MEMORY VERSE: Numbers 20:11 "And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice..."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: 1 Corinthians. Write "1 Corinthians" on slips of paper and hand out to students at the end of class.
PRAYER: Let us remember to always be on our guard, making sure that we have book, chapter, and verse for what we are doing and saying. Let us always read the Bible and obey God.
SPECIAL SONG: Be Patient And Kind (see April - Lesson - Joseph Meets His Brothers Who Hated Him on this blog)
VISUAL AID: TV Box (see February - Visual Aid #1 on this blog)
LESSON POINTS:
- As the children of Israel continued wandering in the wilderness, they came to a place called Kadesh in the middle of the desert and it was there that Miriam, Moses and Aaron's sister died and was buried.
- There was no water in Kadesh and, again, like so many times before, the people complained to Moses and Aaron. They would say things like, "Why have you brought us into this wilderness, so we should die?" and "Why did you bring us to this evil place?" and "We don't have any pomegranates or figs or even any water!" Things like that. Always complaining and more complaining.
- Moses and Aaron went to the tabernacle and worshiped God. God told Moses to take his rod, gather all the people together and speak to the rock in front of them, then enough water would come out of the rock for all the people and their animals to drink. Remember there were thousands of people and many, many animals that were thirsty, so it had to have lots of water coming out of the rock!
- What did God tell Moses to do to get water from the rock? That's right! He was to SPEAK to the rock. Moses gathered all the people together with Aaron and took his rod and said to the people, "Listen, you rebels! Must we give you water from this rock?" And he lifted his rod and HIT the rock TWO times and much water came from the rock. Even though Moses did not do what God said to do, God gave water to the people anyway. But God said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe me, you will not bring this people to the Promised Land."
- That is why we should always watch what we are doing and always give God the glory for what we do. Could Moses have given water from the rock all by himself? No! It was God who gave the people water. But Moses said "we", didn't he? "Must WE give you water." And what did God say for Moses to do? That's right! Speak to the rock. Who did Moses speak to? He spoke to the people instead of the rock. And he hit the rock, didn't he? Not one time, but two times! In Exodus 17:6, God had told Moses to hit the rock, but not this time. So, Moses sinned and could not go into the Promised Land. We always need to listen carefully to God's Word. There are always grave consequences for disobedience!
- We are getting very close to the end of the forty years of wilderness wanderings. If there is time at the end of class, take a look at Numbers 33:1-39 which recounts the places that the children of Israel had been in this time. See how many places that the students remember as they read.
Materials needed: 9" x 12" light blue piece of construction paper, 5" x 8" piece of gray or black or brown construction paper, two pieces of 6" x 6" piece of white paper, 4" x 1/2" scrap of dark brown paper, 4 1/2" x 6" dark blue paper, two gold fasteners, glue, markers and crayons.
- Hand out light blue paper to each student. This is the foundation.
- Pass out 5" x 8" paper and cut into a large rock.
- Glue 'rock' onto foundation.
- Pass out one piece of the white paper to each student.
- Draw Moses and Aaron, color and cut.
- Draw Moses' arm, color and cut.
- Write "Moses" on one man and "Aaron" on the other man.
- Glue Aaron on light blue paper. (See picture above.)
- Cut rod out of small piece of dark brown paper.
- Glue rod to the OUTSIDE of Moses' arm. If it is glued to the inside, the arm will not move freely.
- Open one fastener and poke through Moses upper arm and Moses' body. Make sure the fastener will move around.
- Glue Moses'head and feet only to light blue paper. Moses' arm need to move, so do not glue that part of body to light blue paper.
- Pass out other white paper. Cut into a speech bubble.
- Write "Hear now, ye rebels! Must we fetch you water out of this rock?"
- Glue speech bubble in appropriate place.
- Pass out dark blue paper and cut into " flowing water."
- Open one fastener and poke through bottom left corner of dark blue water and middle bottom edge of rock. Make sure the fastener moves all around.
- Write "Moses hits the rock...twice!" and "Numbers 20" at the top of the light blue paper.
- If there is time, draw little faces of the people in the background of the light blue paper.
- Students can tell this story over and over again all on their own by using this project. Kids are so much fun!
