Suggestive questions to ask the children are the following: Why did not Jacob want to let Benjamin go with his brothers? Why did they refuse to go without him? Why did Jacob finally let them go? Why did Joseph give Benjamin a larger portion than the others at the banquet? Why did Joseph put his cup in the sack of Benjamin? Why was it Judah in particular of all Joseph's brothers who pleaded for Benjamin? Why do you think Joseph sent all the Egyptians from the room when he made himself known to his brothers? When his brothers were afraid that Joseph would punish them for their sin against him and were ashamed of what they had done, what did Joseph say to console them? What did Jacob say when they told him that Joseph was alive and ruler of all Egypt under Pharaoh? This story too lends itself to dramatization by the children. CHAPTER XIII THE DEATH OF JACOB AND OF JOSEPH Genesis 46.1 to 50.26 =Interpretation.= In these chapters the center of interest once more shifts from personal biography to the destiny of Israel as a people. One is conscious throughout that his attention is being called to the close of one period and the beginning of another. The patriarchal period now draws to an end and the period of national existence commences. God's purpose is no more to be shown in the choice of individuals, but in his dealings with the people as a whole. It is not accident that Israel's national life is to begin in Egypt rather than in its own land; for just as Abraham, the father of the race, was tested by his willingness to leave his home in obedience to God, so the nation as a whole was to have a similar experience. It had to be made to realize its election by being taken as "a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and by wonders and by war and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors". (Deuteronomy 4. 34.) In these chapters we see the beginning of the fulfillment of Abraham's prophetic vision recorded in Genesis 15. 12-16.