Lesson: Joseph Dreams / Slavery

taught Saturday December 4, 2010 — we had 13 children

Volunteers: Colleen, Paul, Alyssa, Kaitlyn

Driver: Ben (both times)

Scriptures: Genesis 37; Matthew 26:14-15; Romans 8:28; Hebrews 1:1-2

New song verses:

 

(bkgd image is public domain, by flickr.com/flydime)

(background image is public domain, by wiki/User:Tinodela)

 

Outline

• Setup
• (10:00am) name tags, coloring pages (see below)
• together: Matthew 6 “Lord’s prayer“
• Sing — two new stanzas of Psalm 105 (see above); and etc.
• memory verse (Ps. 146:5-6)
• Lesson — (see below)
• Crafts — (see below)
• (11:00 am) SNACK/BREAK
• (11:20 am) activity — (See below)
• stickers or bookmarks
• Sing —
• Praying: [Paul]
• (11:50 am) *new* hand out homework (see below) — they will get a prize next week if they do the homework
• tidy

Additional Supplies this week

• red acrylic paint, plastic container, water
• doll (Joseph) with a coat to dip in the paint/water solution — see below
• cutouts of brothers, mothers, sister Dinah, and father Jacob
• the new hymn verses
• photocopies of the colorings and the word-search
• photocopies of the homework paper
• the large map of Israel
• coffee filter and water spritzer (if we’re doing the coat coffee filter craft)
• more pickles! :)
• photos to put on the bulletin board
• two paintings of Joseph from GCP
• boxes + large-sized clothes + masking tape (if we’re doing the clothing relay)

fancy coat for Joseph -- sleeved, long, and decorated with colors

Lesson

1. Review Genesis 32-33; Matthew 15:21-28 — [Paul]

• Jacob and family left Haran (Laban) and set out to return to Canaan
• Esau (in Edom) wanted to kill him
• some of God’s angels set up camp near Jacob’s campsite and reminded him that God was his shield
• Jacob’s messengers reported that Esau had 400 men with him and they were on the way to meet Jacob
• Jacob divided his people and animals into two groups
• Jacob prayed to the LORD to save him from his brother Esau
• beginning the next morning, Jacob sent nine gifts to Esau, in waves; these totaled over five hundred animals
• that night, Jacob took his family and all belongings across the Jabbok River, and then went back to the north side of the river by himself
• in the form of a man, God visited Jacob
• Jacob would not miss the opportunity, so when God wrestled to get away from him, Jacob would not let Him go
• when God saw that Jacob would not give up, God hit Jacob’s hip so hard that Jacob’s thigh bone popped right out of his hip socket
• “Let go of me!” God, in the form of a man, said to Jacob… “It’s almost daylight.”
• “I will not let you go until you bless me”
• God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel” [The-Man-Who-Wrestles-with-God] “because now you have wrestled with God and won!”
• “this night I have seen God face to face, but I am still alive,” Jacob said
• remembering their father Jacob/Israel, the Israelite people will not eat the hip muscle of any animal — that muscle which holds the thigh bone in the socket
• we compared Jacob’s faith in wrestling to that of the Canaanite woman almost 2000 years later, about 120 km northwest (Tyre/Sidon region)
• shouting, “Lord, please help me! My daughter is full of demons.”
• Jesus did not answer her
• the woman kept following Jesus and his students, and pleading with him to help
• “please, Lord, send this woman away!”
• “I was not sent to this world to save the Canaanites — God sent me to save the Israelites, because they are like lost sheep.”
• she knelt and begged him, “Please help me, Lord!”
• “It would be wrong for a father to take food away from his child and give it to dogs”
• “That is true, Lord, but even dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from their owner’s table.”
• “Dear woman, you have a lot of faith, and I have given you what you want.”
  at that very moment, Jesus healed her daughter.
• [Back to Jacob:] father Jacob walked in front of them all — bowing to the ground seven times
• Esau ran toward Jacob and hugged and kissed him; both brothers cried
• the two servant women, Zilpah and Bilhah, with all of their children, came and bowed down before Esau; (sons of Zilpah: Gad and Asher; sons of Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali)
• then Leah and her children Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah came and bowed down before Esau
• finally, Joseph and his mother Rachel came and bowed down in front of Esau
• Esau: “I do not need those gifts you sent, because I already have plenty. You keep these.”
• Jacob insisted, so Esau accepted the gifts
• Esau offered to help, but Jacob said he was happy so Esau and his men returned to Edom
• Jacob traveled farther west, toward the Jordan river
• There, he built a house for himself and set up shelters for his animals; the place is called Succoth, which means “shelters”
• from Succoth, Jacob and his family and animals traveled safely to Shechem, in Canaan land, and set up camp near the city, where Jacob built an altar to honor God

Review Jacob’s Life of Struggling:

• Genesis 25:22–26 – Jacob wrestles with his brother in his mother’s womb;
• Genesis 27 – Jacob struggles with his brother Esau for his birthright;
• Genesis 29:15–20 – Jacob struggles with his uncle Laban to get a wife;
• Genesis 32:22–32 – Jacob wrestles with God before confronting his brother.

2. Joseph’s Dreams — [Paul]

• The children should take up the cut-out puppets; depending on how many kids we have:
  • Jacob (at Hebron)
  • Rachel (died while giving birth to Benjamin)
  • Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah (at Hebron)
  • Joseph (use the doll with the fancy coat that will later be dipped in blood)
  • Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah (not in the story yet)
  • Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher (begin in field with Joseph)
  • Issachar, Zebulun (not in the story yet)
  • Dinah, Benjamin (will stay at Hebron with father Jacob and mothers)
• first, discuss dreams:
  • does God speak to us in visions and dreams?
  • God speaks to us through the Bible, and His Spirit helps us understand His Word
  • Jacob, Joseph, and others did not have the Bible — nor had Jesus come to the earth — so God spoke to them in different ways
  • The letter to the Hebrews in the Bible says, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” (Hebrews 1:1-2; NIV)
  • Today we will learn how God spoke to Joseph, Jacob’s eleventh son, in two dreams
  • remember also Jacob’s dream (staircase and angels)
• before we get into this story, we should tell the children that Joseph’s mother Rachel had another son, just as she had prayed, but she died giving birth to him [so her cutout puppet exists the stage early!]; his name was Benjamin
• [in Canaan, where his father Isaac had lived]
• this story begins when Joseph was seventeen years old — approx ~ 1897 BC
• helping take care of the sheep with the four sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, Joseph told his father how bad they were
• Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; Joseph was a godly teenager
• (NOTE: all the children were born before the family arrived in Canaan, except for little Benjamin)
• because he loved Joseph more, he gave Joseph a fancy coat; the Hebrew indicates that this coat was either multi-colored, and/or it was “long with sleeves”; at any rate, it was a special coat that made the favoritism obvious
• so Joseph’s brothers hated him and never greeted him with the particular manners that people from that time expected
• one day, Joseph told his brothers (all of them; not just the four sons of the servant women)
• “Listen to this dream I had! We were out in the field, each of us tying up a bunch of wheat. Suddenly, my bundle stood up, and your bundles gathered around it and bowed down to it.”

Sheaves of wheat

• “Is that so, Joseph? You think you are going to become our king and rule over us?”
• they hated Joseph more than ever
• Later, Joseph had another dream and told his brothers:
• “Listen to what I have dreamed now. The sun, the moon, and eleven of the stars bowed down before me.”
• Joseph also told his father Jacob about this dream
• Jacob took this seriously, and would remember Joseph’s dream, but he was still angry at his son:
• “What’s that supposed to mean, Joseph? Do you really think that I will come to bow myself to the ground before you? Will your mother, and all your brothers come and bow down in front of you?”
• [Jacob is probably referring to Joseph’s stepmother Leah, since Rachel was no longer living]
• Joseph’s brothers were jealous
• (We should tell the children now that these dreams will come true, as we will study in 2011 — the next two lessons are about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ)

3. The Cistern and Twenty Shekels [Colleen]

use this map for today's lesson: Joseph Becomes a Slave in Egypt; travels from Hebron to Shechem, Dothan, and Egypt

• [at least most of] the ten oldest brothers were at a pasture near Shechem, looking after the sheep; some of the children should look after these puppets, while another has Joseph; any other kids may hold Jacob, Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah, Benjamin, and/or Dinah at Hebron Valley
• (review the map here: Hebron and Shechem)
• Israel, who is Jacob, the father of Joseph, said, “I want to know how your brothers are doing, and the sheep. Go to your brothers, Joseph. Check the pastures near Shechem — you will find them there.”
• “Yes father”
• Joseph arrived near Shechem (this is 80 kilometers — if you walked from this church, up Highway 15 to the Trans-Canada Highway, you would get past the city of Chilliwack!)
• Joseph was wandering around in the fields looking for his brothers
• A man saw him, and asked Joseph: “What are you looking for?”
• “I’m looking for my brothers who are caring for our sheep. Have you seen them?”
• “They left this place. I overheard them saying that they were going to Dothan.”
• (map: Shechem to Dothan — Joseph doll moves near the ten older brothers)
• (Dothan is 25 km from Shechem)
• Joseph went to Dothan, and found his brothers there
• they saw him coming: “Look, here comes the dreamer-boy! Let’s kill him!”
• “Yes, we could kill him and leave his body in one of these empty wells, and tell Dad that some wild animal ate him.”
• “Ha ha! So much for his dreams then!“
• Jacob expected the oldest son, Reuben, to look after his brothers, and to be the family leader when Jacob was not around
• “Let’s not kill him,” Reuben said. “Don’t murder him or even beat him up. Just throw him into a dry well so he’s stuck out here in the desert.”
• Reuben planned to come back and fetch Joseph from the well and take him back to his father Jacob
• Joseph walked to his brothers [max nine puppets should be here with Joseph: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun; Reuben would not be here]
• they ripped off Joseph’s fancy coat
• [some of the children remove the coat from the doll — just fine if it rips a bit]
• threw him into a dry well [use the garbage can?]
• (remind the kids of the well picture they are coloring)
• without caring, these (nine) brothers sat down to eat after leaving Joseph in the well
• they looked up and saw a caravan of Midianites coming from Gilead [see map — region east of the Jordan]
• the brothers could tell that the Midianites were on their way to Egypt — they had their camels loaded with spices that they could sell in Egypt — gum, balm, and myrrh
• Judah: “Hmm, we could get some money if we sold Joseph to these Midianite salesmen — that could be better than just killing him and hiding his body. After all… he is our brother.”
• The brothers pulled Joseph up and out of the well, and took him to the Midianite salesmen
• “Would you like to buy a strong teenage boy from us?”
• The Midianites bought Joseph for twenty pieces of silver; they could later sell him to the Egyptians for a higher price — the Egyptians were always looking for hard-working slaves! after all, they were busy building cities, pyramids, and altars to their dead and dying gods
• … If you were with us last year, or if you know the story of Jesus’ death, you might remember that Judas, supposed to be a friend, sold our Lord Jesus for thirty pieces of silver
  ‘Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.’ (Matthew 26:14-16; NIV)
• The Midianite caravan went on its way to Egypt with Joseph now
• (show Dothan to Gaza, and the rest of Egypt, on the map)
• In Egypt, the Midianites found a man who wanted to buy this young Hebrew slave
• the man’s name was Potiphar, and he was an important ruler in Egypt — he was the pharaoh’s officer in charge of palace security
• Potiphar means, “Given by Ra” — Ra was a mythical sun-god worshiped by Egyptians
• this is the first of several bad times in Joseph’s life that we will learn about, but you should know that God chose Joseph, for His good purposes — not the least of which was to prevent a widespread famine that would endanger the family:
• apostle Paul wrote: “We know that God always works for the good of those who love him –for those He has chosen for his purpose.” (see Romans 8:28)
• [back to the brothers at Dothan:] Reuben went to the well, so that he could fetch Joseph and take him back to his father
• he couldn’t find Joseph in the well, so he was sad
• he tore his clothes
• he went to the other nine
• “The boy is not in the well! Where can I go now? I can’t bear to face Father!”
• then (at least some of) the ten brothers killed a goat and dipped Joseph’s fancy coat in its blood
• [have some children dip the coat in the diluted red paint]
• they went back to Hebron, and showed their father Jacob the coat:
• “Look what we found, Dad! Is this Joseph’s coat?”
• Jacob was upset: “Yes, this is my son Joseph’s coat! Surely, a fierce animal has ripped him to pieces and eaten him.”
• No matter what anybody said, Jacob would not stop crying over Joseph
• According to funeral traditions, Jacob ripped his clothes and wore sackcloth (a coarse, rough, and thick cloth made of black goat’s hair, used for sacks, but also worn when mourning)
• “I will not stop mourning for my son Joseph until the day I die!”
• (Do you remember that Jacob tricked his father Isaac with some clothing? — he wore Esau’s clothes — now, see how his sons have tricked Jacob with some clothing!)

Crafts/Activities

1. coffee filter craft HERE;
2. clothing relay (“180 Games” book, page 12).

Colorings

Coloring sheet: Joseph thrown into the pit / well / cistern by his brothers; you have permission to print this for educational or non-profit usage

 

you have permission to print this for non-profit or educational purposes

 

from in touch ministries

Homework

click for full size

Lesson: Jacob Wrestles with God

for Saturday, 27 November 2010 — we had 14 kids

(download entire lesson in PDF format here: lesson-jacob-wrestles.PDF)

Volunteers: Justin, Josie, Paul

Driver: Nora

Scriptures: Genesis 32-33; Hosea 12:3-6; Matthew 15:21-28

Topics:

• Jacob returns to Canaan
• Jacob matures in faith
• Jacob wrestles with God
• Canaanite woman pleads with Jesus
• Jacob meets Esau

Outline

• Setup
• (10:00am) name tags, coloring pages
• together: Matthew 6 “Lord’s prayer“
• Sing —
• memory verse (Ps. 146:5-6)
• Lesson — (see below)
• Craft — (see below)
• (11:00 am) SNACK/BREAK
• (11:20 am) activity — (See below)
• stickers or bookmarks
• Sing —
• Praying: [Justin]
• (11:50 am) tidy

Lesson

1. Review Genesis 28 – 31 — [.Paul.]

• [lesson sections are point form, as reminders only]
• Jacob left Canaan because: Esau wanted to murder him; Isaac told him to marry one of Laban’s daughters
• [Esau married again; his third wife was an Ishmaelite]
• On the way to Paddan-Aram / Haran, Jacob stopped in Luz and fell asleep with his head on (or beside) a rock
• Dream: ladder/staircase reaching from earth to heaven, God’s angels going up and down
• The cross/salvation of our Lord is like a ladder between earth and heaven (see John 1:51)
• God, standing beside the ladder, announced the three Abraham promises to Jacob: land; many descendants; your family will be a blessing to all people
• God also promised to be with Jacob, and to bring him back to Canaan
• Jacob set the rock as a pillar, poured oil on it, and called the place Bethel (“house of God”)
• Jacob made a bargain-type promise to God — if You look after me, You will be my God; I will give back one tenth of everything You have given me
• At Haran, Jacob met Rachel at a well, rolled away the huge stone that was covering it, and watered the sheep
• Laban had two daughters
• Jacob loved Rachel, and asked for her hand in marriage in return for seven years of labor
• At the marriage feast, Laban had Leah wearing the bridal veil
• After a week, Jacob also married Rachel, but had to work another seven years for this second marriage
• Laban also gave servants Zilpah and Bilhah to his daughters
• Over the next seven years, Jacob had 11 sons and (at least 1) daughter with those four women; Rachel’s first child was Joseph, and Rachel credited God for that son
• Joseph was Jacob’s 11th son, and after he was born, Rachel prayed for another son
• Leah’s son Judah is the ancestor of our Lord; (we didn’t mention this last time);
  Review family tree:

Jacob (Israel) Family Tree -- Benjamin not yet born

• When Jacob wanted to leave after this second seven-year service, Laban made another deal with Jacob: keep working, and I’ll pay  you whatever you like
• Jacob requested the spotted/speckled goats and sheep, as well as the black lambs, as payment; Laban agreed
• Jacob positioned this as a method of assuring that he couldn’t get away with stealing — but Jacob had a plan to trick Laban and end up with more livestock
• Laban also planned to trick Jacob
• Laban secretly stole the spotted/speckled/black animals from the flocks, and had Jacob travel with the flock 3 days journey away from him
• Jacob arranged branches with speckles and either showed them or hid them, depending on the animals that were at the water troughs — he wanted the speckled/spotted ones to grow healthier
• God blessed this plan, not because it made any sense, but because this was God’s decision — this parallels earlier schemes of Rebekah and Jacob
• Jacob became very rich with many sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys, and a lot of servants
• Laban became unfriendly, and Laban’s sons complained about Jacob
• God told Jacob to return to Canaan
• Jacob met Leah and Rachel in the field where the sheep were — they weren’t pleased with their father Laban either
• Jacob quietly left with Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, Bilhah, all their children, and all of their sheep, goats, camels, and etc. — everything they had
• on the way out, Rachel stole the family idols while Laban was out sheering sheep
• after three days, Laban found out that they had left, so he got some of his family together and they chased them for seven days
• Jacob’s camp was in the hills, and Laban caught up with him there, setting up camp nearby
• God warned Laban in a dream to not make any threats or promises to Jacob
• Laban went to Jacob and complained about the “kidnapping,” and the stolen idols
• Jacob said that if anyone in his camp was found to have stolen the idols, he would have that person killed
• Rachel sat on a saddle bag that was hiding the idols while Laban searched everywhere for them
• Jacob became angry with Laban for treating him like a criminal; Jacob noted his 20 years of diligent work for Laban — 14 for his daughters, and 6 more for the animals
• Jacob confessed that “the fearsome God worshiped by Abraham and my father Isaac” had been on his side
• “Sons of Jacob” song, public domain lyrics improvised by Kim Dailey:
  (to the tune of “Ten Little Indians”)
  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
  Issachar, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali,
  Gad and Asher, Joseph, Benjamin –
  These are the sons of Jacob.

2. Jacob returns to Canaan — [.Justin.]

Jacob and Esau's reunion

• [this is from Genesis 31:43-55] Laban and Jacob set up some rocks, ate a meal together, and agreed to each stay on his side of the rocks — not passing by to attack the other
• the piled rocks were to remind them of their agreement
• Jacob offered an animal in sacrifice
• the next morning, Laban kissed his daughters and grandchildren goodbye, and he left to return home
• [Genesis 32 begins here]; Jacob and his family set out to return to Canaan
• who was in Canaan? [so far as Jacob knew, his parents and his brother Esau]
• what did Jacob remember about Esau? [Esau hated him and wanted to kill him]
• Esau lived in the land of Edom (see map), which was named for him
• Jacob was at least a little concerned about Esau at this point [though he will become more frightened soon]
• at their first campsite, some of God’s angels came to meet Jacob
• “This is God’s camp!” Jacob said, and named the place they were at Mahanaim, which means “two camps” — show on map (– likely east of Succoth, just north of the Jabbok River) — Jacob knew that God had His own camp, and that God was Jacob’s shield
• wondering about Esau, Jacob sent some messengers ahead of his traveling group to speak to Esau
• the messengers found Esau, and at Jacob’s command, they spoke to him like this:
• “Master Esau, we are messengers of your brother Jacob. He has lived with uncle Laban all this time, and now he owns lots of cattle, donkeys, and sheep, as well as many slaves. Master Esau, your servant Jacob is hoping that you will be kind to him!”
• these messengers noticed that Esau had 400 men with him
• Esau and his men began traveling toward where Jacob was, so the messengers ran ahead
• “Jacob, your brother Esau is coming this way, and he has 400 men with him!”
• this frightened Jacob; it seemed Esau was on his way to attack Jacob [– and Esau likely was planning to attack]
• do you remember? Esau was an outdoors-man, and an excellent hunter
• “Esau and his men may kill all of us!” Jacob thought
• Jacob divided all of his people and all of his animals into two groups
• “if Esau attacks one group, maybe the other group can escape — this will be better than all of us dying!”
• (what kind of animals did Jacob have with him? — sheep, goats, cattle, camels, donkeys)
• (who were the people with Jacob? wives Leah/Rachel, their servants Zilpah/Bilhah, his 11 young sons, his daughter Dinah (and possibly other daughters), as well as lots of servants/employees)
• we’re happy to report that Jacob was learning to trust God — after dividing his camp into two groups, Jacob prayed to the LORD:
• “Yahweh, you are the God of my grandfather Abraham, and of my father Isaac. When you told me to leave Canaan and visit my family in Haran, you promised to look after me… and you did! I have not deserved all the good things you have done for me. I am your servant. When I first crossed over to this side of the Jordan river, all I had with me was my walking stick! Now, on the way home, I have these two large groups of people and animals. Dear God, please save me from my brother Esau. I am afraid that he is going to come here and attack me, and maybe he will also attack my wives and my children! But God, you have promised me success, and you have promised that someday I will have so many descendants that it will be as difficult to count them as to count the sand at the beach… so, God, please rescue me and my family from Esau.”
• [we are thankful to God that He similarly teaches us that we can trust Him, even though we are not worthy of His gifts and strength]
• Jacob slept the night
• the next morning, Jacob prepared a 9 gifts for Esau, each a herd of animals: he picked out over five-hundred animals! (200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 female sheep, 20 male sheep, 30 female camels and their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, 10 male donkeys)
• Jacob appointed servants to manage each herd of animals, and he arranged the herds in a line-up, one herd behind the next, with the appointed servants each behind their herd
• Jacob ordered his servants: “go ahead of me and keep a space between each herd”
• then he told the servants that were in charge of the first herd, the one at the very front of the line: “When Esau meets you, he is going to ask you who is your master. He will ask you where you are going, and who owns the animals that are with you. Tell him this: ‘These animals belong to your servant, your brother Jacob, who is coming this way — he is sending these animals as a gift to you, his master Esau.'”
• As with the first group, Jacob told the managers of the second herd to say this same thing when they met Esau
• Jacob was hoping that the gifts would help angry Esau be friendly by the time they met! Jacob knew that he had mistreated Esau
• Jacobs servants and the herds went ahead, but Jacob stayed in that camp to spend the night

3. Jacob wrestles with God — [.Justin.]

Genesis 32:28
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel:
for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men,
and hast prevailed.

• in the middle of that same night, Jacob got up and took his wives, his children, and everything he owned, across the Jabbok River (– show on map –), and then went back to the north side of the river by himself
• the reason he took his family and animals across the river was to keep them safe
• all alone in the night now, Jacob had a visitor…
• in the form of a man, God came to Jacob!
• (the invisible God had now appeared to Jacob as a man)
• it’s a rare thing for God to visit anybody as a man, and Jacob was now wise enough to know a good opportunity when he saw one — so Jacob would not let God leave him
• to test Jacob, God wrestled to get away from him
• Jacob would not give up — he would not let God go — (recall Jacob holding Esau’s heel)
• when God saw that Jacob would not give up, and the sun would soon rise — so God sped up the fight by hitting Jacob’s hip so hard that Jacob’s thigh bone popped right out of his hip socket
• the hip joint is the most important pivot point for a wrestler!
• Jacob kept on wrestling
• “Let go of me!” God, in the form of a man, said to Jacob. “It’s almost daylight.”
• “I will not let you go until you bless me,” Jacob said to God
• Jacob knew that God was the One who gave him everything that he had — Jacob knew that there could be nothing better than another gift from God, and now was his chance
• “What is your name?” God asked Jacob
• “Jacob,” he answered
• “Not anymore,” said God. “I am changing your name to ‘The-Man-Who-Wrestles-with-God‘ — ISRAEL — because now you have wrestled with God and won!”
• “Now tell me your name,” Jacob said
• “Don’t you know who I AM?” God asked
• and there, God gave a blessing to Jacob
• “this night I have seen God face to face, but I am still alive,” Jacob said
• yes, Jacob had wrestled with God and lived — now did he really need to be very worried about Esau?
• Jacob named that place Peniel, which means “face of God” — (show Peniel on map, which is probably just a bit west of Mahanaim, on the way toward Succoth)
• the sun rose, and Jacob limped away from that place called Peniel [recall injured hip-joint]
• remembering their father Jacob/Israel, the Israelite people never again would eat the hip muscle of any animal — that muscle which holds the thigh bone in the socket
• Israelite people, the descendants of Jacob, are still living on the earth today
• the strict/religious Jews among them have rules about food; food they are allowed to eat is called kosher food
• even today, those strict Jews among the Israelite people who are Jacob’s descendants avoid eating meat from the hindquarters of an animal — the tendons/nerves around the hip are not kosher
• for example, they will not eat T-Bone, Tenderloin, or Sirloin unless a qualified kosher butcher has carefully prepared the meat, having cut out the [sciatic nerve]

4. Canaanite woman pleads with Jesus — Matt. 15:21-28 — [.Paul.]

• almost 2000 years later, Jesus Christ was traveling near the cities of Tyre and Sidon, about 120 km northwest of the spot where Jacob wrestled with God
• suddenly a Canaanite woman who lived in that region came out shouting, “Lord, please help me! My daughter is full of demons.”
• Jesus did not answer her
• the woman kept following Jesus and his students, and pleading with him to help
• does this remind you of Jacob, who would not give up when he wanted God to bless him?
• the students who were with Jesus said to him, “please, Lord, send this woman away!”
• so Jesus said to the woman, “i was not sent to this world to save Canaanite people — God sent me to save the Israelites, because they are like sheep who are lost.”
• remember when God said to Jacob, “Let go of me — it’s almost daylight!” … Jacob answered, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”
• now this woman also insisted with Jesus, the Son of God … she knelt and begged him, “Please help me, Lord!”
• so Jesus said, “I have come to help my sheep in Israel, but you want me to help you? Don’t you know that it would be wrong for a father to take food away from his child and feed it to his pet dogs?”
• “That is true, Lord,” the woman said, “But even dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from their owner’s table.”
• Jesus saw that:
  • she did not consider herself to deserve anything from Jesus,
  • BUT, she believed that He could help her, and
  • she was not going to give up…
• so Jesus blessed her!
• “Dear woman,” he said, “you have a lot of faith, and I have given you what you want.”
  at that very moment, Jesus healed her daughter. She went home to find her daughter healthy and free of demons.

5. Jacob meets Esau — Gen. 33 — [.Justin.]

Jacob and Esau, from the January 2002 Ensign Magazine, pg. 45

Jacob bows before Esau

• after limping away from Peniel, where he wrestled with God, Jacob had another long day ahead
• the servants had already delivered the gifts from Jacob to Esau, and Esau was near with his four hundred men
• Jacob sent each of his children to their mothers
• Zilpah walked toward Esau’s group with her sons, Gad and Asher
• Bilhah walked along Zilpah with her sons Dan and Naphtali
• Leah followed with her children, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah
• behind her was Rachel with her only child, Joseph
• father Jacob walked in front of them all
• as he came near his brother Esau, Jacob bowed to the ground seven times
• we might have expected Esau to angrily attack Jacob and his family, but he did not
• instead, Esau ran toward Jacob and hugged and kissed him
• both brothers cried (emotions: relief, and happy to see each other)
• when Esau saw the four women with all their children, he asked “Whose children are these?”
• “These are the children that the LORD has been kind enough to give to me, your servant.”
• then the two servant women, Zilpah and Bilhah, with all of their children, came and bowed down before Esau
• then Leah and her children came and bowed down
• finally, Joseph and his mother Rachel came and bowed down to Esau
• Esau asked Jacob, “Why did you send all the herds ahead of you? I met them all along the road.”
• “Master,” Jacob answered, “I sent them so that you would be friendly to me.”
• “But, brother,” Esau replied, “I do not need these gifts from you, because I already have plenty. You keep these.”
• “No!” Jacob said. “Please accept these gifts as a sign of your friendship for me. When you welcomed me and I saw your face, it was like seeing the face of God.”
• Jacob knew that he had seen God at Peniel, and lived — here, he saw the face of his brother, who he thought might kill him, yet he lived
• “Please accept these gifts I brought to you,” said Jacob. “God has been good to me, and I have everything I need.”
• Jacob insisted, so Esau accepted the gifts.
• Remember, Jacob had stolen the blessing from Esau — but now Jacob was giving gifts to Esau
• “Let’s get ready to finish traveling back to our home country,” Esau said. “I’ll go with you.”
• But Jacob answered, “Master, you know traveling is hard on children, and I have to look after the sheep and goats that are nursing their young. If my animals travel too much in one day, they will all die. Why don’t you go on ahead and let me travel along slowly with the children, the herds, and the flocks. We can meet again in your land, Edom.”
• Esau replied, “Let me leave some of my men with you.”
• “You don’t need to do that,” Jacob answered. “I am happy, simply knowing that you are friendly to me.”
• So Esau and his men left Jacob and his family.
• Esau returned to his place, Edom.
• Jacob traveled farther west, toward the Jordan river
• There, he built a house for himself and set up shelters for his animals.
• Because of this, that place is called Succoth, which means “shelters.” (Show Succoth on the map.)
• from Succoth, Jacob and his family and animals traveled safely to Shechem, in Canaan land, and set up camp near the city
• Jacob bought some land from the owners (recall Abraham purchasing the field in Canaan)
• after setting up the tents, Jacob built an altar there to honor his God, the God of ISRAEL(!), and called the altar “El-Elohe-Israel,” which means “God, the God of Israel.”
• this is the same place where Abraham built his first altar in the promised land of Canaan

Review Jacob’s Life of Struggling:

• Genesis 25:22–26 – Jacob wrestles with his brother in his mother’s womb;
• Genesis 27 – Jacob struggles with his brother Esau for his birthright;
• Genesis 29:15–20 – Jacob struggles with his uncle Laban to get a wife;
• Genesis 32:22–32 – Jacob wrestles with God before confronting his brother.

Craft/Activity

Possible craft ideas:

• cut a stand-up card of:
  • Jacob wrestling with an angel/man,
  • Canaanite woman kneeling, or
  • Jacob meeting Esau
• fold/cut/unfold zigzag cards (you cut one pattern and unfold a series of them connected head/tail/head) of:
  • drove of animals that are a gift from Jacob to Esau,
  • Esau’s soldiers, or
  • the disciples wanting to send away the Canaanite woman
  • some activity looking up meanings of names (Jacob, Israel, Rachel, Leah, the children, as well as kids in the class)

Coloring

Click through to source

Jacob wrestles with angel of God -- click for full size

Lesson: Jacob, the Ladder, Laban, Leah, and Rachel

for Saturday, 20 November 2010 — 10 kids present

Volunteers: Colleen, Paul, Alyssa, Kaitlyn

Driver: Jennifer

Primary Scriptures: Genesis 28 – 31

Memory work: Psalm 146:5-6

Themes: God’s kindness despite Jacob’s sins, per His sovereign decision to bless Jacob; Jacob’s early signs of repentance

Outline

• Setup
• (10:00am) name tags, new memory and songs into mini-albums, two coloring pages
• together: Matthew 6 “Lord’s prayer”
• Sing — Apostles’ Creed; “Supplanter” song
• memory verse (Ps. 146:5-6)
• Lesson (see below) —
• Craft — Colleen has prepared a chocolate bar “Jacob’s ladder” craft
  
• (11:00 am) SNACK/BREAK
• (11:20 am) activity — (See “Activities” section below)
  
• stickers or bookmarks
• Singing: “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” (Augment 2), and psalm 105 stanzas 1, 3, and 4; Ps 8 or 116 if time; “Abram”
• Praying: [Colleen]
• (11:50 am) tidy

Lesson

1. Review Genesis 27 — [Paul]

• Jacob and Esau, twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah;
• Esau married two Canaanite women when he was age 40;
• Isaac and Rebekah were not pleased about Esau’s marriages;
• As the older son, the birthright (firstborn son’s right, or entitlement, to a larger inheritance than his siblings, and to be the next family leader) belonged to Esau, but he traded it to Jacob for the lentil soup;
• The older son usually receives the blessing (God’s favor/gift of a larger part of the family inheritance, given [declared] by the human father) as well — Isaac certainly wanted to bless Esau, his favorite son, but this was not God’s plan;
• old weak-eyed Isaac called Esau to hunt and serve him some wild meat, and then he would bless Esau;
• Rebekah overheard them talking and told Jacob what to do;
• Rebekah prepared goat meat;
• Jacob wore his brother’s clothing;
• Rebekah put goatskin on Jacob’s hands and neck;
• Jacob brought the meat to his father Isaac;
• Jacob pretended to be Esau — Isaac touched him and smelled him — believing him to be Esau, Isaac blessed him;
• Esau then came in from hunting, prepared some food, and brought it to Isaac;
• Isaac trembled and Esau cried;
• Esau planned to murder Jacob;

2. Jacob Flees to Paddan-Aram, and Jacob’s Dream — [Colleen]

• “I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.” [27:41]
• Rebekah heard of Esau’s plan and warned Jacob to flee to Haran where his uncle Laban lived;
• Isaac told his son Jacob to never marry one of these Canaanite women (as Esau had), but to take one of Laban’s daughters as his wife;
• He also prayed for Jacob, even that God would give this land (Canaan) to Jacob;
• When Esau heard about this, he married another woman — a daughter of Ishmael;
• (Recall Ishmael, son of Hagar, who married an Egyptian and learned archery);
• Jacob was 77(?) years old when he journeyed to Haran to find a wife, and to flee from Esau. The one who loved to stay at home now needed to travel about seven hundred kilometers all alone!

Show Jacob’s travels on a map:

(this map provided free by ebibleteacher.com)

• on his way to Haran, Jacob stopped for the night at a place called Luz
• rested his head on [or beside] a large rock and fell asleep
• in a dream, Jacob saw a ladder, or staircase, that reached from earth to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it
• (show display from “Other Resources” section below)
• (explain the words of our Lord from John 1:51: Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.)
• God was standing beside the ladder
• “I am the LORD God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping. Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people. Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won’t leave you–I will do all I have promised.” [from CEV translation]
• (Note that the promise to Abraham is with Jacob)
• Jacob woke up
• “The LORD is in this place, and I didn’t even know it.”
• Jacob was afraid
• “This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and the ladder to heaven.”
• Early the next morning, Jacob took the same rock and set it up like a pillar to mark this as a place of worship
• poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God
• renamed Luz to “Bethel,” which means “house of God”
• Jacob made a promise to God that is like a bargain: “If you go with me and watch over me as I travel, and if you give me food and clothes and bring me safely home again, you will be my God. This rock will be your house, and I will give back to you a tenth of everything you give me.”
• (Contrast Jacob’s with Abraham’s reaction to God’s promises — Abraham believed the Lord and it was counted as righteousness [15:6])

3. Jacob Arrives at Paddan-Aram — [Paul]

[Genesis 29]

• One day as Jacob was traveling, he saw a well in a field, the kind of well where shepherds take their sheep for water
• the well was covered with a large rock that could be rolled away once the sheep had gathered
• [this is probably basically a hole in the ground with a huge stone covering it]
• there were three flocks of sheep were lying around the well
• “Where are you from?”
• “We’re from Haran”
• “Do you know Laban?”
• “Yes we do”
• “How is he?”
• He’s fine… and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”
• “Look, the sun is still high up in the sky, and it’s too early to bring in the rest of the flocks. Water your sheep and take them back to the pasture.”
• “We can’t do that until they all get here, and the rock has been rolled away from the well.”
• Rachel came with her father (Laban)’s sheep
• Jacob rolled the rock away and watered the sheep — it was a LARGE stone, and Jacob’s strength would impress Laban
• He kissed Rachel and started crying because he was so happy
• “I am the son of your aunt Rebekah”
• Rachel ran and told Laban
• Laban ran out to meet Jacob
• Laban hugged and kissed him and brought him to his home
• Jacob told him everything
• “You are my nephew, and you are like one of my own family”

4. Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel — [Colleen]

• Laban had two daughters, Leah (the older) and Rachel
• Rachel was more beautiful to Jacob than Leah
• Jacob was in love with Rachel
• Jacob lived at Laban’s house and helped him
• After a month, Laban said, “I should pay you for your work. What would you like?”
• “Let me marry Rachel, and I’ll work seven years for you”
• “I’d rather you marry Rachel than somebody else! Yes, stay and work for me”
• Jacob worked seven years
• The time went fast, because he loved Rachel so much
• “The time is up, and I want to marry Rachel now!”
• Laban gave a big feast and invited all the neighbors
• But Laban had Leah wear the bridal veil (recall Rebekah wearing one of these veils so her bridegroom Isaac could not see her face until after the marriage)
• (Notice that Laban had also waited until it was dark — Jacob is tricked here in a similar manner to how he tricked his blind father)
• Jacob did not know that Laban had tricked him and given Leah instead of Rachel until the next morning when he saw Leah’s face
• Leah and Rachel, however, had not been tricked — they were upset that their father had cheated them [see 31:14-16]
• Jacob was married to Leah instead of Rachel!
• “Why did you do this to me? Didn’t I work to get Rachel? Why did you trick me?”
• “Because the older daughter must get married first. After a week, you may also marry Rachel. But you will have to work for me another seven years.”
• After a week, Jacob married Rachel — it was custom to have a wedding party for a week — Jacob, Leah, and Rachel probably weren’t in a partying mood, though
• Laban also gave one of his servants to Leah and one to Rachel — the names of the servants were Zilpah and Bilhah
• God knew that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah
• Leah also knew this, and she was sad about it
• God gave children to Leah, but not to Rachel
• Leah and Jacob’s first child was a boy who they named Reuben
• Leah had a second son and named him Simeon
• Leah had a third son, and he was named Levi
• Leah had a fourth son and named him Judah
• Rachel was jealous of Leah
• “I’ll die if you don’t give me some children!” (Rachel said to Jacob)
• “Don’t blame me! I’m not God.” (said Jacob)
• (Compare that to Isaac, who prayed for barren Rebekah!)
• “Here, take my servant Bilhah; have children by her, and I will adopt them as my children.”
• (Ask kids if they remember anybody else — Sarah — with a similar plan)
• Jacob married Bilhah
• Bilhah had a son, and Rachel named him Dan
• Bilhah had a  second son, and Rachel named the boy Naphtali
• Leah was no longer able to have children, so she let Jacob marry her servant Zilpah
• Zilpah had a son, and Leah named the boy Gad
• Zilpah had another son, and Leah named him Asher
• Leah prayed, and God granted another son — her fifth — and she named him Issachar
• Leah had a sixth son, and she named him Zebulun
• Leah had a daughter, and named her Dinah
• God then answered Rachel’s prayers, and she gave birth to her first child! It was a boy, and she named him Joseph
• Rachel credited God for the birth of Joseph [30:23]
• Rachel prayed for another son after Joseph was born
• [add to the family tree: Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, Bilhah, and these first 11 sons and 1 daughter — see image:]

Family tree: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob -- twelve tribes of Israel

5. Jacob Flees Laban — [Paul]

• Jacob spoke to Laban: “You know I’ve worked hard for you — let me return to Canaan with my family now”
• “If you really are my friend, stay on, and I’ll pay you whatever you like”
• “You didn’t have much before I came here. But God has blessed all of my hard work for you. Now let me look after my own family.”
• “How much do you want me to pay you?”
• “Okay, you can pay me by letting me own any animal from your flocks that is not white. I will look after your sheep and goats if you let me have all the animals that are not white. Any animal that is white will be your property, but any black lamb, or any spotted or speckled sheep or goat will belong to me. This way, I will not be able to steal any from you without you knowing it! Simple — when you come to check my animals, if you see any that are white, you will know that I stole it from you!”
• “I agree to that”
• Laban then cheated again — he took all spotted, speckled, or black animals out of the flock and got his sons to secretly keep them; this way, the flock would only be able to have white-wool babies, and Jacob would end up gaining nothing!
• Laban made Jacob take the sheep and goats, and travel three days’ journey, where he would look after them
• Jacob had a theory that if the mom and dad sheep and goats looked at spots, they might have spotted babies — Jacob was scheming just like Laban was
• so, Jacob cut branches from poplar trees, almond trees, and evergreen trees
• he peeled off part of the bark and made the branches look spotted and speckled
• Jacob put the branches where the sheep and goats could see them from the water trough
• the goats and sheep did end up having spotted and speckled babies — God was blessing Jacob, even as He said He would
• Jacob always took the spotted, speckled, and black animals out of the flock and kept them as his own, just as he had agreed with Laban
• When weak sheep were out, Jacob took away the spotted branches — this way, the weaker sheep ended up having babies with white wool, and so the animals that belonged to Laban were all the weak ones, but Jacob’s were healthy and strong!
• this made Jacob rich — he now owned many sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys, and a lot of servants
• (Note that Laban dished on Jacob a lot of the treachery that Jacob was guilty of.)
• Laban’s sons complained, “Jacob is now a rich man, and he got everything he owns from our father”
• Also, Laban was not as friendly with Jacob as he once had been
• God told Jacob to go back to Canaan: “Jacob, go back to your relatives in the land of your ancestors, and I will bless you.”
• Jacob told Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where he kept his sheep — (look! Jacob is finally learning to promptly obey God)
• “Your father isn’t as friendly with me as he used to be, but the God that my father and grandfather worshiped has been on my side.”
• (Note how he hasn’t yet considered God as his God!)
• “You know I’ve worked hard for your father and that he keeps cheating me. But God has looked after me, and now His angel has come to me in a dream and told me that I must leave this place and return to the land where I was born.”
• Rachel and Leah answered: “There’s nothing left for us to inherit from our father. He treats us like foreigners and has cheated us just as he has cheated you. Now do whatever God tells you to do.”
• Without telling Laban, Jacob and his family left for the home of his father Isaac in Canaan — Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, Bilhah, all their children, and all of their sheep, goats, and camels — everything that Jacob had ever gotten during his time in the land around Haran.
• On the way out, Jacob’s wife Rachel stole the family idols (teraphim that pagan Laban worshiped — apparently Rachel hadn’t outgrown them either) while Laban was out shearing his sheep.
• They crossed the Euphrates River and headed for the hill country of Gilead, taking with them everything they owned — Jacob was on the way to the land that God had promised to him!

6. Laban Chases Jacob — [Paul]

• Laban did not realize that Jacob was gone until after three days
• Laban and some of his family chased after Jacob for seven days
• They caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead [look up on map], where Jacob had set up camp
• Laban and his relatives set up camp in a different part of the hill country
• God appeared to Laban in a dream and warned him, “Don’t say a word to Jacob. Don’t make a threat or a promise.”
• Laban went to Jacob:
• “Look what you’ve done! You’ve tricked me and run off with my daughters like a kidnapper. Why did you sneak away without telling me? I would have given you a going-away party with singing and with music on tambourines and harps. You didn’t even give me a chance to kiss my own grandchildren and daughters good-by. That was really foolish. I could easily hurt you, but the God your father worshiped has warned me not to make any threats or promises. I can understand why you were eager to return to your father, but why did you have to steal my idols?”
• “I left secretly because I was afraid you would take your daughters from me by force. If you find that any one of us has taken your idols, I’ll have that person killed. Let your relatives be witnesses. Show me what belongs to you, and you can take it back.”
• — Jacob did not realize that Rachel had stolen the household idols!
• Rachel hid the idols in a cushion and sat on them (dead false gods can’t look after themselves)
• Laban searched the tents of Jacob, Leah, and the two servant women, but did not find the idols anywhere
• When Laban searched Rachel’s tent she was still sitting on the cushion where the idols were hidden, so Laban did not find them
• (Rachel tricked her father, just as Jacob had tricked his)
• Jacob became angry with Laban:
• “What have I done wrong? Have I committed some crime? Is that why you hunted me down? After searching through everything I have, did you find anything of yours? If so, put it here, where your relatives and mine can see it. Then we can decide what to do. I’ve worked for you for twenty years and I have carefully looked after your animals. I sweated for you, I froze for you, I went nights without sleep for you. I paid fourteen years of hard work to earn your daughters, and six more to buy your sheep and goats! And you kept tricking me! Cheating me! If the fearsome God worshiped by Abraham and my father Isaac had not been on my side, you would have sent me away with nothing. But God saw my hard work, and he knew the trouble I was in, so he helped me. Then last night he told you how wrong you were.”

[7. Treaty with Laban — time permitting ]

(Genesis 31:43-55)

Possible Activities

These two ideas are from funandgames.org:

Ladders
Old favorite, needs a fair amount of space and as there is a risk (depending on skilful the players are) of accidentally treading on somebody else it’s a good idea if those playing don’t wear shoes. Players pair up and sit down facing each other legs outstretched and feet touching so that players legs form the rungs of a ladder. Each pair is then given a number. When their number is called out each pair has to get up, run down the ladder without treading on any legs, back around the outside and then back up the ladder to their original position. Player that gets back first and sitting in position wins.

Story Ladders
Use the same set up as ladders, but needs a lot (or bit) of preparation in advance depending on how good you are at creating stories. Each pair is either given a number or the name of an object. As a narrator tells a story pairs have run when their name or number is called out. If you are using numbers, shopping trips make good subjects for stories. Can also use numbers in phrases such as “…went to (2) the…” or “once (1) there….” very good at seeing who is alert!

“Sons of Jacob” song, public domain lyrics improvised by Kim Dailey:

(to the tune of “Ten Little Indians”)
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
Issachar, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali,
Gad and Asher, Joseph, Benjamin –
These are the sons of Jacob.

Possible Coloring Pages

(Click through to sources.)

jacob and ladder

jacob, rachel, laban

jacob meets rachel

laban deals with jacob

jacob's dream -- color + maze

Also:

• Page 2 of Curr025.pdf from calvarychapel.com;
• “Jacob has a dream” (page 11) of “My Bible Coloring Book” by Shirley Dobson.

Other Resources

1. Set up this display (idea from Jill Masters’ “Lessons for Life 1”):
   

   Jacob's Ladder -- Cross -- John 1:15 -- fold, and stand on table

2. Teaching Aid 10 (poster) from Great Commission curriculum.

Lesson: Esau Tricked

taught on Saturday, 6 November 2010 — 12 children were present

Primary scriptures: Genesis 27-28

Volunteers: rita, justin, josie, maple

Drivers: Cheryl (10am); Tyler (noon)

Coloring: (paul will bring copies)

Isaac blesses Jacob

(from ABDA ACTS Art and Publishing)

Isaac blesses Jacob

(from Bible Printables)

Memory work: Psalm 146:5-6

Outline

• Setup
• (10:00am) name tags, new memory and songs into mini-albums, two coloring pages
• collect emergency contact info for new students
• together: Matthew 6 “Lord’s prayer”
• Sing — Apostles’ Creed; “Supplanter” song by Jamie Soles (see two prints in mini-albums)
• memory verse (Ps. 146:5-6)
• Lesson (see below) —
• Craft — (See “Craft and Activities” section below)
• (11:00 am) SNACK/BREAK
• (11:20 am) activity — (See “Craft and Activities” section below)
  
• stickers or BOOKMARKS
• Singing: “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” (Augment 2), and psalm 105 stanzas 1, 3, and 4; Ps 8 or 116 if time
• Praying: [Rita]
• (11:50 am) tidy

Lesson

1. Review Genesis 25 — Justin

• Abraham lived 75 more years after Isaac was born; he even remarried and had more children after Sarah died, but he sent these children east — Abraham knew that Canaan was for Isaac, according to God’s promise;
• Ishmael and Isaac buried Abraham in the cave at Mamre, where Sarah was buried;
• Isaac prayed for barren Rebekah, and she became pregnant with twins;
• She could feel them fighting in her womb, and God told her that they were two nations, and that the younger would be stronger than the older;
• the firstborn, Esau, had red hair all over his body;
• Jacob was holding Esau’s heel;
• Esau == ‘hairy’; Jacob == ‘heel-grabber’ (supplanter, cheater);
• Birthright: the oldest son’s entitlement to a double portion of the inheritance, to be the leader in the family, and to have more responsibility
• Esau: outdoors — hunting
• Jacob: indoors — cooking
• Rebekah preferred Jacob; Isaac preferred Esau and loved to eat wild meat
• Esau came home weak from hunting
• “I beg you, give me some of the red stuff– that red stuff! I’m starving!”
• “Okay, but only if you give the birthright to me.”
• “I’m starving to death! I don’t care about the birthright!”
• Esau was ungodly/profane for despising the birthright
• Esau ate and drank, got up, and went away

2. Introduction and Family Tree — Justin

• Recall: Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah;
• Recall: Abraham had ensured that Isaac’s wife was not a Canaanite;
• Esau also got married at age 40… twice, and both women were Canaanites;
• Isaac had not been a careful father as Abraham had been;
• Isaac and Rebekah were not pleased about Esau’s marriages;
• Review this family tree (draw on flip chart):

draw and review the family tree

3. Compare the birthright / the blessing — Justin

The Birthright (which we learned about last week): the firstborn son’s right, or entitlement, to a larger inheritance than his siblings. After his father’s death, he would also be the leader in the family.

But before Isaac died, he would officially bless one of his children — Esau and Jacob both knew about this.

The Blessing: God’s favor/gift of a larger portion of the family inheritance, given [declared] by the human father. The father could give the blessing to only one of his children, and this decision could not be changed. God used the custom of [patriarchal] blessing to show His [divine] purpose [/election]. (Words in square brackets are difficult for the children.)

4. Dialog Skit — all

[based this on the NIV translation of genesis 27.]

narrator: rita

rebekah: maple

isaac: justin

jacob: josie

esau: paul

narrator: When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son.

isaac: “My son.”

esau: “Here I am…”

Isaac: “I am now an old man and don’t know when I will die. Now get your weapons and go hunting… Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”

narrator: Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left to go hunting, Rebekah spoke quietly to her son Jacob.

rebekah: “I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Go hunting and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”

Jacob: “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”

rebekah: “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say.”

narrator: So Jacob went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. Jacob went to his father.

jacob: “My father.”

isaac: “Yes, my son… Who is it?”

Jacob: “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of this meat, so that you may give me your blessing.”

Isaac: “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”

jacob: “The LORD your God gave me success.”

Isaac: “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”

narrator: Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him.

isaac: “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

narrator: Isaac did not recognize Jacob, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so Isaac proceeded to bless him.

isaac: “Are you really my son Esau?”

jacob: “I am.”

isaac: “My son, bring me some of the meat to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”

narrator: Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank.

Isaac: “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”

narrator: So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him.

isaac: “Ah, the smell of my son Esau is like the smell of a field. May God give you everything good. May nations serve you and people bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”

narrator: After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting.  He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father.

esau: “My father, please sit up and eat some of this food, so that you may give me your blessing.”

Isaac: “Who are you?”

esau: “I am your son! Your firstborn, Esau.”

narrator: Isaac trembled violently.

Isaac: “Who was it, then, that went hunting and brought the meat to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him!”

esau: [loud and bitter cry] “Bless me—me too, my father!”

isaac: “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

Esau: “Jacob is his name, alright. This is the second time he has cheated me: He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing!”

5. Review Isaac Blessing Jacob — Rita

• Isaac loved to eat wild animal meat;
• Isaac intended to give the blessing to his “favorite” son, Esau;
• Esau wanted the same, and he intended to break his promise to Jacob about the birthright;
• So, when Isaac was old and blind, he called to Esau, and the two made a plan (Isaac would eat some wild meat, and then bless Esau);
• Rebekah and Jacob also made a plan (Isaac would eat some goat meat, and then bless Jacob!);
• Rebekah had proper intentions, but it was wrong for her to use trickery;
• Three deceptions: Jacob wearing Esau’s clothes; goatskins on Jacob’s hands and neck; Jacob pretending to be Esau and to have returned with wild meat;
• Isaac blessed the “wrong” son because his eyes (18), hands (22), tongue (25), and nose (27) all failed him! It’s just as well — Isaac had the wrong motives;
• Esau then came to his father with the wild meat, but the blessing could not be reversed, and both men were upset;
• Esau hated Jacob because of this;
• Esau planned to murder Jacob;
• Rebekah warned Jacob, and told him to flee to Laban, her brother in Haran;
• (Remind the kids where Haran is on the map, where this bride Rebekah was found for Isaac);
• Though she did not know, Rebekah would never see her son Jacob again.

6. God is in Charge — Rita

[providence]

Everybody sinned:

• Isaac intended to bless Esau, though God’s promise was that “the older shall serve the younger”;
• Rebekah used deception;
• Esau broke his oath to give the birthright to Jacob; and
• Jacob lied (vs. 19-20);

But God had fulfilled His promise about Jacob (Genesis 25:23). Even when people have evil motives, God will use their actions for His good purposes. [Compare:

• You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Joseph speaking to his brothers, Genesis 50:20);
• This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. (Peter to the men of Israel, Acts 2:23);
• Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. (Prayer to God, Acts 4:27-28);]

Craft and Activities

1. rita’s activity idea: 10 objects with different textures; the children have turns identifying while wearing a blindfold or welding goggles; something hairy, something smooth, squishy, prickly, etc.
2. Popsicle-stick skit: tracing and cutting the simple patterns on p.15 of “Christian Crafts for Gift-Giving,” make Popsicle-stick puppets: with one isaac, one rebekah, one jacob, one esau, and one goat (with extra “fur” to put on jacob) could be used to do a simple skit.
3. Craft idea from eBibleTeacher): Bring two paper plates and a brass fastener for each student. Have students draw Isaac on one half of one plate. Cut the other half off. On the second plate, draw Jacob (facing Isaac when stacked) on one half, and Esau facing Isaac on the other half. (Jacob and Esau will be facing different directions). If you want, bring fake fur to attach to Jacob, etc.
4. Object lesson idea, also from eBibleTeacher.com: (Bring in some fake (or real) animal skin). Wrap the fur around an object that normally doesn’t have fur. Blindfold a student and have them try to figure out what it is. Have all the students see how it’s harder when you’re blind to understand the deception. Discuss how Satan disguises evil to seem like good, just like Jacob disguised himself to feel like Esau. We must not be “blind” like Isaac to the evil beneath. We must be “clever as serpents” when it comes to identifying Satan and his ruses. Matthew 10:16. We do this by studying God’s word and identifying deception in the world around us. In what was does the world try to disguise evil as good?
   1. it’s not your fault: if he didn’t make me angry I wouldn’t strike out at him;
   2. evil is really good: white lies keep you from hurting other people’s feelings; I’ll be like God if I eat the forbidden fruit;
   3. justification: if everyone else is cheating, I won’t be graded fairly; that company cheats it’s customers, so I can steal from it;
   4. denial: nothing bad will happen if I do it just this once; I couldn’t help it
5. …

Lesson: Esau’s Heel, Jacob’s Soup

for Saturday 30 October 2010

Topics: birth of jacob/esau; birthright traded for soup
Primary Scripture: Genesis 25;
Lessons: God’s election and the certainty of His promises; short-sighted choices versus awareness of the magnitude of salvation

Volunteers: paul, colleen, kaitlyn, alyssa

Drivers: Fran (10am); Sheila (noon)

Coloring: HERE and HERE (paul will bring printouts)

New memory verse:

(Psalm 146:5-6; NIV)

New song (two verses): (“Supplanter” by Jamie Soles)

"Supplanter" by Jamie Soles, verse 1 of 2

"Supplanter" by Jamie Soles, verse 2 of 2

Lesson worksheet: [none this week]

Outline

• Setup
• (10:00am) name tags, new memory and songs into mini-albums, two coloring pages
• collect emergency contact info for new students
• together: Matthew 6 “Lord’s prayer”
• Sing — Apostles’ Creed; “Supplanter” song by Jamie Soles (new for the kids)
• memory verse (Final review of Psalm 105:13b; introduce Ps. 146:5-6)
• Lesson (see below) —
• Craft — [Kaitlyn/Alyssa]
• (11:00 am) SNACK/BREAK
• (11:20 am) activity — (See “Activities” section below)
  
• [review worksheet answers] — stickers
• Singing: “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” (Augment 2), and psalm 105 stanzas 1, 3, and 4; Ps 8 or 116 if time
• Praying: [Paul]
• (11:50 am) tidy

Lesson

1. Review Genesis 24 — Colleen

• Abraham’s wife (Isaac’s mom) Sarah died age 127; Abraham bought a field with a cave in it, and had Sarah buried there; that was Abraham’s first purchased land in Canaan;
• When Isaac was 40 years old, Abraham sent a servant to Haran, where Abraham’s family was from, to find a wife for Isaac;
• Abraham asked the servant to swear to not look for a wife in Canaan, where the people did not serve God;
• The servant made an oath before God, and put his hand under Abraham’s thigh as the sign of this oath;
• The servant chose some other servants to travel with him, as well as ten camels, and many expensive gifts;
• The journey (show on map) from Mamre/Hebron [just SW of Bethlehem] to Haran would take us from here into Saskatchewan;
• Finally, one evening, they arrived outside the town Nahor and had the camels kneel near the well where the women would be coming to draw water;
• The servant chose to trust God instead of himself to find the right bride for Isaac — he asked God in prayer to show him the right bride by this sign: that when he asked for some water to drink, she would also offer to water his camels;
• Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, came out with a jar on her shoulder and fetched some water; she had never married, and very beautiful;
• When the servant asked for some water, Rebekah gave him some, and watered his camels, so he knew she was the one;
• They went to her father’s house, where they met her brother Laban;
• After the servant told them why he was there, Bethuel and Laban agreed that they must not interfere with God’s choice;
• They had a meal together, and Abraham’s servant gave many gifts to Rebekah, her mother, and her brother;
• The next morning, Laban and his mother asked if Rebekah could stay with them for ten days before she left with Abraham’s servants, but he didn’t think that was a good idea — God had showed mercy, and it was best to keep going;
• Rebekah agreed to leave right away and go to Canaan land;
• Rebekah’s family blessed her, and her maids and her nurse left with her;
• Arriving in the evening, Isaac saw them coming from the field he was in;
• Rebekah asked the servant who was in the field coming toward them;
• When she knew it was Isaac, Rebekah got down off the camel, and covered her face with a veil — according to custom, she would wear this veil until they were married.

2. Isaac and Rebekah’s Babies — Paul

[no worksheets today]

• After Sarah died, Abraham got married again and had more kids!
• Abraham gave most of what he had to his son Isaac, the son of promise by God’s choice and blessing
• Abraham also sent the rest of his family to the east country, away from Isaac and his family — Abraham knew that Canaan land belonged to Isaac by God’s promise, and he knew it would all come true even though he didn’t live to see it
• Abraham died at age 175 (seventy-five years after Isaac was born)
• His sons, Ishmael and Isaac, took their father and buried him in the cave at Mamre, where Sarah was
• As for Ishmael, God’s promises came true: he was the father to twelve princes; they lived in and around Egypt, and they still do today
• Rebekah was sad because she wasn’t able to have any babies, just like how it was with Sarah; if you were with us last year, you might remember studying Hannah who was sad because she wasn’t able to have a baby, until Samuel was born
• However, Isaac prayed for Rebekah, that she would have a child, and she became pregnant when Isaac was sixty years old, twenty years after they got married
• Furthermore, there was more than one baby! (twins)
• Rebekah could feel the babies fighting [hitting each other; Heb. רָצַץ — to crush] in her womb
• Rebekah prayed and asked God why this was happening
• The LORD said to her,
  “Two nations are in your womb,
  and two peoples from within you will be separated;
  one people will be stronger than the other,
  and the older will serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23; NIV)
• God told Rebekah that the twins inside her would become two mighty nations, that they would always be at war, even as they were now, but the second born would be stronger than the first
• (Look at the photo of two unborn twins)
• When the babies were being born, the first one was a boy with red hair all over his body!
• (Look at the photo of babies) Isaac and Rebekah named this baby Esau, which meant something about how rough his hairy body felt
• Esau seemed attached to his twin brother, who was behind him; but they weren’t attached — the second baby was holding Esau’s heel!
• (Review this part of the new song we’re learning — “Supplanter”)
• Isaac and Rebekah named the second boy Jacob, which means “heel grabber” in the Hebrew language; say aw-KABE for ‘heel,’ and yah-ak-OBE for ‘Jacob’; a “heel-grabber” is a cheater, or a supplanter — a cheater gets what he wants, but is dishonest; a supplanter takes somebody else’s place
• This baby grabbing the heel of his older brother was an early example of God’s promise to their mother that the younger would be stronger and would overcome his older brother — we will see this again, even today
• Jacob was God’s choice of which son through whom the promise would be fulfilled, not Esau; just as we learned that Isaac was the son of promise, not Ishmael
• Jacob’s life was all about conflict, and our next three classes are going to be about Jacob’s struggles — we will even learn about Jacob wrestling with the Angel of the Lord; nothing could stop God’s promises from coming true, but He never promised that Jacob would have an easy life!
• (also note God’s election despite that the twins had not done any good or evil, and despite Jacob’s dishonestly)

Birthright

• Do you know what the custom was about firstborn sons? The firstborn would inherit twice as much from his parents — he would also be the spiritual leader of the family
• The oldest son’s right [entitlement] to his father’s inheritance was called the birthright — this right belonged to him from the second he was born — he also had more responsibility, such as looking after his mother and his unmarried sisters
• Jewish people are the descendants of Jacob; the religious Jews still obey this tradition of birthright
• If there were twins, the firstborn son was still the oldest, so by human custom, Esau had the birthright, not Jacob

3. Vegetable Soup — Colleen

• As he grew older, Esau learned to be a good hunter, and spent a lot of time outdoors
• His brother Jacob like to stay indoors and learned to be a good cook
• The parents had favorites — father Isaac loved Esau, and liked the meat Esau got from hunting; mother Rebekah loved Jacob
• Once, Esau came home from hunting and he was very weak
• Jacob was boiling some vegetable soup — the lentils in it made the soup red [yellow and masoor lentils are red inside]
• Esau said to Jacob, “I beg you, give me some of the red stuff– that red stuff! I’m starving!”
• Since that time, Esau was sometimes nicknamed “Stuff,” or “Red“
• Jacob said, “Okay, but only if you give the birthright to me.” [recall birthright definition]
• Esau said, “I’m starving to death! I don’t care about the birthright!”
• Esau was ungodly/profane (Hebrews 12:16) to trade the birthright for a bowl of soup! — It “would be a little like selling your wedding ring for a hamburger cause you had not eaten all day, only worse” [Jon W. Quinn]; it also shows that Esau didn’t care about important things, such as God’s promises
• Jacob wouldn’t give Esau any soup until he swore that he would trade the birthright
• Esau swore to trade the birthright to Jacob [Cheated by ‘the cheater’!]
• Then Jacob gave some bread and some of the vegetable soup to Esau
• Esau ate and drank, got up, and went away — he really didn’t care about the birthright, but Jacob knew that it was valuable
• Esau was thinking about his gut today; Jacob was thinking about a promise that would last into generations

Activities

1. Draw and discuss this family tree with the kids

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob family tree

2. Other Ideas, depending on time

• draw a bowl of stew;
• give the kids twelve cards, with these descriptions on them, and tell them to choose the six most valuable/important ones, and throw away the other six; can talk about it after: to eat a chocolate bar, to become the prime minister of Canada, to win American Idol, to go to Disneyland, to be good-looking, to get a job as an astronaut, to win a soccer game, to have wisdom, to have $400, to have a healthy family, to live forever with our Father in heaven, to graduate from high school

Lesson: A Bride for Isaac

taught on Saturday 23 October 2010 — 7 regular students were away: we had S, S, N, A, and M

Volunteers: Justin, Rita, Josie

Driver: Ben

Main Topics: Sarah passes; Abraham’s servant’s oath, journey, prayer; Rebekah travels to Canaan and marries Isaac

Primary scriptures: Genesis 24;

Songs: Ps 105 (3 stanzas); Apostles’ Creed; “Abram” by Jamie Soles; next week we will introduce “Supplanter”; and when we get to Joseph, we will introduce another verse from Ps 105

Additional Supplies: coloring pages (below), worksheet printouts (see below), beads/string (Josie), map (Paul)

[no lesson worksheet this week.]

Memory verse: Psalm 105:13b

Coloring pages: (Paul will bring these) 1. “Abraham’s servant finds a wife for Isaac” from “My Bible Coloring Book” by Shirley Dobson; 2:

i combined these images (from two different internet sources) onto one page

Outline

• Setup: arrange tables, chairs, flip chart, map, CD player;
• Post the larger map;
• (10:00am) name tags for any new students
• ask a child to hand out mini-albums (extras for the new students in the bin); another: coloring pages; another: name tags
• collect emergency contact info for new students
• together: Matthew 6 “Lord’s prayer”
• Sing — Apostles’ Creed
• Sing — “Abram” from Jamie Soles, all stanzas
• memory verse (Psalm 105:13b)
• get a child to hand out the coloring pages
• place the jar of beads in the center of the table, so all the kids can see it
• Lesson (see below) —
• Craft — Josie is bringing beads
• (11:00 am) SNACK/BREAK
  • ..
  • Make sure nobody is thirsty so the second half isn’t interrupted;
• (11:20 am) activity — see “Activity” section below the lesson
  
• have one of the children hand out stickers — max 3 stickers per child;
• Singing: psalm 105 stanzas 1, 3, and 4;
• Praying: [Justin];
• (11:50 am) Kids tidy: beads, pencil crayons, glue, scissors, name cards, mini-albums.

Lesson

1. Review Genesis 21 (Birth of Isaac) and 22 (Abraham tested) – Rita

• Just as God had said, Sarah gave birth to a baby boy about a year after the angels visited, and Abraham named this boy Isaac, which means “he laughs”;
• Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born;
• Abraham believed that God’s promise [many descendants] would come true through his son Isaac;
• Hagar raised Ishmael in the desert, and Ishmael became an archer; he took a wife from Egypt, and would become a great nation;
• When Isaac was still a boy, God told Abraham go to the land of Moriah, where he would sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering;
• review terms: offering: a gift dedicated to God in worship; sacrifice: when someone surrenders to God something that is valuable, to worship and honor God; animal sacrifices were only a shadow of our Lord Jesus, who offered Himself “once for all”; altar: a structure (pile of rocks, in this case) on which to offer a sacrifice to God;
• Moriah is present-day Jerusalem;
• Abraham cut wood for the burnt offering;
• Abraham, Isaac, two servants, and one donkey went on the long journey to Moriah;
• On the third day, when Abraham saw the mountain, he told the servants to stay behind;
• Abraham placed the wood on Isaac, while Abraham carried the knife and the fire;
• Since Abraham believed God’s promise, he reasoned that God would raise Isaac from the dead after the sacrifice (Hebrews 11:19);
• Abraham’s obedience to God in offering Isaac was evidence that Abraham really did have faith;
• Isaac noted that they had the fire and wood, but asked his father where was the lamb for the burn offering;
• Abraham replied, “God will provide the lamb”;
• Abraham built the altar and placed the wood on top;
• Abraham bound Isaac to the altar, and stretched out his hand with the knife to slay him;
• the angel of the Lord called, “Abraham, Abraham!” and he replied, “Here I am”;
• “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
• Abraham raised his eyes and saw a ram caught in a thicket;
• Abraham offered the ram in the place of his son;
• Abraham called that place, “The LORD Will Provide”;
• God reminded Abraham, “I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore,” and “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice”;

[at this, show the kids the jar filled with the beads we will use, and ask if they can count them. the number of beads is pale in comparison to the stars of the heavens or the sand on the seashore; these innumerable descendants will be the children of Isaac, and today’s lesson is about finding a wife for Isaac.]

• the sacrifice was not stopped before the knife fell on our Lord, the Son of God;
• Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham, fulfilled the good news first promised to Abraham… when He completed the sacrifice and offered Himself to pay our penalty;
• even as Isaac lived after that three-day journey, so it was that Jesus rose from the dead after three days in the tomb;

2. Introduce Today’s Lesson — Justin

Isaac’s mother, Sarah, died when she was 127 years old. Abraham bought a field that had a cave in it for 400 shekels of silver. That amount of silver is the weight of a bag of flour or of a fat baby, which was a lot of money back then. Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave. We will learn how this cave would become a family tomb. Check Mr. Paul’s laptop to see how people have made that place look fancy today. (See bibleplaces.com.)

This field, with its trees and the cave, was the first bit of land in Canaan that Abraham had legal ownership of, in the witness of other men. Remember that Canaan was the land that God had promised to Abraham and his offspring.

[On map, show site of cave at Hebron, south of where Abraham had offered Isaac at Jerusalem.]

God’s promise of a large family would come true through Isaac. What does a man need before he is able to father children? He needs a wife! Today’s lesson is about how Isaac’s wife was found.

3. The Servant’s OATH — Rita

Sarah was dead. Lot was probably still living in the hills with his two daughters — he became the father of the tribes known as the Moabites and the Ammonites. Abraham was a very old man — somewhere between 137 and 140 years old! Isaac was now 40 years old, and was temporarily working in the wilderness area that is on the way to Egypt. [This was where God visited Hagar.]

Finding somebody to get married to is a serious thing. God cares about who we marry. Abraham knew that the people in Canaan land where he lived did not believe in the one true God. It would be wrong for Isaac to marry a young woman from one of the tribes in the land of Canaan.

So, Abraham called upon his chief servant. [This man was Eliezer, unless he had died and another was now the chief and most trusted servant. We noted Eliezer before — he would be the heir if Abraham and Sarah had no child.]

“Take an oath,” said Abraham. “Swear to me that you will not get a wife for my son Isaac from the Canaanite people around here, but that you will go back to the land I came from to find a Godly wife for my son Isaac.”

“As a sign that you will make this promise with God as our witness,” Abraham continued, “put your hand on the side of my leg while you swear to God.”

Have you ever heard somebody make a promise, saying, “Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye”? Whether they know what they are saying or not, that expression means that if they break the promise they are doomed to die!

Taking an oath before God is the most serious kind of promise to make, because it means that if we break our promise God will punish us.

If Abraham’s servant would take this oath before God, he would put his hand on the side of Abraham’s leg to show that he understood that God would enforce his promise.

Abraham’s servant did not quickly take this oath.

“What if the woman I find does not want to come back here with me?” he asked Abraham. “Should I then take your son Isaac back to that country you came from?”

“No,” Abraham answered. “Do not take my son Isaac to that country. Instead, trust that God will send an angel before you so that you can find a wife for my son there. But if the woman refuses to come back with you then I will release you from this oath. There will be no trouble for you if you do your job of finding the woman and asking her to come back here with you.”

So the servant put his hand [on the leg] of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him [about] this matter.

Even if Abraham had died, the servant would still be bound to this vow, since it was an oath before God.

4. The Servant’s Journey, Prayer, and Sign — Justin

After swearing to find a wife for Isaac in the country that Abraham first came from, the servant got 10 camels ready for the journey to Aram Naharaim [show the kids on the map], and placed many expensive gifts on some of the camels. He also chose some of the other servants to come with him.

This map is from israel-a-history-of.com

It was a long journey until the servant finally arrived in the land of Aram Naharaim. This journey was over 1000 km long! Imagine walking all the way from here to Saskatchewan with 10 camels, but imagine that you were traveling through a hot desert, and you did not have a cell phone or air-conditioning.

The area the servant traveled through was mostly in the country called Syria today.

Toward evening, the servant arrived at a town called Nahor, and had the camels kneel near the well that was outside the town.

At that time of the evening, the women of the town would visit the well to get water.

Abraham’s servant knew that he could not trust himself to find the right bride for Isaac, so he prayed to God, in whom he believed.

“O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today,” he prayed. “…I am standing beside this [water] spring, and the [women of the town] are coming out to [fetch] water. May it be that when I say to a girl, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels [as well] — let her be the one you have chosen for [..] Isaac.”

5. Rebekah at the Well — Rita

While he was still praying, a young woman named Rebekah, who was the daughter of a man named Bethuel, came out with her jar on her shoulder. She had never married, and she was very beautiful. She was the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother.

Rebekah went down to the well, filled her jar with water, and came back up.

rebekah watering the camels

Rebekah had placed the full jar back on her shoulder.

Abraham’s servant rushed over to her. “Please give me a little water from your jar,” he asked.

“Have a drink, sir,” Rebekah replied, quickly lowering the jar to her hands to give him a drink.

“Let me fetch some water for your camels as well,” Rebekah said. “I’ll let them drink until they have had enough.”

[…] she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.

Without saying a word, [Abraham’s servant] watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.

God had shown the sign to Abraham’s servant, so now he knew that this was the right woman — she had offered to give water to the camels as well.

So, the man took out three of the gifts he had brought from Hebron — a gold nose ring and two gold bracelets. The ring weighed 5.5 grams, and each bracelet weighed 110 grams — that is the weight of 44 pennies. He put this jewelry on Rebekah.

“Whose daughter are you,” the servant asked Rebekah. “[And] please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

“I am the daughter of Bethuel,” said Rebekah. “We have lots of hay and food for your camels, and an extra room for you to sleep in.”

Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, saying, “Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has [been kind and faithful] to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the [place my master Abraham came from].”

Rebekah ran to her family to tell them what had happened, and that they had a guest to look after.

6. Rebekah’s Home and Family — Justin

Rebekah told her family that a visitor had come, and showed them the gold nose ring and the gold bracelets on her arms. She told them everything the man had said to her.

Rebekah’s brother Laban told his servants to get the house ready and to prepare a place for the camels, and then he hurried out to meet the man, who was still at the well with his camels.

“Greetings, servant of God,” Laban said. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

Abraham’s servant went with Laban to the family’s house. Some servants took the packs off the camels and brought hay and grain for them.

The servants also brought water for the man and his servants to wash their feet.

When the servants of Rebekah and Laban’s family brought food for Abraham’s servant to eat, he refused.

“I will not eat until I have explained why I am here.”

“Then tell us,” Laban said.

7. The Servant Explains his Visit — Rita

So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. The LORD has blessed my master [Abraham] abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys. [Abraham’s] wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and [Abraham] has given [this boy] everything he owns. And [Abraham] made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.'”

Abraham’s servant explained everything to Rebekah’s family. He told them about the angel that would go ahead of him in the journey; he told them that Abraham would release him from the oath if the woman refused to return with him; and he told them about how he had prayed for God to let him know which woman was the right one by causing her to give water to his camels as well after he asked her for a drink.

“Before I finished praying in my heart,” [he explained,] “Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ “She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also.”

“I asked Rebekah whose daughter she was, and she told me.”

“Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD, who is the God of my master Abraham.”

“Now here I am,” the servant explained, “and I ask you to show kindness to my master Abraham… Let me know whether I may take Rebekah back to Isaac, or not.”

8. Laban, Bethuel, and Rebekah’s Response — Justin

Laban, Rebekah’s brother, and Bethuel, Rebekah’s father, answered the servant:

“God Himself is asking for Rebekah to go to Canaan, so we have no right to choose what to do! Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has directed.”

Abraham’s servant bowed to the ground before the LORD once again. Then, he brought out more of the expensive gifts he had brought — gold jewelry, silver jewelry, and clothing — and he gave them to Rebekah. He also gave expensive gifts to her brother Laban, and to her mother.

Now that he had explained everything, and received their answer, Abraham’s servant sat and ate a meal with them, and he slept the night in the room they had for him.

The next morning, the servant called to Rebekah’s family, “Let me go home now, with Rebekah, to my master Abraham.”

Laban and his mother asked if they could have more time with Rebekah… “Let us have Rebekah here for ten more days, and then you may leave with her.”

Abraham’s servant was wise and would not take any chances with God’s plans.

“Do not make me wait now,” he said to them. “The LORD has made this journey a success, so let me return to my master Abraham.”

Rebekah’s brother and her mother answered, “Let us see what Rebekah thinks.”

They called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”

“I will go,” she said.

9. Isaac and Rebekah Meet and are Married — Rita

So it was that Rebekah, her maids, and her nurse all got ready to travel back to Canaan with Abraham’s servant and his men.

Rebekah’s family blessed her, saying:

“Our sister, may you increase
to thousands upon thousands;
may your offspring possess
the gates of their enemies.“

This blessing was surely a prophecy. Notice how much it sounds like what God said to Abraham after Abraham obeyed Him [as we learned last week]: “…your seed shall [defeat] the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

Once Rebekah and her maids were ready, they climbed on the backs of the camels, and left with Abraham’s servant to return to Canaan where Abraham was. By this time, Isaac was also back home in Canaan.

After days of travel, the company of men, women, and camels arrived at Canaan land at evening time. As they journeyed into Abraham’s territory, Isaac saw them while he bowed in a field to meditate.

Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac in the field.

She got down from her camel and asked [Abraham’s] servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”

“He is my master, the very son of Abraham,” the servant replied.

Coming down off the camel was a respectful thing for Rebekah to do, and now that she heard that this man was her husband-to-be, she covered her face with a veil. It was proper for a woman to hide her face with a bride’s veil until her husband married her.

The servant told Isaac everything that had happened.

Isaac married Rebekah, and he loved her. She was a comfort to him, as he was still grieving over the death of his mother Sarah.

Rebekah was now the mother of God’s blessed people.

10. Review Questions: If you still have time after the activity!

[I got these from ebibleteacher.com]

linguistic questions
1. What is a spouse? A husband or wife
2. Unscramble this word:    ramry
3. Fill in the blank: “Drink, and I will give your ___________ drink also”

activity questions
1. Draw a well.
2. Act out the servant meeting Rebekah.
3. Find Rebekah’s home on a map.

emotion questions
1. What did Abraham desire for his son? He wanted him to have a good, faithful spouse
2. What did the servant want? He wanted to choose the right person for his master
3. What did Rebekah show to the servant? kindness, generosity, hospitality

application questions
1. What things should we require of a spouse?    faith in God, kindness, unselfishness, generosity
2. What will make us a good spouse in the future? we must develop good behavior and attitudes now
3. Why do our parents make us behave? to make us into good people [um..]

fact questions
1. What sign did the servant ask for? that the girl would offer him and his camels water
2. What did the servant give Rebekah? bracelets and a ring
3. Who was Rebekah’s brother? Laban

review questions
1. Why did Abraham send the servant so far away? he wanted Isaac’s wife to worship God, like his family there did
2. Why did the servant ask God for a sign of kindness? because the person who is kind makes a good spouse [probably more important was the reason for asking God for a sign in the first place]
3. Why was it unusual for Rebekah to leave so soon? because it meant leaving her family forever, at very short notice

Activity

Rita’s water relay idea: “outside of course…….  2 TEAMS  transfer the water back and forth, and the team with the most water in the bucket is the winner…….how much water does one camel drink? how was the water drawn out of the well?    does anyone have 6 ice cream pails with handles?“

Lesson: Abraham offers Isaac

Saturday 16 October 2010 — 12 children were present — (note: the felt was difficult to cut with ordinary kids scissors)

Volunteers: Colleen, Paul, Kaitlyn, Alyssa

Driver: Jennifer

Main Topics: birth of Isaac; God tested Abraham; God did not withhold His Son

Primary scriptures: Genesis 21-22; Hebrews 11:17

Additional Supplies: coloring pages (below), worksheet printouts (see below), sheets of felt (paul), glue/scissors, GCP poster of Isaac on the altar

Memory verse: Psalm 105:13b

New stanza: Psalm 105 (revised version) stanza 3 [note: the kids have the non-revised version of stanza 4; that is my mistake]

 

click to download full size

 

Note: The background image for this 4×6 print was released into the public domain by the author.

Coloring pages: check here and here [paul will bring coloring sheets]

Lesson worksheet: 16oct2010worksheet.PDF

Outline

• Setup: arrange tables, chairs, flip chart, map, CD player;
• put up the poster of Isaac on the altar while Abraham stands by, which we happen to have in our materials from GCP;
• (10:00am) name tags for (possibly 3 or 4) new students
• ask a child to hand out mini-albums (extras for the new students in the bin); another: coloring pages; another: name tags
• collect emergency contact info for new students
• together: Matthew 6 “Lord’s prayer”
• Sing – psalm 105 stanzas 1, 3 (*new this week*) and 4
• Sing — “Abram” from Jamie Soles, all stanzas
• together — recite the memory verse (Psalm 105:13b)
• get a child to hand out lesson worksheet (see above), another the coloring pages
• Lesson (see below) —
• Craft/activity, part 1 — cut felt and glue layers on top to make Abraham, Isaac, and/or a ram; i.e., Abraham body shape is bottom layer, robe glued on, staff glued on, etc.
• (11:00 am) SNACK/BREAK
  • ..
  • Make sure nobody is thirsty so the second half isn’t interrupted;
• (11:20 am) – Mark each child’s worksheet, then go thru them together as a group;
• Craft/activity, part 2 — SCAVENGER HUNT [i got this from “180 games for children’s ministry”]: “Begin by asking each child to ‘sacrifice’ something, such as a sock or a barrette. Make a list of the items. Then, hide the items around the room. Divide into teams and give each team a list of the items. When you say ‘Go!’ players should search the room for the items on the scavenger hunt list. The first team to find all of its items wins. Return all items to the owners.”
• have one of the children hand out stickers — max 3 stickers per child;
• Singing: Apostle’s Creed, Psalm 116, and/or Psalm 8;
• Praying: [Colleen];
• (11:50 am) Kids collect: felts, pencil crayons, glue, scissors, name cards, mini-albums.

Lesson

1. Review Genesis 18-19, and Introduction to this Lesson (Birth of Isaac) – Paul

Review

• Abraham and Sarah visited by God and 2 angels
• Abraham and Sarah served bread, meat, curds, milk
• God told Abraham that Sarah will give birth to a son in one year
• Overhearing this, Sarah laughed from inside the tent
• The two angels visited Sodom
• Abraham pleaded with God, and God promised that He would not destroy Sodom if there were 10 righteous people living there
• In Sodom, Lot begged the two angels to stay with him at his house for the night
• Lot served a meal
• The wicked men of Sodom surrounded the house, because they wanted to harm the two strangers that were Lot’s guests
• Lot begged the evil men to leave them alone
• The men charged at Lot, intending to smash the door down
• The two angels pulled Lot inside the house and struck the men blind
• The angels told Lot that they were going to destroy Sodom, and told him to gather his family and leave quickly
• Two young men engaged to marry Lot’s daughters thought that Lot was joking, so they did not join the escape from Sodom
• The angels took Lot, his wife, and their two daughters by the hand, and led them outside the city
• One of the angels warned the family to keep running, and to not look back at the city of Sodom
• By the time the sun had risen, the LORD God rained sulfur and fire on Sodom
• Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom, and so turned into a pillar of salt
• God had been kind to Lot and his family because He remembered His covenant with Abraham
• The next morning, Abraham looked down at Sodom in the valley, and saw only terrible smoke as from a giant furnace

Birth of Isaac
[Tell the kids to watch their worksheet now — they will hear answers for filling in the blanks. We will check/mark each of children’s worksheets after the lesson.]

Even as God had promised that Sarah would give birth to a son, so she did give birth to a son, about a year after the angels visited. Abraham named his boy “Isaac,” which means “he laughs.” [Recall that both Abraham and Sarah had laughed about the promise of this child being born to them in their old age.]

Abraham was one-hundred years old when Isaac was born, and Sarah was also very old.

Many years later, an apostle of Jesus Christ wrote a letter to some Hebrew people, and it is in our Bible. He wrote this: “By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was [unable to bear children]—was enabled to become a father because he considered [God] faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.”

With baby Isaac now in the family tent, God reminded Abraham again that the promised blessing would be fulfilled through this child, the son of Abraham’s wife Sarah — not through Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn son with Hagar, although Ishmael would become a great nation.

Hagar raised her son Ishmael in the desert, and God was with him as he grew up. Ishmael became an archer and married an Egyptian woman.

Now let us hear the beginning of Isaac’s life.

2. Abraham is Tested by God — Colleen

When Isaac was still a boy, God called out to Isaac’s father Abraham.

“Abraham!” God said.

“Here I am,” answered Abraham.

“Take your son Isaac to the land of Moriah,” God commanded. “There, I will lead you to a mountain where you will sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering.” [Might need to get them to look at their worksheets, and tell them this part again!]

Moriah was the place we know as Jerusalem today. [Look up on maps.]

Discuss “offering,” “sacrifice,” and “altar”:

• Offering: … a gift [living, as an animal, or non-living, as first-fruits or sweet-smelling spices], presented or dedicated to God in worship [often burned]; prayer is a type of offering (Psalm 141:2; Hebrews 5:7).
• Sacrifice:
  • Definition: [A guilty person] surrenders a valuable offering to God [in some attempt to reconcile with Him; this only ultimately possible in Christ]. God established the practice of sacrifice as a way to worship and honor Him.
  • OT sacrifices versus Christ’s sacrifice: Before the time of Jesus, animal sacrifices were only a copy and shadow of the better sacrifice made by Jesus Christ, who offered Himself (Hebrews 5-10) “once for all” (Hebrews 9:27), as the sacrifice for our sins (1 John 2:2; 4:10). This is why Christians do not make animal sacrifices to God. These were not able to “clear the conscience of the worshiper” (Hebrews 9:9), as the unblemished blood of Christ is. In this story of Abraham with Isaac, Abraham served to shadow this great Gift which had not yet come.
  • Christian sacrifices: Praise, confession, doing good, and sharing are all sacrifices pleasing to God (Hebrews 13:15-16). Christians must sacrifice everything they have and everything they are, not to somehow buy what Christ has already purchased, but because it is reasonable (Romans 12:1).
• We have also learned about altars (Abram built an altar near a great oak tree at Shechem; he built another altar near Bethel):
  • Definition: A structure that somebody builds [likely by piling rocks in the days of Abraham] on which to offer a sacrifice.
  • Ungodly: People who do not believe in God have also erected altars to honor objects (e.g. Acts 17:23); pagans have made sacrifices to dead gods and to demons (Psalms 106), and those exercised in idol worship have even inappropriately attempted to offer sacrifices to apostles of Jesus (Acts 14:18).
  • The cross: The Roman cross, though constructed by wicked hands, was a type of altar upon which our Lord was sacrificed.

Abraham obeyed and prepared the sacrifice:

God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, whom he loved, as a burnt offering. So:

Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. (Genesis 22:3a; NIV)

While Isaac watched, Abraham cut some wood — enough for the burnt offering.

With one donkey, the group of four left on the journey to Moriah, the place where God had told Abraham to go.

On the third day of traveling, Abraham looked up and saw the mountain that God wanted him to go to with Isaac.

[Figuratively, Isaac had been as good as dead until this third day, wherein we see a shadow of Christ’s resurrection per the youth walking away from that mount of death.]

“Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants, “While the boy and I go farther ahead, where we will worship God. Then we will come back to you.”

Abraham’s faith:

Remember that to sacrifice is a way to worship God. Abraham was set to obey God and sacrifice Isaac on an altar.

If Isaac were to die, God’s promise to Abraham could not come true through Isaac, as God had said it would! Isaac was the child of promise. God had made an oath, and it is not possible for God to lie. God is holy and good forever.

Abraham might have wondered why God was asking him to sacrifice Isaac, but we know one thing for sure: Abraham believed, without question, that God would keep His promise. Abraham was so confident in God, that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead if this were necessary to keep His promise. (Hebrews 11:19)

Abraham was certain of what he did not see; this is faith. Those who have not received the gift of faith from God do not understand faith. Sometimes we hear them say that faith is a leap into darkness — but faith is the opposite of a blind leap. Faith is a certain hope, not just a wish or a dream.

We learn about evidence when we study science. With science, we measure and record what we see through microscopes, litmus tests, and radiometers. This evidence strengthens what we believe about how the particulars of God’s creation works.

Faith is evidence given by God to those who are being saved in Jesus Christ. This remarkable evidence gives us firm and confident belief in Christ’s work to save us.

If you did not look into the microscope, you might not believe another who says that she saw a living cell on the glass slide. If you did not receive faith from God, you might not believe another who says that he sees the truth of the gospel.

Remember those two men in Sodom who did not believe that the city would be destroyed? They thought that Lot was joking — would that be a good reason for Lot to stop believing what the angels had told him? If those men had said, “there is no such thing as an angel,” would that make angels not exist?

None of us decide what is true. Truth is what it is, and it will not change. The wind blows everything around, but it will not blow away a large rock. Jesus Christ is the Rock, and what He said never changes. If we build our life on that Rock, we will not blow away when the storms come. He will save us from death itself.

Fairy tales sound great, but even if they were true, every hero and every princess would end up dead in their graves after a few years anyway. Only Christ saves us from the grave, and this is far greater than all the ridiculous stories about magic that godless people keep telling each other.

Even as Abraham was certain that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead, we are certain that God has raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. If God raised Jesus from the grave, then Jesus is the firstborn of the dead, and we know that God is able to raise us from the dead.

3. The Altar and the Ram — Paul

The altar:

In the land of Moriah, on the third day of traveling, Abraham’s two servants stayed with the donkey, while Abraham and his son Isaac went ahead without them.

Abraham took the wood he had cut, and placed it on his son Isaac, while he himself carried the torch of fire and the knife.

“Father?” Isaac asked, as the two walked.

“Yes, my son?” replied Abraham.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Isaac knew what a normal animal sacrifice looked like, and he knew that the animal was missing this time.

[at this point, a reading through the NAS translation of Genesis 22:8-19 is an appropriate and understandable completion of this story of Abraham and Isaac.]

Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar [of stones] there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

[The angel] said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

God provided a ram:

Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket [bushes] by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.”

Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall [defeat] the gate of their enemies.

“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

So Abraham returned to his [two servants], and they [all left] together […]

Listen also to these two verses from the New Testament part of our Bible: “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. [Abraham,] who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”

Three weeks ago we learned that God counted Abraham’s faith as righteous. Today we have learned that Abraham’s obedience in offering Isaac on the altar made his faith visible. We can all see from what Abraham did that Abraham really did believe God’s promises — he did not just talk about it.

James, a servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, later wrote: “Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend.” (James 2:21-23)

[“True faith always produces fruit. Faith and works may be distinguished, but never separated or divorced.” – R. C. Sproul]

[If we say that we believe, but we do not really believe, then we are windbags like those teachers of the law in Israel who Jesus mentioned. Those men repeated words, but Jesus lived His words; it is no wonder that He amazed people.]

4. The Father’s Sacrifice of His Holy Son — Colleen

And so it was, that an angel told Abraham to stop, and Abraham found a ram in a thicket to sacrifice instead of his son Isaac.

Does every story of sacrifice end before the knife falls?

Not so for the life of God’s own Son, Jesus who was born in Bethlehem.

As He hung on the cross, facing the great sacrifice of all time, no angel came to Jesus and said, “Do not offer yourself — do not make this sacrifice.”

Jesus was sacrificed. Jesus did pay the cost of our sins. Is that a sad thing? Yes, it was the darkest day in history; however, we also know that it was the greatest day — for imagine if Christ had not paid the penalty for our sins? We could not ever stand before God. We could only look forward to that sulfur and fire that rained from the sky on Sodom.

Jesus completed this sacrifice, and so all the families in the world received Good News of their forgiveness — the very Good News that God had first promised to Abram.

Remember when we read what God promised to Abram: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3b). We read it again today from Genesis 22:18: “In your seed [or through your offspring] all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”

Do you know that Jesus is the offspring of Abraham? Jesus descended from Abraham, through his son Isaac. Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 4 both record family trees that show this.

The resurrection of Jesus completes the Good News — Jesus rose from the grave on the third day after He died on the Roman cross. So, even as Isaac lived after three days with the death sentence, so does Jesus live today, and so shall we live. Believing in Jesus, we will not die for our sins. God provided a ram instead of Isaac, and God has provided Jesus to take our place on the altar.

Jesus knew His Father’s plan that He would be the sacrifice for many. While He walked and preached throughout Canaan before He died, He said to the people, “I came not to be served but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus was set to obey God’s plan — to “do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” This He did, and so we wait for Him — we wait for when He appears the second time to bring salvation to those who believe in Him [— to those who have the right to be called the children of God, and are, through Jesus, the children of Abraham and are receiving the promise given to Abraham].

Listen to what the prophet Isaiah wrote about Jesus. While you listen, remember that Isaiah had not read about Jesus in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; no, Isaiah wrote this by the power of God’s Spirit more than seven hundred years before Jesus came to this earth:

“[…] he was pierced for our [crimes],
he was crushed for our [sins];
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the [sin] of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.”
(Isaiah 53:5-7; NIV)

Questions?

Lesson: Sodom Destroyed

taught Saturday 2 October 2010

10 kids came, plus Lucas and Deanna

Volunteers: Rita, Justin, Josie

Driver: Nora

Main Topics: Three Visitors, Sarah Laughs, Lot hosts two angels, Sodom destroyed

Primary scriptures: Genesis 18-19

Additional Supplies: coloring pages (below), worksheet printouts (see below), milk/curds/dough (Rita), clothes for skit (Josie, Justin, Rita), soccer ball, wax paper (Rita), blanket (Rita)

Memory verse: Psalm 105:13b

Two Coloring pages:  [paul will bring] 1. sodom-lesson.pdf; and:

img from internet -- click to enlarge

Lesson worksheet: 2oct2010worksheet.PDF file [Paul will bring]

Outline

• Setup: arrange tables, chairs, flip chart, map, CD player;
• (10:00am) name tags for new students (expecting 2 or 3 more)
• KIDS KNEAD DOUGH on wax paper and we put these in the oven so it is ready by break
• ask a child to hand out mini-albums (extras for the new students in the bin); another: coloring pages; another: name tags
• collect emergency contact info for new students
• together: Matthew 6 “Lord’s prayer”
• Sing – psalm 105 stanzas 1 and 4
• Sing — “Abram” from Jamie Soles, all stanzas
• together — recite the memory verse (Psalm 105:13b)
• get a child to hand out lesson worksheet (see above)
• Lesson (see below) — parts 1,2,3,4
• (11:00 am) SNACK/BREAK
  • new ‘rules’ [to avoid over-stimulation] — (1) must stay within defined area of fellowship hall, except for bathrooms; (2) no shouting; (3) no activities that are too loud or fast
  • snacks on blanket while Josie (Sarah) and Justin (Abraham) act out the meal — see Rita;
  • Make sure nobody is thirsty so the second half isn’t interrupted;
• (11:20 am) —Lesson parts 5,6
• Mark each child’s worksheet, then go thru them together as a group;
• have one of the children hand out stickers — max 3 stickers per child;
• Singing: Apostle’s Creed, Psalm 116, and/or Psalm 8;
• Praying: [Justin];
• Kids collect: felts, pencil crayons, name cards, mini-albums;
• (11:40 am) [time- and weather-permitting] organize an outdoor game of soccer

Lesson

1. Review Genesis 15-16 — Rita

[simplify as you see fit]

• After Abraham returned from rescuing Lot, God gave him this promise: “Fear not, Abram. I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” [Genesis 15:1b; ESV]
• Inheritance usually goes to a son/daughter, but since Abram and Sarai had no kids, Abram had chosen one of his servants (Eliezer) as his heir.
• Abram wondered how God could give him any reward, since he didn’t have a child, but God said, “Your very own son will be your heir.”
• “Look up at the heavens and count the stars — if indeed you can count them […] So shall your offspring be.”
• God counted Abram’s belief as righteousness.
• God gave Abram a sign by commanding him to bring 3 animals and 2 birds: birds of prey came, which Abram chased away, and later a smoking fire-pot and blazing torch passed between the pieces.
• God told Abram about 400 years of slavery in a strange country, escape with riches, and punishment on the enslaving nation. God promised Abram a long life, and promised that Abram’s offspring would return to this very land of Canaan.
• Covenant: God made a promise (He would give this land, from the river in Egypt to the river Euphrates, to Abram’s family), which He will keep; Abram and his offspring expected to believe and obey.
• Since they had no baby, Sarai had an idea for Abram (“Take Hagar as your wife, and if she has children, I will be their mother. They will be our children, and we can build a family that way.”).
• Hagar became pregnant; treated Sarai disrespectfully; Sarai considered Hagar to be a curse, and treated her harshly.
• Hagar chose “freedom” in the wilderness rather than submitting to her mistress.
• By a spring of water, an angel of God spoke to Hagar: commanded her to return and obey Sarai; promised her a large family, a baby boy, to be named Ishmael; “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
• Hagar’s awe of God: “You are the God who sees everything, and today I have seen You, the One who looks after me.”
• Abram was 86 years old when his first son, Ishmael, was born.

2. The Three Visitors / Sarah Laughs — Justin

Name changes

[Tell the kids to watch their worksheet now — they will hear answers for filling in the blanks. We will check/mark each of children’s worksheets after the lesson.]

Because of the covenant, God told Abram that he would no longer be called “Abram,” but “Abraham.” (Abram ≈ father; Abraham ≈ father of many.) God also changed Sarai’s name to “Sarah.” [Both are variants of “princess,” with the latter possibly with reference to her descendants instead of her descent.]

A visit

One hot day, while Abraham was sitting by his tent, three visitors came. Abraham knew that one of the visitors was God, because Abraham quickly ran to meet them and bowed down in front of them.

“O Lord,” said Abraham. “If you are pleased, rest and eat here with us.” (This is how we pray to God — we know that He can bless us, so we ask Him to. Listen now how Abraham showed that he truly believed by acting quickly.)

The other two men with God were angels.

It is always polite for people to be kind to travelers in their area, especially during the afternoon in hot parts of the world like where Abraham lived.

The visitors agreed to stay. Abraham and Sarah would not forget the guests they received that day.

Abraham went into the tent where Sarah was.

“Quickly,” Abraham said to Sarah, “Three seah’s of flour.” (Three seah’s is about 5 big milk jugs full.)

Sarah began making cakes with the flour, while Abraham ran to his herd to find a good calf. Abraham gave this calf to one of his servants to prepare.

Abraham brought the meat, along with some curds and milk, and set it before the three visitors. He stood near them under a tree while they were eating.

They asked Abraham, “Where is Sarah your wife?”

“She is in the tent,” replied Abraham.

Then God said, “I will visit again in one year, and Sarah your wife will give birth to a son.”

Sarah laughs

From inside the tent, Sarah heard what God had said, and it made her laugh.

“Will we now have a baby, after Abraham and I are both old!? I am too old to have a baby!”

But the words God spoke next frightened Sarah.

“Why did your wife Sarah laugh and wonder how she might have a baby?” God asked Abraham. “Is anything too hard for the LORD? As I said, I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was afraid, and she lied. “I did not laugh.”

God said, “But you did laugh.”

Sarah learned to believe God.

3. The Three Visitors / Outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah — Rita

God reveals His intentions to Abraham

After their visit with Abraham and Sarah, God and the angels left and looked toward Sodom, the land where Lot and his family lived. Lot had married, and had two daughters.

God said, “I will tell Abraham what I am about to do, since he will become a mighty nation, and his family needs to learn what justice is.”

God then made this announcement, and Abraham heard it: “Because I have heard that Sodom is a wicked city full of great sins, I am going to go and look more closely to see whether they have repented, or they are still full of wrongdoing and deserve to be destroyed by Me.”

Even after Abraham had helped Sodom so much when the attacking kings kidnapped many of their people and stole all of their goods, that city still had not changed their ways to honor and obey the One True God.

Many years later, Ezekiel wrote about Sodom, and his writing is in our Bible — Ezekiel wrote that Sodom had been full of arrogance; they had lots of food and riches, but they were greedy and did not help the poor and needy people. (Ezekiel 16:48-49.) They were doing lots of evil things, and they did not care about each other.

When God tells somebody what He is going to do, He is giving that person the gift of prophecy. God told Abraham that He was going to investigate Sodom and Gomorrah, so Abraham was a prophet… and like many prophets, Abraham pleaded with God for the sake of the people.

Abraham pleads with God — [intercedes for Sodom]

The two angels left to visit Sodom, but Abraham stayed with God.

Abraham came closer, and said, “Will You destroy any good people who might be in Sodom along with the wicked? You are not like that, God!”

“Suppose,” Abraham continued, “that there are 50 good people in Sodom city — will you destroy the entire place and not save it for the sake of the 50 good people? Surely you will not kill the righteous along with the wicked! You are the Judge of all the earth, and you only do what is just.”

God answered Abraham, “If I find 50 righteous people in Sodom, I will not destroy the city — I will spare Sodom for the sake of the 50 good people.”

Abraham spoke again to God. “I feel very small talking to You, God. I am just like dust compared to you,” he said. “Now, suppose there are only 45 good people. Will you still destroy the entire city of Sodom?”

God answered, “If there are 45 good people there, I will not destroy the city.”

“What if there are 40 righteous people?” Abraham asked.

“For their sake, I will not destroy the city.”

“Please let me speak again,” Abraham said. “What if there are thirty righteous found there?”

“I will not do it, if I find 30 there.”

Abraham spoke again. “I have committed to speaking to You, God. Now, suppose the angels find 20 good people there?”

“For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

“Please do not be angry,” Abraham said, “Please let me speak just once more. Suppose 10 are found there.”

“For the sake of 10, I will not destroy it.”

God and Abraham finished talking, and Abraham returned to his home.

4. Lot hosts Two Angels — Justin

His insistence/hospitality

The two angels who went to visit Sodom arrived in the evening and found Lot sitting at the gate of the city. Lot stood up and bowed before them, and said, “My lords, please come to my house and spend the night. After a good sleep, you can leave early in the morning.”

“No,” answered the angels. “We will spend the night in the town square.”

Just as Abraham wanted to be kind to the visitors, so did Lot. Lot insisted with the angels: “Please do come to my house and spend the night there instead of in the town square.”

The angels finally agreed, and went with Lot to his house.

Remember, the people in the city of Sodom were a wicked bunch. Many of them watched these two visitors go with Lot to his house.

Just as Abraham prepared food for the visitors, so did Lot. Lot made them a feast and baked fresh bread for them, and they ate.

By now, news had spread throughout the city that there were two strangers, and that they were staying at Lot’s house. All of them, young and old, came and surrounded Lot’s house. They wanted to torture the two visitors. Perhaps they did not realize that these two men were angels! It is always evil to treat people wrongly, but it also a very stupid plan to mistreat angels!

Imagine, there was nobody in that city of Sodom who would treat the visitors with kindness, except for Lot and his family.

Peter, one of the 12 apostles of our Lord Jesus, later wrote that Lot was upset every day that he lived in Sodom — upset over all the wicked things he heard and saw in that city. [2 Peter 2:8]

Peter explained that what happened to Lot in Sodom is a good reminder that God will rescue the godly from their troubles, and to save evil men for the day of judgment.

Wicked men were surrounding Lot’s family and the visiting angels, trapping them in their house. Would God rescue them?

Treacherous men struck blind

From outside the house, the wicked men shouted to Lot: “Who came to your house tonight.”

“Bring them out here so that we can torture them for our fun!”

Lot went out his door and closed it behind him, with the two angels still inside his house.

Lot begged the evil men to leave them alone. “Please, my brothers,” he said, “Please do not be so wicked!”

“Leave these men alone, because they are my guests — they are under my roof tonight.”

Some of the men shouted at Lot: “Get out of our way!”

Another man said, “Imagine, this man Lot came here from some strange faraway place, and now he thinks he can tell us what to do!”

“After we have finished torturing your two visitors,” they threatened Lot, “We will do even worse things to you!”

The wicked men near the doorway charged at Lot, pressing him against the house and others got ready to smash the door down so that they could get in.

But as this was happening, the two angels opened the door, pulled Lot inside the house, and shut the door behind him, so that all the evil men were still outside, but Lot, his wife, and his two daughters were indoors with the angels.

Then, using the power they had from God, the two angels struck all the men blind! These were not just any two men — they were the angels of God, and those are violent with God will suffer God’s violence.

All these blind evil men of Sodom, from the youngest to the oldest, were all tripping on each other outside of Lot’s house, still trying to open the door, until they tired out. They really did not fear God or care about what was right, to the point that they really didn’t even care about themselves. Selfishness is like an ugly snake turning itself inside out; selfishness is not kind to anybody, and in the end it isn’t even kind to itself.

5. Flight of Lot and Family — Rita

The angels then asked Lot, “Do you have any other family in Sodom? If so, bring them all here, because we are going to destroy this place. God has heard your suffering; God has heard how terrible this place is, so He has sent us to destroy it.”

So Lot left his house and visited the two young men who loved his two daughters, and had asked for their hands in marriage.

“Hurry,” Lot urged his two sons-in-law. “Get out of this place! God us about to destroy the entire city!”

The two young men thought Lot was teasing. They would not listen to him.

The night was gone — the morning sun was rising. The angels said to Lot, “Quickly, get up! Take your wife and your two daughters out, so that you will not die with the rest while God punishes Sodom!”

Lot was hesitating and not acting quickly enough, so the angels took the four — Lot with his wife and two daughters — by the hand, and took them outside the city. Even though Lot was lingering, God was kind [merciful] to him, by having the angels take them all out.

We are just like Lot — none of us really deserve for God to save us from death, and none of us can save ourselves. We are only saved because God chooses to be merciful with us, because Jesus Christ has loved us from before we were even born.

One of the angels said to Lot’s family, “Save yourselves! Escape this place. Make sure that you do not look back at the city while you are leaving, and do not stop running until you get up into the hills.”

Lot was afraid of hills, so he asked the angels, “Instead of escaping into the hills, is it okay we if we instead go to Zoar — the little village that is not too far from Sodom?”

“Zoar is just a little village,” Lot said. “You don’t need to destroy it, right? It’s just small.” [Note: Zoar even means ‘little.’]

The angels were kind again. “Okay,” one of them said to Lot, “I will let you go to this small village, and I will not destroy it along with Sodom city. But please go there quickly, because I can’t do anything until you get there.”

6. Sodom Destroyed — Justin

By the time Lot and his family got to the village of Zoar, the sun was fully risen over the earth — the new day begun. At that time, the LORD God rained sulfur and fire on Sodom, down from the sky.

Maybe you have seen the great yellow sulfur piles on barges in the Fraser River? Sulfur stinks, and it is inside gun-powder and matches. (Another word for sulfur is ‘brimstone.’)

Such a lot of sulfur would burn people’s eyes and lungs. Mixed with fire, this was not a happy rain falling from the heavens. It is a smelly poison, and as it mixes with other chemicals, it turns into acid. Other by-products of the sulfur would make the fire burn hotter and faster.

Lot’s wife was still thinking about Sodom, the city they had called ‘home’ for so many years, so she looked back at Sodom. But the angels had warned the family to not look back.

As quickly as Lot’s wife looked at Sodom, just as quickly she turned into salt! There she was, a pillar of dead salt, right near that Salt Sea, which we call the ‘Dead Sea’ today.

Archaeologist are scientists who study history, not by reading old books, but usually by digging in dirt and looking for clues. Archaeologists find sulfur powder at the southern part of the Salt Sea where Sodom was. Some of the sulfur powder is in ash-covered ball-shapes. Archaeologists have found caves with these ash-balls inside. These types of powdered sulfur balls coated in ashes have not been found anywhere else in the world — only in the southern region of the Dead Sea. Some scientists think that God used an earthquake to mix sulfur and tar that started on fire when gases from the earth exploded in the earthquake.

We cannot understand everything that happened in Sodom that day, but we know that it was God’s judgment, and we know that we would not like to be there that day.

The part of the Bible that we are reading explains that God destroyed Sodom and several other cities in that valley, but was kind to Lot and his family because He remembered His covenant with Abraham. This was the second time that God had rescued Lot because of Abraham!

Abraham went early the next morning where He had stood with God before. This time, when he looked down at Sodom in the valley, all Abraham saw was terrible smoke like what might come out of a giant furnace.

Lesson: Sarai and Hagar

Colleen, Paul, Alyssa, Kaitlyn, with 12 children on Saturday, September 25, 2010

drivers: Fran (10 am), Tyler (12 noon)

Scriptures: Genesis 15-16

Topics: (1) God’s covenant with Abram; (2) Sarai and Hagar

Memory verse: Same as last week (Psalm 105:13b), which the kids only just began to memorize

New Song verses: Stanza 4 of Psalm 105, and stanza 2 of “Abram” by Jamie Soles

original image by dandystock.deviantart.com

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Coloring: Hagar and Sarai

click for full-size

Outline:

• Setup: arrange tables, chairs, flip chart, map, CD player;
• (10:00am) name tags for Alyssa, Kaitlyn, and new students
• hand out new song print, and mini-albums (extras for the new students in the bin)
• collect emergency contact info for new students
• Review the ‘rules’ poster
• together: Matthew 6 “Lord’s prayer”
• Sing – psalm 105 stanzas 1 and 4 [new]
• Sing — “Abram” from Jamie Soles
• Ask kids to attempt the new memory verse (volunteers for now)
• Lesson (see below)
• (11:00 am) SNACK/BREAK
  • Activity (possibly “Keep Away” game below);
  • Make sure nobody is thirsty so the second half isn’t interrupted;
  • Show them the CBS display on the cork-board, if it is ready;
• (11:20 am) craft/activity —;
• Review questions / game (see below);
• Singing: Apostle’s Creed, Psalm 116, and/or Psalm 8;
• Recite the memory verse together — remind them to practice at home for next week;
• Praying: [Mr. Paul];
• (12:00 pm) Mini-albums and name cards back in the bin; the kids may collect their coloring papers and any crafts.

1. Review of Last Week(s) — Mrs. Colleen

Reminder (using map); Abram born in Ur, married Sarai, moved to Haran, given promises by God (land, large family, and good news for all the families of the world through his descendant, our Lord). No baby of their own, they set out with nephew Lot to Canaan. Abram and Lot both had livestock, and their shepherds were not getting along because they were sharing the land. They were also rich with silver and gold. Lot chose the land toward the Jordan Valley and set up his tent near Sodom city. God told Abram that as far as he could see, God would give him all that land. Abram settled his tent by the oaks (“of Mamre, which are at Hebron” near Shechem — see map.) Warring ethnic groups in Canaan land (Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, Goiim, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, Zoar.) War in the Valley of Siddim, [likely] southern part of Salt[Dead] Sea. Bitumen/asphalt was slimy black tar, like Pitch Lake in Trinidad. The kings of Sodom/etc lost that battle and some of the fleeing men fell into pits of this slime. (Tubby-time would not be enough to clean this up! Many who fell into the pits probably did not survive to have a bath.) The enemy kings stole goods and people from Sodom area, including Abram’s brother’s son Lot, and carried everything north. [Likely with help from another tribe,] Abram took 318 of his own trained men and pursued these armies, but only because they had taken Lot. They conquered them in the night, and then chased them when they ran away. Finally, very far away from home, Abram and his men recovered Lot, everything that belonged to Lot, and even everything that belonged to Sodom. The king of Sodom offered for Abram to keep the goods of Sodom, but Abram refused, for he would not give the evil king any reason to brag. God was Abram’s provider, and he had no need to collect charity from wicked kings.

2. Covenant — Mr. Paul

a.) “Abram, look up in the sky…”

When Abram returned to Sarai at their homeland near Shechem, God spoke to Abram in a vision.

“Fear not, Abram. I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” [Genesis 15:1b; ESV]

But Abram still had no children. Normally, everything that belongs to parents will go to their children as an inheritance. However, Abram and Sarai had no children, and they were already too old to have any.

Abram had chosen one of his servants, named Eliezer [ell – ih – EE’ – zer], as his heir. An heir is somebody who will receive the inheritance. So, everything that Abram and Sarai owned would be given to Eliezer.

Also, if Abram would have no descendants, then his family line would end when he died. But Abram knew that God had promised him a large family. He could not understand why God was telling him about a great reward, so he answered God like this:

“O GOD, what reward will you give me, since I do not have any children? The one who will inherit my land and everything in my house is my servant, Eliezer of Damascus. Look, you have given me no children.”

“This man, your servant, will not inherit what you have,” God answered. “Your very own son will be your heir.” (An “heir,” spelled with an “h” at the front, is one who will inherit.)

“Your very own son will be your heir!”

God brought Abram outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars — if indeed you can count them […] So shall your offspring be.” Remember, we are singing this!

“Abram look up in the night
See how many stars there are shining so bright
Tell Me, can you count every one that you see?
So shall your descendants be”
(from “Abram,” © 1998 Jamie Soles)

b.) Belief counted as righteousness

Even though he and his wife were old, Abram believed God’s word that he would have an uncountable number of descendants.

God called Abram “good” and “righteous” because he believed. (Not because Abram was a great guy)… and so, God treated Abram as a righteous and perfect man.

How could the holy God show goodness and love toward Abram and Sarai, who had done wrong things, just like we have?

He could, because Jesus, the Son of God, chose to be punished by God in Abram’s place. Only our Almighty Savior could possibly bear and pay the great price of what we owe to God. If we will ever know what love is, we will know it by looking at what Jesus chose to do for us.

God counted Jesus as a sinner, and so God could count Abram as a righteous man. This was Abram’s only hope of seeing God in heaven, and this is our only hope. It is a hope that we can trust, because it is a hope provided by Jesus our Lord, not by silly men with hats or by their ideas that die with them.

As we continue to learn, God always keeps His promises. The only perfect and good King will never break a promise.

c.) God’s promises to Abram

God said to Abram, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur to Canaan, where you are now, and I will give you this land — you will inherit it.”

“But Lord GOD,” Abram said, “How can I know that I will inherit it?”

Abram was asking God for a sign to know that this land would be his. So, God used this lesson to show the future to Abram:

“Bring me a three-year old cow,” God commanded Abram. “Bring me a female three-year old goat, and a three-year old ram. Also bring me a dove, and a baby pigeon.”

Abram brought all these things to God, and cut each of the larger animals in half, and put the halves across from each other.

The dead animals attracted some birds of prey, so Abram chased them away.

The sun began to go down, and Abram fell asleep. A frightening darkness came around him.

Then God spoke to Abram, “Know this, Abram — [1] your family will become strangers in a country that is not their own. They will suffer there as slaves for 400 years.”

“But,” God continued, “As surely as you chased away the birds of prey, so I will protect your family from all nations who seek to destroy them — indeed, [2] after the 400 years, I will punish this nation who makes slaves of your family.”

“Then, [3] your family will escape from that place, and when they escape [4] they will take many riches with them.”

“As for you, Abram, [5] you will live to a good old age before you go down to the grave.”

“Your family will [6] come back to this land — to Canaan.”

d.) Smoking fire-pot and blazing torch

Then, in the dark, a smoking fire-pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces of meat that Abram had laid down. Some of the things he saw might have been hard for Abram to understand. It is not as difficult for us now, since we have the Bible and we know what happened later to Abram’s family. When we learn about Moses, we will read about pillars of cloud and of fire that passed through the desert, leading [Abraham]’s family out of Egypt.

Then the LORD made a covenant with Abram. A covenant is when God makes a promise to people, and those chosen people are responsible to trust and obey God. God always keeps His covenant promises, and we see now that Abram kept his side also — Abram believed that God would give him a child and a family that would live on through generations, as countless as the stars.

The covenant that the LORD made with Abram, here in the dark this night, is that He would give this land, from the river in Egypt to the river Euphrates, to Abram’s family. God expected Abram and his family to trust and obey Him.

3. Hagar — (Mrs. Colleen)

a.) Sarai’s idea and Abram’s agreement

Old Abram and his wife Sarai had no baby.

But Sarai had an Egyptian servant named Hagar, and Sarai got an idea.

“Abram,” she said, “I have not been able to have a baby. But look at Hagar; she might be able to have a baby. Take Hagar as your wife, and if she has children, I will be their mother. They will be our children, and we can build a family that way.”

This was not God’s idea — it was Sarai’s idea of a way to make God’s promise of a family come true.

Abram listened to Sarai’s idea, and he agreed with her, so Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian and gave her to Abram as his wife.

b.) pregnancy, enmity between the women, blame, Sarai’s abuse of Hagar, and Hagar’s flight

Hagar did become pregnant, and Sarai was not so happy about it after all. She would surely feel jealous that Hagar was able to have a baby — not only that, but a baby for Abram, who was Sarai’s husband!

Sarai considered Hagar to be a curse.

“This is your fault,” Sarai said to Abram. “I gave you my servant Hagar, and ever since she found out that she was pregnant, she has hated me.”

It is true that Abram had not protected his marriage with Sarai. Even though Sarai had a bad idea, Abram was still responsible for his choices.

“Hagar is your servant,” Abram answered. “You do with her what you think is best.”

Sarai then treated Hagar harshly. Rather than submit to her mistress, Hagar chose to run away into the desert wilderness, free from Sarai, who she was supposed to obey.

Hagar found a spring of water. This kind of ‘spring’ is water coming out of the ground, making a stream or small pond.

While she was resting there, an angel of God found Hagar. He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

Hagar answered, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”

“Return to Sarai,” the angel commanded, “and obey her.”

c.) God’s promises to Hagar

The angel, speaking for God, also said, “I will surely give you a large family, so large that they cannot be counted.”

“Behold, Hagar,” he said, “You are pregnant, and your baby is a boy.”

“[When he is born,] you shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” (Genesis 16:11b – 12; NIV.)

d.) Hagar’s confession of God

God amazed Hagar because even though she was lost in the wilderness, He saw her, He came to her, and He was kind to her.

Hagar called out to the LORD, “You are the God who sees everything, and today I have seen You, the One who looks after me.”

When Hagar’s baby boy was born, Abram named this boy Ishmael, as the LORD had instructed Hagar.

Abram was 86 years old when his first son, Ishmael, was born.

e.) reflection on Sarai

Sarai had not always acted like a princess, just as Abram had not always acted good or proper either. Sarai could not turn herself into a princess. It was God’s choice to call her a princess, and we will be learning how God made her a princess.

In the same way, Abram did not decide that God would make a good promise to him. God decided to make a covenant with Abram. Goodness comes from God, and from nowhere else.

We will learn how Sarai believed God, just like Abram did, and we will learn about the power and joy that God gave to her. [Genesis 21; Hebrews 11.]

4. Review Questions [Maybe Team Relay]

1. If Abram and Sarai never had a child/baby, then who would inherit everything they owned? [Abram’s servant / Eliezer]
2. Who did God say would be Abram’s heir? [Abram’s own son]
3. How large did God say that Abram’s family would be? [Uncountable / like the stars / very large]
4. Why did God ever call Abram “righteous”? [because he believed / because of Christ]
5. Try to remember all the animals that God asked Abram to bring to him. [Cow, goat, ram, dove, pigeon]
6. What animals came after Abram laid down the 5 animal caresses? [Birds of prey]
7. What did God say would happen after Abram’s family had suffered as slaves for 400 years? [they would come out with great riches / the enslaving nation would be punished]
8. In the darkness, what did Abram see pass through the pieces of the animals? [a smoking fire-pot, and a blazing torch]
9. [difficult] What is a ‘covenant’? [Agreement between God and a person or people; made by God; it is two-way; God keeps a promise; the people are expected to trust and obey]
10. Why did Sarai suggest that Abram make a family with her servant Hagar? [Sarai was unable to have children / Sarai was thinking of some way to ‘help’ God’s promise come true / or etc.]
11. Once Hagar knew that she was pregnant, what did she think of Sarai? [she despised her / looked down on her / etc.]
12. Who did Sarai blame for this unhappy situation? [Abram]
13. What did Abram tell Sarai to do about it? [Whatever she thought was best]
14. How did Sarai treat Hagar? [not kindly]
15. Did Hagar chose rebellious freedom, or difficult submission? [freedom]
16. Who found Hagar by the water spring? [God / angel of God]
17. What are some of the things the angel told Hagar? [to return to her mistress / that she would have many descendants, too numerous to count / that she would have a son / name him Ishmael / etc]
18. What kind of animal did God say that Ishmael would be like? [wild donkey]
19. Did God say that Ishmael would be a peaceful man? [no, he would live in hostility / hand against everyone /etc]
20. Amazed by God, what did Hagar say about Him? [called Him the One who sees / the One who looks after her / etc.]
21. What did Abram name the baby boy who was born to Hagar? [Ishmael]
22. How old was Abram when he held his first baby? [86]

Activities / Crafts

another possible activity during break-time, from ministry-to-children.com:

Keep Away

Have the kids stand in a circle.  Select one, or a small group of kids, to be in the middle of the circle.  The kids on the outside throw a ball to other kids in the circle trying to keep the kid(s) in the middle from intercepting the ball.  If a child in the middle of the circle does get the ball, they trade places with whoever threw the ball.

Lesson: Abram and Lot

Justin, Josie and Rita taught this to 12 kids on Saturday 18 September 2010

drivers: cheryl (10 am), sheila (12 noon)

Topics: (1.) Abram and Lot part ways; (2.) Abram rescues Lot

Scriptures: Genesis 13-14

Memory verse:

original stock unrestricted by author

New Song: Psalm 105 stanza 1

click for full size

The original sea turtle photo is copyright blckbaronstock, shared here with permission.

Coloring: I will bring copies of this. [Other viewers: you have permission to reproduce this image, sized 8.5×11; 200ppi.]

 

click for full size

Outline:

• Setup: arrange tables, chairs, flip chart, map, CD player;
• (10:00am) name tags for Josee and any new students
• Review the ‘rules’ poster
• Hand out memory verse and Ps 105 cards
• together: Matthew 6 “Lord’s prayer”
• Sing – new psalm 105 stanza 1
• Lesson (see “Lesson” section below)
• (11:00 am) SNACK/BREAK
  • Josee: Activity (relay game, freeze tag — something that keeps them out of trouble!);
  • Make sure nobody is thirsty so the second half isn’t interrupted;
• (11:20 am) craft/activity — they could finish making their Abram/Sarai figures (see below) and a few may volunteer to demonstrate a skit of the story, with help — this will help for the review game; otherwise, there are beads and thread in the bin, which they might use to make a bead/picture craft;
• Review questions / game (see “Lesson” section);
• Singing: Apostle’s Creed and/or Jamie Soles’ “Abram”;
• Recite the memory verse together — remind them to practice at home for next week;
• Praying: Mr. Justin;
• (12:00 pm) Mini-albums and name cards back in the bin; the kids may collect their coloring papers and their crafts.

some of the unfinished abram / sarai puppets

Lesson

(a) Review and Introduction — Mr. Justin

[Rita and Justin, please feel free to use your own voice, and adjust the lesson as you see fit!]

Follow in your maps. (Front page of your mini photo album.) Abram and Sarai traveled from Ur to Haran. After that, they traveled with Abram’s nephew named “Lot” down to the land of Canaan.

Can you remember the modern-day country where Ur is? (Iraq.) Haran is in modern-day Turkey. Can you remember where Canaan is? (Modern-day Israel.)

1. Though they did not yet have a baby, God promised a big family to Abram;
2. God also promised that there would be good news for all the families in the world because of Abram’s family. Can you remember what very important baby from the family of Abram was born? [In Bethlehem, if they need a hint.]
3. God promised Abram the land of Canaan.

God told Abram to leave his family in Haran and go to a place that He would show him. Abram obeyed God and left Haran. How old was Abram when he traveled with his wife and nephew into Canaan? (75 years old.)

Abram built an altar [likely piled rocks] near a great oak tree at Shechem. (See maps.) He built another altar near Bethel.

There was a famine in Canaan-land, so Abram and his family went to Egypt for a while. This week’s lesson is about what happened when they returned to Canaan.

(b) Abram and Lot part ways — Mrs. Rita

Does anybody know what a famine is?

Because of a famine in Canaan land, Abram, his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot lived in Egypt for a while. After that, they traveled back to Canaan, the land that God had promised to Abram.

Abram was even more rich than before — he owned lots of animals/livestock, and lots of silver and gold. Abram, Sarai, Lot, and all the people who worked for them set up tents in different places as they traveled.

Eventually they were back in Canaan, near Bethel where Abram had built the altar. There in Bethel, Abram prayed to the LORD. [“You may as soon find a living man without breath as one of God’s people without prayer.” – Matthew Henry.]

Abram’s nephew Lot also owned tents, herds [cattle], and flocks [sheep, goats]. The land was becoming crowded with all of Abram’s animals and all of Lot’s animals. Some of the herdsmen were getting into arguments because their herds were so close together on the land.

“Let’s not fight over the land,” Abram said to Lot. “This is a big place, and we are relatives, so there is no reason for us to fight, or for our men to fight.”

Abram had an idea that he and Lot should separate, each living and working in their own area of land. Abram let his nephew Lot choose the land that he wanted first.

“If you choose the East, then I will live in the West,” said Abram. “But if you choose the West, then I will move to the East.”

quick sketch on flip chart

[Draw simple map on flip chart and point at Bethel.] When Lot looked to the east, he saw how green everything was near the Jordan river, because the land was more watered. It was like a garden, and it reminded him of Egypt, which was also a valley — watered by the Nile river.

Lot preferred this land toward the east, and he chose it. So, Lot and all of his helpers and animals moved away from Abram, who stayed in Canaan with Sarai and all of their helpers and animals. Lot pitched his tent near a city named Sodom [somewhere around the Salt Sea, probably south part]. The people in Sodom were wicked and disobedient to God.

After Lot left, the LORD told Abram to look around in every direction.

“I will give everything you can see to you and your family, ” said God. “The number of your family will be like the dust of the earth — if the dust could be counted, then your descendants could be counted.”

Abram and Sarai still did not have a child, yet God was telling Abram that he would have many great-grandchildren, many great-great-grandchildren, and so on!

“Go ahead,” God said to Abram, “Walk through this land that I am giving to you. Walk across it from side to side and from top to bottom.”

In very old times like this, when somebody purchased some land, they would walk through it to finish the sale. God had not asked Abram for any money, but God was giving this land to Abram.

Abram moved his tent and settled near the oak trees that they had stopped at long before. [Near Shechem — northern red dot in the map above.]

… but Abram would not be there for long before his nephew Lot got into some trouble and needed help.

(c) Abram Rescues Lot — Mr. Justin

The other people who lived in these lands were having wars. The king of Sodom, where Lot lived, was no exception. He and his men, with the help of four other kingdoms, fought a war against four other kings in the Valley of Siddim. [Likely at the south end of the Salt Sea.] The king of Sodom and his friends lost that battle. Their soldiers ran away into the hills, and some of them fell into slime pits. There is still black mud in the Salt Sea (called the Dead Sea today).

[Would be fun to show the kids these pictures of this tar muck at Pitch Lake in Trinidad, which has the same bitumen slime as the Valley of Siddim. It is not good to fall into a pit of this stuff.]

 

pitch lake, trinidad

click thru to source

Since the king of Sodom lost that battle, his enemies went through Sodom and stole all the property and food. While they were at it, they kidnapped Lot and everything he owned! [Recall Lot lived near Sodom.]

Abram had 318 men in his camp that had been trained to use weapons. Until now, Abram had ignored all the ethnic groups living in the area. But when he heard that his nephew Lot was a prisoner, he marched after the army of the kings who had defeated Sodom.

Abram took his 318 men and some of his friends from the area, and they journeyed about 160 kilometers (from Surrey to Seattle), chasing the kings who had won the war. In the night, Abram divided his small army into two groups, and they attacked and won. The enemy army ran away, and Abram chased them for another 80 kilometers. [You may show the kids; this chase goes well off the Canaan map, not quite halfway back to Haran on the larger scale map the kids have on the front page of their mini-albums.]

There, Abram rescued Lot and all his helpers and their animals. Abram also took back everything the kings had stolen from Sodom.

When Abram returned home, the king of Sodom was very happy with him. People of ancient times would have expected this king to allow Abram to keep some of what he had rescued.

“Let us have our people back,” he said to Abram, “but you can keep all the animals and other things that Sodom owned.”

“No I will not,” answered Abram. “I have promised to God that I will not take any gift from you, so that you can never brag that you made me rich. No, I will not even accept one thread from you, or a shoelace from a sandal.”

Abram knew that the king of Sodom was evil. Also, the reason Abram had pursued the other armies was to rescue Lot and bring him back home.

And we will hear again of Lot’s troubles in Sodom!

(d) Review Questions — Mrs. Rita

[Can be done as the two-team relay game. Justin and Josee can each sit with one team of kids. Rita asks a question, and the teams quietly discuss the answer while Justin/Josee write it on paper. The kids take turns taking the answers to Rita. Rita can give extra points for the ‘first’ team, but the other team can still get points for a correct answer, perhaps even more points for a more detailed answer.]

1. Why did Abram, Sarai, and Lot leave Canaan to go into Egypt? (famine)
2. What would show that Abram was very rich? (livestock, silver/gold)
3. [tricky] What did Abram do when he got back to the altar he had built near Bethel? (prayed to the LORD)
4. Why did Abram suggest to Lot that they separate into different parts of the land? (land could not support them living together / herdsmen were arguing)
5. Did Lot choose the land that looked more green, or did he choose the land that didn’t look as nice?
6. Why was the land that Lot chose more green? [hint: this land was in the Jordan Valley]
7. What was the name of the wicked city near where Lot set up his tent? (Sodom)
8. When God told Abram to look around, how much of the land did God promise to Abram and his descendants? (everything he could see)
9. [tricky] What else did God promise to Abram at the time? (his descendants would be like the dust of the earth)
10. Did the king of Sodom and his friends win the battle in the Valley of Siddim? (no)
11. What did the men who lost the battle do? (they ran away / some fell into slime pits / some ran to the hills)
12. What did the men who won the battle do? (stole all the possessions and food of Sodom [etc] / kidnapped Lot / left the area)
13. When Abram caught up to the armies that won the battle, what happened in the night? ( Abram divided his men into two groups / Abram defeated the enemy / enemy fled / Abram chased them for 80 km)
14. What did Abram rescue from the enemy armies? ( Lot / Lot’s servants / Lot’s possessions / Sodom’s people and possessions / animals)
15. What deal did the king of Sodom offer to Abram? (that Abram could keep the goods, just not the people)
16. Why would Abram not accept the king of Sodom’s offer? (he had vowed to God / he knew Sodom was evil and wanted nothing to do with this king / he didn’t want the king to have a reason to brag)
17. Who really gave Abram and Lot all the animals they had, the land they had, and the victory in the battle? (God)