Moses and the Israelites in the Wilderness

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this module is to reflect on faith and in our trust in God. Over these four lessons, we will be looking at different wilderness experiences and see how they require complete dependence on God. The Isrealites' experience in the wilderness stripped away confidence in their own abilities and replaced it with confidence in God. Faith is understanding that God knows everything we need and that He will provide it in His perfect way and in His perfect timing.

In this first lesson, our objective is to show how Moses developed faith in God while in the wilderness and how that led to the one of the greatest miracles in the Old Testament.

INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 5 Minutes

Before class, mix some water with blue food coloring. You will also need a flat plate, a pipette, and some rubbing alcohol. In class, pour a small pool of the blue water onto the plate. Ask the children if they can part the water into two. They won't be able to, but tell them that you can. Using the pipette, squeeze a few drops of rubbing alcohol into the center of the water. The water will separate and form a dry spot in the middle.

Ask the children if they can imagine parting an entire sea? Who is the only one who could do something so amazing? Ask if they know the story of God parting the waters of the Red Sea. Explain that one of the greatest miracles God performed was parting the Red Sea so that Moses and the Israelites could cross on dry land and escape from Pharaoh and his army. Let's learn the story to see how mighty and powerful our God is.

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes

Memory Verse

"Sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously The horse and its riderHe has thrown into the sea" (Exodus 15:21)

References:

• Exodus 14:5-31 (Crossing the Red Sea & in the wilderness)
• "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3: 14-15)

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 15 Minutes

• Once the Israelites reached the Red Sea after they fled from Egypt, they heard noises far behind them. It was Pharaoh and his army with their chariots coming for revenge. The Israelites cried out to Moses because they thought they brought them all the way to the Red Sea just to die and get caught by Pharaoh.
• Moses prayed to God all night and God told him do not worry. God stirred up a large cloud around Pharaoh and his army to confuse them and not know their way to the Israelites. At the same time God caused a strong wind across the Red Sea. Then God asked Moses early in the morning to get the people ready and to strike the water of the sea with his rod.
• Once Moses struck the sea, a wall on both sides developed and there was a dry passage. Remember what we did at the beginning once Moses parted the sea they were able to cross the Red Sea it was like a dry land as you saw once the dirt becomes wet, it becomes like mud and it is hard to walk on it not to mention their animals and chariots. Once they finished crossing the Red Sea, God told him to stretch his rod back on the sea as pharaoh was going through to cross. Pharaoh drowned with his army and the chariots.
• Once they crossed the sea Miriam, Moses' sister, started a hymn to praise God for His protection and miraculous way of saving His people.
• Once in the wilderness, God never left the Israelites. Every day, God walked before the Israelites as a pillar of cloud and, every night, God walked before the Israelites as a pillar of fire. That was another amazing miracle. But the people were not grateful to God. While they travelled in the wilderness, the Israelites would complain and be unhappy with Moses and God, even though they were free from slavery and God always protected them.
• Next, they complained to Moses as they used to eat meat back in Egypt and God told Moses he would send quail (a type of bird) in the evenings so the people could eat meat. God taught the Israelites a very important lesson about relying on Him. He told the Israelites only to gather as much manna as they needed for each day except for the day before the Sabbath, when they would collect enough manna for two days. That was because the Israelites were not allowed to work on the Sabbath so on Friday, they would gather enough manna for 2 days so that they could rest on the Sabbath.
• If they tried to collect extra, or more than they needed for each day, that manna would go bad and they would find worms in it if they kept it overnight (except when they were supposed to collect two days-worth for the Sabbath). God was teaching the Israelites that He would give them exactly what they needed each day and that they should not rely on themselves by saving up the bread, but trust that He will give them the bread they needed each day. This is similar to what we pray in the "Our Father" when we say "Give us this day our daily bread." When we say that, we are telling God we will rely on Him and not on ourselves for everything we will need during our day - not just food, but for every single thing we need.
• God was so upset by their complaining and lack of faith of the Israelites that He sent fiery serpents that bit the people and caused them to die. So the people repented and asked God to forgive them. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a rod. When someone was bitten by a snake, if he looked at the bronze serpent on the rod, he would live and not die. This was a symbol of Christ on the cross - when we are bitten by sin, we will not die if we look to the cross of Christ.
• God provided for the Israelites for 40 years in the Sinai desert.

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 5 Minutes

Discuss these questions with the children:

• How did the Israelites cross the Red Sea?
• Why did the Israelites complain to Moses?
• How did the Israelites eat and drink in the wilderness?
• Why do you think God gave Israelites something that would only last one day?
• What did the Isrealites do when Moses took a long time in the mountain?
• How did God protect His people in the wilderness and for how long?

LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes

Ask the children, what is something you have complained about in the past week? Ask them if

complaining helped the situation. Do you think God is happy when we complain? Explain that when

we complain, it shows that our hearts are not grateful. Explain that when we trust God, when we have

faith, we trust that even if God does not give us what we want, He gives us what we need.

Encourage the children to go through the next week without complaining and that, if there is anything

they want to complain about, to give thanks to God for what they have.

ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes

Some activities attached below:

• Coloring page
• Crossword & Maze
• Wilderness Scramble

SERVANT RESOURCES

God's Story - "God's Story: Wilderness" (5 min)

Saddleback Kids: "Moses and the Exodus" (5 min)

Old Testament Books Song Missing Deuterocanonical books (Tobit and Judith from history books, Wisdom and Sirach from poetic books, Baruch, 1&2 Maccabees from prophetic books, and the Prayer of Manasseh)

Refer to the Old Testament Timeline attached for major events and chronological order through the Bible.

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Challenge the children to go one week without complaining. You can make a reward chart for a week and put a sticker for each day that goes by without complaining. Challenge the children to be grateful for something each time they feel like complaining. For example, if they are struggling with too much schoolwork/homework, you can have them thank God that they have an opportunity to go to school instead of complaining about how much work they have. If they can do it for 1 week, push them to go for another 2 weeks. If the children can do something for 21 days, it should become a habit. This is a good way to make thankfulness a habit for our children.

LESSON ATTACHMENTS