8.         MOSES - THE LAWGIVER   (part 1 - HISTORY)

Preparation.  Display Table;  Picture books, maps of the Holy Land and dolls in costume.  Read beforehand some or all of the story of Moses from the Bible, (starts from Exodus chapter 2).  Creative work:  crayons and paper for each child as in Diagram 8.

Prayers.

Song.  Little baby Moses from "Come and Sing", published by Scripture Union.

News Time and Birthdays.

Revision of the previous week, linking up with to-day's lessons.

Introduction.  First stress that Moses was a Messenger from God. He was a Mirror (refer to lesson on the Kingdom of the Messengers). Use the picture books and maps and dolls to give the children an idea of life in the Holy Land at the time of Moses.

Story.  Tell in your own words or read from "God and His Messengers" by David Hofman, (page 5), or use the following:

MOSES AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

Moses was born at the time when the Children of Israel were in the land of Egypt.  Once upon a time the Egyptians were great friends with the Israelites, but when Moses was born the Israelites were the Egyptians slaves.  They were forced to work hard building houses.  The Egyptians were afraid that too many Israelites would be born and form a strong army to fight them, so they tried to kill some of the boy babies.  Moses mother had to hide him in the bull-rushes, on the River Nile, in a special little cradle she made.  The Egyptian Princess found him and took care of him until he grew up.

When he was a man God told him that He had heard the prayers of the Israelites and He had chosen Moses to lead them out of Egypt to the Promised Land, called Canaan.

Moses had to ask Pharaoh (the King of Egypt) to let the Israelites go. Pharaoh did not agree so God gave all the Egyptians nasty boils.  Moses told Pharaoh that the boils would go away if the Israelites could leave. Pharaoh was not a trustworthy man, for he kept changing his-mind.  First he said they could go and then they had to stay.  Each time he said no God sent terrible things to the Egyptians.  Locusts (like grasshoppers) came to eat up all their fruits and crops.  Then there were hailstones and hundreds of frogs and a terrible darkness.  Still the Pharaoh broke his promises so God sent the most terrible punishment.  He made all the first born children and animals of the Egyptians die, for Pharaoh to see that no-one can disobey God.
After this Pharaoh told Moses to take his people away.  The Israelites quickly packed and set off.

As soon as they had left Egypt, Pharaoh felt very angry because he did not have any more slaves to do the building, so he sent his soldiers after them.  When the Israelites reached the Red Sea they did not know how they were going to get across, and they became afraid because they knew that the soldiers were nearby.  Even though they became afraid and got cross with Moses, God still helped them.  God told Moses to wave his walking stick over the sea and the waters would flow away to make a dry path for them to cross.  They all crossed safely and saw that the soldiers were following them. When the soldiers reached the middle Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the dry path disappeared and all the soldiers were drowned.

The Israelites spent many years travelling to the Promised Land, through the wilderness.  They became tired and grumbled and when God made their journey longer.  There were many difficulties because the land was hot and dusty and there was not much to eat.  They had to live in tents which weren't very comfortable.  Sometimes there was no food to be found and the Israelites would grumble and go to sleep hungry.  In the morning they found that God had answered their prayers by sending a flock of birds or a special white bread (called manna) to eat.

When there was no water to drink Moses was told by God to hit a big rock with his stick.  When he hit it a stream of bright water flowed out of it.

Eventually, after many adventures, the Israelites arrived In Canaan.  They built homes and became fishermen, farmers, carpenters and they remembered, every year, the time when Moses brought them out of Egypt.

Reading:           Numbers, Chapter 6, verses 24-26
Type or write out these verses for the children to stick in their books. Explain the meaning.  Countenance means face and also, in this context, to look on with favour.

Record:            "By the Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M.

Creative work.  Diagrams 8a and 8b depict the journey from Egypt to Canaan. The children can colour the pictures and then thread the people through the large picture so that they can be pulled through.  The cutting instructions given below should be carried out before the class, unless the children are capable of it.

Cut 8a along middle horizontal line,       Sellotape or glue the 2 parts side by side,
glue a strip of plain paper on both ends, to make a long strip of uniform height.
Cut 8b along the 4 vertical dotted lines, same height as the strip made from 8a.
After colouring, assemble by threading the strip in and out of the vertical cuts,
behind the tree and wall.
Pull the strip slowly from one end to the other.

Diagram 8a.

Diagram 8b.

 Last modified: May 17, 2001

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