VERSES: 2 Kings 17:1-41
MEMORY VERSE: 2 Kings 17:6 "...the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria ..."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Zephaniah. Write Zephaniah on small slips of paper and hand out at the end of class.
PRAYER: May we always put God first in our lives above everything else.
SPECIAL SONG: The Wise Man Build His House Upon The Rock (see March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog)
VISUAL AID: Map showing Israel and Assyria. Draw a large Activity on the whiteboard or chalkboard.
LESSON POINTS:
- Today's last lesson about the children of Israel is a very sad one. Ever since the children of Israel had come out of Egyptian bondage or slavery, God, through Moses, the judges, the prophets, and the kings had pleaded with the people not to have any other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3). Had they listened? Not for very long! When they were in trouble, what did they do? They prayed and cried out to God to help them, but when He did help, they soon forgot about Him and went back to serving gods that were made with men's hands. Men did what they wanted to do, and not what God wanted them to do. God warned the people all along to serve Him and to serve Him only, but they had not listened to Him. But things changed. Finally, God had had enough!
- Remember that after King Solomon died, God had divided the kingdom of Israel .between King Solomon's son, Rehoboam, and King's Solomon's servant, Jeroboam. Rehoboam was given two tribes to make up the Kingdom of Judah and Jeroboam was given the ten tribes to make up the kingdom of Israel (see August - Lesson - Troubles At The End Of Solomon's Life on this blog). Do we remember which kingdom was more faithful to God? The kingdom of Judah was not consistently faithful, but there were more good kings in Judah that loved God and walked in His ways. Now, God is going to make a big difference in the two kingdoms.
- Because of the Kingdom of Israel's sin and wickedness, God let Israel be carried off into captivity in Assyria. Let's look on the map to see where Assyria was (look at map). That is a very long way! God said from the time they had come out of Egypt, the people had sinned against the LORD God. There were many reasons why God allowed the people to again go into bondage or slavery.
- They had feared other gods and walked in wicked and sinful ways.
- He said that the children of Israel did evil secretly against God and built high places to serve their idols.
- He said that under every green tree, there was an idol!
- They burned incense to their idols and did other wicked things to make God angry.
- God kept telling them over and over and over again to turn from their evil ways and to keep His commandments, but they would not listen.God said they would even stiffen their necks like their fathers had and did not believe God's words.
- He said they had left the commands of the LORD God and made themselves two golden calves, made a grove to worships idols in, worshiped all the things up in the sky, and served Baal.
- They had made their sons and daughters go through the fire of the idols and used magic and enchantments.
- They knew what would make God angry, and those were the things that they did.
- He said they had chosen to walk in the ways of Jeroboam and sin a great sin. What was that great sin? Idolatry. Choosing a statue before God.
- So, God removed Israel from His sight and they were carried away into Assyrian captivity, never to return to God. From this point on, Judah was God's chosen people and from whom Jesus would be born.
- The very last king of Israel was Hoshea and the year that the children of Israel went into Assyrian captivity was 722 B.C.. From now on, we will study about the kingdom of Judah being God's people and will study to see if they learn a lesson from their brothers from the kingdom of Israel.
- The children of Israel were guilty of presumptuous sin. They knew the rules. They knew the laws. They knew what would make God angry and those were the things that they chose to do. They made choices, but they made the wrong choices.
- The children of Israel were carried away into Assyrian captivity in 722 B.C. It is good to remember this date.
- Read Romans 1:20-32. These verses also show that God will give up on those who give up on Him.
ACTIVITY: Assyrian Captivity
Materials needed: 12" x 18" white construction paper, crayons.
- Hand out paper to students.
- Fold long edge about 2" down.
- Unfold.
- Bring bottom edge up to folded line and fold.
- Fold in half, horizontally.
- Fold in half again to create eight boxes.
- Draw black lines on folded lines.
- In the long top box, write "Assyrian Captivity" "722 B.C." "2 Kings 17" and "GOD SAID..."
- Number the rest of the boxes.
- BOX 1: Draw a picture of the statue of Baal. Write "The people feared other gods."
- BOX 2: Write SECRET in a cloud. Write The children of Israel did evil secretly against God."
- BOX 3: Draw a tree with an idol under it. Write "Under every green tree there was an idol."
- BOX 4: Draw a person with a long neck. Draw an arrow to the neck and write "stiff neck." Write "They had stiffened their necks like their fathers."
- BOX 5: Draw two golden calves, sun, star, tree, idol. Write "They had made two golden calves, a grove to worship idols, things in the sky to worship, and served Baal."
- BOX 6: Draw An altar with fire, and the words 'magic ' and 'enchantments' in clouds. Write "They made their children go through the fire of idols, and used magic and enchantments."
- BOX 7: Write "They knew what would make God angry--and that is what they did."
- BOX 8: Write "The children of ISRAEL were carried away into ASSYRIAN captivity. From this point on, God will be with JUDAH."