by Angela Hunt
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Had you thought much about why the Hebrews remained so long in Egypt before reading this novel? Why do you think they stayed?
How would you have felt if your parent or grandparent gave the blessing you expected to a younger sibling? How did this action affect Menashe?
Why do you think Yaakov, or Jacob, asked that his body be carried back to Canaan and buried while Yosef was content to wait until the children of Yisrael left Egypt permanently? What do their wishes suggest about their self-identity?
Since God had clearly said that the children of Yisrael would return to Canaan, was Menashe wrong to try to convince the others to return after Yaakov’s death? Did he somehow misunderstand the will of God?
Someone once said that to find the will of God we need to “lie passive in His hand and know no will but His.” Do you agree? How is this possible?
Psalm 37 says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand” (vs. 23, 24). Do you believe the Lord was directing Menashe’s steps? Efrayim’s? Yosef’s?
Why did Jendayi’s recurring dream have real power to frighten her? How is she like other people who have based their lives on false beliefs or false powers?
Jendayi was physically blind, but other characters were emotionally and/or spiritually blind. Who, and in what ways?
What sort of lessons can you take from the story of Yosef’s children? How do their trials apply to your life?
Who in this story did you most relate to—the “parent” characters (Yosef, Tiy) or the “child” characters (Menashe, Jendayi, Efrayim)? Why do you think this is so? Are you trying to make your way in the world, or are you more accepting of your place and willing to remain there until God moves you?
If you’ve read all three novels in this series about Yosef—Dreamers, Brothers and Journey—which story was most meaningful to you? Most surprising? What did you learn that you did not know before?
When God called Abraham/Avraham, He foretold that the patriarch’s descendants would wander in Canaan and Egypt for 400 years and suffer in captivity. In Galatians 3:16–17, Paul repeats that 430 years stood between Avraham and Moses: “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” But in speaking to Avraham, God explained why the children of Yisrael would not return to Canaan immediately: “But in the fourth generation,” He said, “they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen. 15:16).
Despite Yosef’s reasons for not immediately claiming the land of Canaan, God had another purpose: the Amorites were a sinful people, but they had not yet reached the limits of God’s patience.
But God does not break his promises. Exodus 12:40 tells us that “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt [and Canaan], was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.”
Sometimes we grow impatient when God does not immediately answer our prayers…and we forget that He is dealing with other people, too. Have you found this to be true in your life?
RESOURCES
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Brier, Bob, Ph.D. The Murder of Tutankhamen. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1998.
Budge, E. A.Wallis. The Mummy: A History of the Extraordinary Practices of Ancient Egypt. New York: Wings Books, 1989.
Budge, Sir Wallis. Egyptian Religion. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1994.
Bunson, Margaret. The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. New York: Facts on File, 1991.
Cahill, Thomas. The Gifts of the Jews. New York: Doubleday, 1998.
Coleman, William. Today’s Handbook of Bible Times and Customs. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1984.
Comay, Joan. Who’s Who in the Old Testament. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1971.
Coogan, Michael D., ed. The Oxford History of the Biblical World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
David, Rosalie, and Rick Archbold. Conversations with Mummies. New York: William Morrow, 2000.
Davis, J. D. Illustrated Davis Dictionary of the Bible. Nashville, TN: Royal Publishers, Inc., 1973.
Editors of Time-Life Books. The Age of God-Kings. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1987.
—. Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1992.
—. What Life Was Like on the Banks of the Nile. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1997.
Fox, Everett. The Five Books of Moses. New York: Schocken Books, 1995.
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Halley, Henry. Halley’s Bible Handbook. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1927.
Hart, George. Ancient Egypt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
James, T. G. H. Ancient Egypt: The Land and Its Legacy. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1988.
Jenkins, Simon. Nelson’s 3-D Bible Mapbook. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995.
Kaiser, Walter C., Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce, and Manfred T. Brauch. Hard Sayings of the Bible. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996.
Kaster, Joseph. The Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993.
Manniche, Lise. An Ancient Egyptian Herbal. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1989.
—. Music and Musicians in Ancient Egypt. London: British Museum Press, 1991.
Metzger, Bruce M., and Michael D. Coogan, eds. The Oxford Companion to the Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Montet, Pierre. Everyday Life in Egypt in the Days of Ramesses the Great. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981.
Murray, Margaret. The Splendour That Was Egypt. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1949.
Osman, Ahmed. Stranger in the Valley of the Kings. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987.
Potok, Chaim. Wanderings: Chaim Potok’s History of the Jews. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1978.
Pritchard, James, ed. HarperCollins Atlas of the Bible. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997.
Romer, John. Valley of the Kings. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1981.
Schaff, Philip. Through Bible Lands. New York:Arno Press, 1977.
Schulz, Regine, and Matthias Seidel, eds. Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs. Cologne, Germany: Konemann, 1998.
Spencer, A. J. Death in Ancient Egypt. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.
Steindorff, George, and Keith C. Seele. When Egypt Ruled the East. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957.
Stern, David H. Complete Jewish Bible. Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., 1998.
Unstead, F. J., ed. See Inside an Egyptian Town. London: Barnes and Noble, 1986.
Vercoutter, Jean. The Search for Ancient Egypt. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1992.
Wilkinson, Richard H. Reading Egyptian Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992.
Willmington, Harold L. Willmington’s Bible Handbook. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3192-8
JOURNEY
This is the revised text of the work, which was first published by Bethany House Publishers in 1997.
Copyright © 1997 by Angela Elwell Hunt
Revised text copyright © 2009 by Angela Elwell Hunt
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