MEMORY VERSE: Exodus 1:8 "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: "Song Of Solomon"
PRAYER: Pray for the governments of the land in which we live that Christians may always be able to worship God freely and without harm.
SPECIAL SONG: "The B-I-B-L-E", "The Bible, the Bible" (See March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog)
VISUAL AID: Chalkboard or Whiteboard Drawing. Draw a picture of God's people working hard, making bricks. Make sure there are a lot of God's people working.
LESSON POINTS:
- Today we are going to learn about the second book of the Bible. The name of the second book of the Old Testament is called Exodus! Can you say Exodus? The word "Exodus" means "Exit." If you notice above some of the doors at school or in buildings like the library or the movie theater or even this building, there are small signs that say "EXIT". Men could take those signs down and put up the word "EXODUS" over the doors and it would mean the same thing. Exodus. What does Exodus mean? That's right! Exit. In a few weeks, we will learn why this book is called Exodus.
- Let's think. It is always nice to be remembered, isn't it? We like it when someone remembers our name or our birthday or what grade we are in. It means that they care about us. The Bible says that after Jacob and all of his twelve sons had died and many years had gone by, that there was a new king or Pharaoh that ruled in Egypt--one who did not know Joseph or his family. Let's open our Bibles and read Exodus 1:8. (Read verse.) He did not care about any of the Hebrews who were God's people. In fact, Pharaoh thought that the Hebrew people were growing too much. The Bible says "the land was full of them" which meant that there many, many Hebrews in the land of Egypt. The Pharaoh who Joseph had known so well wasn't around anymore, so God's people did not have any friends in Egypt anymore. The only friend they had was God.
- Pharaoh told the Egyptians, "These children of Israel are growing more and more and are multiplying so much that I am afraid that they will be mightier and stronger than we are. If the countries around us want to fight us in a war, the Hebrew people will join them, then they will be fighting us! We must get them out of this land." So Pharaoh put taskmasters or 'bosses' over them and made life very hard on them. Life wasn't the same as it had been when Joseph was alive and was taking care of them. The people were forced to work hard all day, every day without getting paid for it. They were slaves in Egypt and it is never good to be a slave. The Egyptians were harsh and not kind to God's people. They made the Hebrews' lives bitter and not sweet and forced to work making bricks to build buildings and towns.
- Then something REALLY bad happened! Pharaoh was so afraid that God's people were to be too many that he decided to kill all the Hebrew baby boys! He commanded the midwives or the women that would help the Hebrew women have babies to kill the baby boys. BUT the midwives obeyed God and saved the baby boys. They did NOT kill them. God blessed these kind, brave women and God's people kept on growing. Should we be like these women? Yes! We should always obey God and what HE says, no matter what the king or Pharaoh or President says if they say something that is against God's laws. Always obey God rather than men! Do you think Pharaoh changed his mind about those sweet little baby boys? No! Pharaoh still commanded that all the Hebrew baby boys should be thrown into the river! How very, very sad! Next week, we will learn about one of these Hebrew baby boys and what happened to him!
"Older Student" Tips:
- Talk about how governments can help people worship God and how our country is not hindered from peaceful worship. This is not the case in all the countries around the world. We need to thank God for this tremendous blessing.
- Discuss how frightened Pharaoh was of the number of God's people. God's people didn't have any guns or weapons to fight, but still Pharaoh was afraid. Why was Pharaoh so afraid?
- Should we obey God or man? (Rom. 13:1) We obey both the government AND God when they do not conflict with God's laws. (Mt. 6:33) If the laws conflict with God, God's people obey God!
Materials needed: white paper and crayons.
- The students can draw a picture of many, many, many Hebrew children working, making bricks with many 'bosses' telling them what to do.
- Color the picture.