Lesson 11: The Israelites and Jericho

Aim
* To Learn that God helped the Israelites when they trusted and obeyed Him
* To learn that God blesses us when we trust and obey his word

Materials
* Two Bible stories a)Rahab & the Spies, b)The Battle of Jericho
* boxes or chairs to make a wall
* thin cardboard with trumpet pattern to cut
* scissors, celloptape, colored pencils
* picture to color
* spot-the-difference picture

Lesson Outline
1. Action Game
2. Review the previous lesson
3. Story & Discussion
4. Activities – colour a picture, spot-the-difference, cardboard horns, march around Jericho,
5. Review the aims
6. Prayer

1) Action Game – Into the City (a take off on Musical Chairs)
Set up a circle of chairs, one per child, each chair facing outward,
Leave a gap between 2 chairs to be the city gate.
Tell the children:
* That inside the chairs is a city.
* The chairs around it are the city walls.
* The gap between the 2 chairs is the city gate.
Each child sits in a chair until you play some music (or sing part of a song).
The children must march around the city while the music plays.
The object of this game is to get into the city through the gate, not to find an empty chair.
Stop the music and the child nearest the city gate gets to go “into the city”.
Repeat until every child makes it into the city.

2) Review the previous lesson
The 12 Spies
God promised to give Israel the land of Canaan, so Moses sent twelve men to spy out the land. After 40 days they returned and told what they had seen. Joshua and Caleb brought a good report. They said, “The land flows with milk and honey (is rich and fertile). Here is its fruit. The people who live there are powerful. However, do not be afraid of the people. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us into this land.” But the other spies brought a bad report. They said that the people of Canaan were like giants. They made the people of Israel afraid to enter Canaan. Then God became angry because they did not trust in Him and He led them back into the desert for 40 years. All the Israelites who did not trust God died in the desert.

3) Story & Discussion
* Read story of Rahab and the two spies, and the battle of Jericho
* Emphasize the two aims of the lesson
a) God helped the Israelites when they trusted and obeyed Him.
b) God blesses us when we trust and obey his word. This means to listen, trust, follow and obey parents. When children do this things go well. When children don’t, things go wrong

4) Activities
* Colour a picture

* Spot-the -difference

* Make Cardboard Horns
Before class cut poster board as illustrated (one per child), Cut each trumpet about: 9″ from top to bottom, 8″ wide at the top, 5″ wide at the bottom
Let kids decorate their trumpets with crayons or markers,
Help them roll them into a trumpet shape,
Staple and tape the sides together.
They can use their trumpets in today’s story.
Act out walking around the city, blowing horns, knocking wall down

* March Around Jericho
Set up boxes or chairs to represent Jericho’s wall
God told Joshua to have their army and their priests march around the city of Jericho one time a day for 7 days.
First some soldiers were to march.
Next came some of the priests blowing trumpets.
Then came priests carrying the special Box of the Agreement that had God’s laws inside.
Last came some more soldiers.
They were to march around the city 1 time every day for 7 days.
The children march around the city once, blowing horns
The soldiers and the priests did this one time a day for 6 days.

Then on the 7’th day, the people marched around the city of Jericho 7 times. The last time around, Joshua told them all to be quiet except the priests blowing the trumpets. They were not to make a sound until Joshua told them, “Shout! The Lord has given you the city! Then everyone gave a great shout and the walls of Jericho fell over and the soldiers rushed in and took over the city.

Lets pretend its the last time God’s people are marching around the city. When you hear me say, “Shout! The Lord has given you the city!” , I want you all to shout, “Hey!” and knock the walls
down. Give the command, “Shout . . .” and direct them to knock the walls down. God’s people rushed into the city right over the tumbled down walls.

5) Review the aims
a) To Learn that God helped the Israelites when they trusted and obeyed Him
b) To learn that God blesses us when we trust and obey his word

6) End with a prayer