VERSES: Deuteronomy 34:1-12
MEMORY VERSE: Deuteronomy 34:10 "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Ephesians. Write "Ephesians" on slips of paper and hand out to the students at the end of class.
PRAYER: May we be strong in God's Word, always being a good student of the Bible. Pray that the Lord gives us good memories and tender hearts.
SPECIAL SONG: The Books of the Old Testament and The Books Of The New Testament (see March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class # 3 i
VISUAL AID: Over head Projector (see March - Visual Aid #4 on this blog). Chalk a huge mountain and place a small Moses at the top (see Activity below for an example). A biblical map, showing the area that the Israelites had walked would also be helpful.
LESSON POINTS:
- When the people had refused to cross over into the Promised Land, God had said that all of His people over the age of twenty would die in the wilderness and never see the land that flowed with milk and honey because of they did not believe they could take the land even with God's help. What God says, happens. At the end of forty years of wandering in the wilderness, Moses, Joshua, and Caleb were the only older men in the middle of thousands of people who were under the age of 60. Moses was 120 years old by the time they finished their wanderings. We might think that someone who was sixty years old was a very old person, but in this group of Israelites, 120 years was old!
- In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses told the history of God's people coming out of Egypt and the many things that happened to the people along the way to all those who were sixty years and under and might not have heard what had happened to the children of Israel because they were so young. Moses told them that their clothes and their shoes had not worn out traveling in the wilderness for forty years or eaten bread or drunk wine or strong drink because God wanted them to know that He was the Lord God. (Deuteronomy 29:5, 6). Moses retold the laws and what God expected of them, being His chosen people. Moses did not want these younger Israelites to make the same mistakes that their parents had. He wanted them to be stronger, more faithful and less complaining. He gave the people a blessing.
- Finally, it was time for Moses to say goodbye to all of God's people. Moses went up from the plains of Moab (point out on map), and went to the very tip-top of this mountain--Mt. Nebo--called Pisgah. The LORD showed Moses from this very high point on the mountain, the land that flowed with milk and honey. Was Moses able to go into the Promised Land? No. Remember when he hit the rock twice and asked the people, "Must we give you water from this rock?" and did not give the glory to God? Because of Moses' sin, he, too, could not go into the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob so many, many years ago. BUT, the next best thing was that a compassionate, loving God allowed Moses see with his own eyes, that had not grown dim, the beauty of the Promised Land.
- Then, Moses died up on the mountain and was buried in a valley in the land of Moab. The Bible says that no one today knows where Moses was buried. He was 120 years old. He lived forty years in Egypt, forty years in Midian as a shepherd, and forty years in the wilderness. His eyes were sharp and he was still a strong man when he died. Let's turn our Bibles to Deuteronomy 34:10 and let's read what God says about Moses. (Read verse.) There never was a prophet in Israel like Moses who God talked face to face like He did Moses. Just think of all the things that Moses had done like God wanted him to do! All the plagues of Egypt, coming through the Red Sea, showing Pharaoh and all the Egyptians that truly the LORD was the only true God! The children of Israel grieved and cried for thirty days.
- Then another man started leading the people in Moses' place...a man named Joshua!
- Discuss how loving God was to Moses, letting Moses at least see the beautiful land that God had promised His people.
Materials needed: 12" x 18" yellow construction paper for each child, all those scraps of different colored paper that you have been saving, cotton batting, glue, crayons, marker.
- Hand out yellow paper. This is the background.
- Each student creates a beautiful picture of the Promised Land by using scraps of paper, bits of this and that any way the student chooses.
- Pass a small amount of cotton batting which can be pulled apart to create two small cloud.
- Don't forget to make Moses at the top of the mountain.
- Label Mt. Nebo and Pisgah.
- Write "Moses Sees The Promised Land" and "Deuteronomy 34" at the top of the paper.
- Ooh and aah over the creativity and beauty of the students' pictures.