Joshua in Jericho
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. Wilderness experiences strip away confidence in the self and replace 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 fourth lesson, our objective is to see how God removes obstacles and makes the impossible possible if we trust Him and rely on Him.
INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 5 Minutes
Ask the children how many of them have been on an airplane. Ask them, when you get into an airplane, do you tell the pilot how to drive the airplane?
Explain that when we are in a plane, we put our trust in the pilot and in the airplane. That is called having faith in the pilot.
Ask the children, If the pilot tells us to do something, like to wear our seatbelt, do we do what the pilot tells us? Why? Explain that when we have faith in someone's skill, we do what they say without questioning them.
Do you remember last week when we talked about how God told the Israelites to enter the promised land, but they were too scared. That was because they didn't trust God as the pilot of their lives.
Today, we'll see what happens when they do trust God as the pilot.
HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes
Memory Verse
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)
CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 20 Minutes
Last week, we talked about how God punished the Israelites for not trusting him by having them wonder in the desert for 40 years. After those 40 years, Moses departed and Joshua became the leader of the Israelites.
It was now time for the Israelites to enter the promised land. The first city that the Israelites would conquer to start taking over the promised land was Jericho. Jericho was a city with a very strong city and it was protected because it had a big, strong wall all around it. As long as the wall was there, the city could not be conquered.
Joshua sent two spies into the city to see what it was like. The spies found a woman named Rahab, whose home was near the wall. She told them that she had heard what God had done for the Israelites and she knew that God would give Jericho to the Israelites. The spies promised Rahab that they would keep her and her family safe if she helped them. All she had to do was to hang a scarlet rope down from her window and, when the Israelites would enter the city, they would spare her and her family from harm.
When the king heard that there were spies in Jericho, he sent his soldiers to capture them. When the soldiers knocked on Rahab's door, she hid the two spies on her roof and then told the soldiers that they had already left. She helped the spies because she believed in the might and power of the true God.
The spies came back and told Joshua all that they had seen. God told Joshua that the Israelite army should march around the entire city one time each day for six days straight. While they were marching, the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant and blew trumpets.
On the seventh day, they marched around the entire city seven times and, after the seventh time, when they blew their horns, the wall fell down miraculously. When the wall fell down, the Israelites were able to enter into Jericho and capture it. They saved Rahab and her family just like they promised and they killed everyone else and took over the city.
DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 5 Minutes
- What made Jericho so hard to conquer?
- Do you think the Israelites were afraid to try to conquer Jericho?
- Why did Rahab help the Israelite spies?
- For how many days did the Israelites march around Jericho?
- Why do you think God made the Israelites walk all the way around the entire city every day for six days?
- Why do you think God made the Israelites walk around the city seven times on the seventh day?
- How did God show He could be trusted in this story?
- In what book of the Bible do we find this story?
LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes
There are many obstacles in our lives. Sometimes we are told we cannot do things because we are little, like when we cannot ride a roller coaster because we are not tall enough. Sometimes we have to work very hard to overcome an obstacle, like when we have to study very hard to move up to the next grade in school. It can be something like having to make new friends or not being able to get something you want.
Sometimes obstacles can be frustrating and sometimes we may want to quit. But any obstacle is a chance for us to rely on God. Remember this week, when you face any obstacles, ask God to guide you to success like he led the Israelites to success in Jericho. Sometimes, the path doesn't make sense - just like it wouldn't have made sense to the Israelites why they had to walk around the city so many times - but it is our chance to trust God and to let him direct us to success.
ACTIVITY - 5 - 10 Minutes
You can:
- Teach the song, "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho"
- Have the children use legos or playing cards to build a wall and see how big and tall they can build it before it falls.
- Hide a piece of red cord in the classroom and let the children find it.
- Have the children make paper trumpets/horns and they can blow them.
- Have the children act out a play about the story
Also, you can have the children work on the following worksheets attached below:
- Coloring page
- Word search
- Fill in the blank sheet
- Crossword
SERVANT RESOURCES
Additional visual aids and story illustrations: FreeBibleimages
YouTube cartoon: Saddleback Kids "The Walls of Jericho" (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
The wilderness experience was powerful for the Israelites because they had time to learn they could not rely on their own strength, but that they had to rely on God's strength. While we do not have a wilderness we can go to physically, we can still separate time or God in our day and spend quiet time with Him to get to know Him and find strength in Him. We do this by separating quiet time for God. Have the children dedicate 5 - 10 minutes each week where they sit before a favored icon or picture of Christ and spend the time reflecting quietly. This quiet time is a time to meditate on God and also to speak and listen to God in our hearts. The amount of weekly quiet time should be increased in duration and frequency every few years as the child grows.