they are or in what danger they may be placed; and how He even turns the evil deeds of their enemies into blessings for them.

After the death of Joseph and his brothers, their descendants became very numerous, and the new king of the Egyptians began to persecute them. (Ex. 2).  He imposed upon them the hardest works, and treated them most cruelly.  He ordered that all their male infants should, as soon as born, be thrown into the River Nile.  Now about that time Moses was born.  (Ex. 2).  His mother did not obey the king’s order, but hid him for about three months.  When she could conceal him no longer she made a little cradle of rushes, and covering it over with pitch or tar to keep out the water, placed him in it, and then laid it in the tall grass by the edge of the river,