* LESSON
* HANDOUT
* MOSES PLAY
Bible Memory Verse:
“…God cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
"The Lord will keep you from all harm…" Psalm 121:7
“Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.” Psalm 107:28
WHO DID WE LEARN ABOUT LAST WEEK WHO WAS GIVEN A SPECIAL COAT? WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE COUNTRY WHERE JOSEPH WAS TAKEN WHEN HE WAS SOLD AS A SLAVE BY HIS BROTHERS? WHAT DID THEY CALL THE KING OF EGYPT? WHAT DOD JOSEPH DO SO THAT HE WENT FROM PRISON TO BECOME THE SECOND HIGHEST RULER IN THE LAND OF EGYPT? (God had given him the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream.) Joseph was put in Egypt by God to save his family from dying from the famine. He went from prison to become the second highest ruler of the land because he trusted in God and obeyed God even when bad things happened to him.
Our story today takes place about 400 years after Joseph brought his whole family (about 70 people) to Egypt. After 400 years, many things had changed. Joseph had died. The Pharaoh who knew and liked Joseph had died. Joseph’s brothers had died, but their children had children and their children had children, until there was about 3,000,000 Hebrew or Israelite people living in Egypt. They were the descendants of Abraham. God had promised Abraham his descendants would become a great nation.
A new, cruel Pharaoh, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. "Look," He said to his people, "The Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or there will become even more of them and, if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, and fight against us and leave the country.” Exodus 1:8-10
The Egyptians made the Hebrew people their slaves and made them work hard from early morning until late at night. They had to make bricks out of straw to build huge buildings. Pharaoh had them whipped to make them work harder and even had the baby boys killed so there wouldn’t get to be so many Hebrew people.
But the more they were made to work, the more Israelites were born. The Pharaoh said to the women who helped when babies were born: “If it a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” Exodus 1:17 But these women did not obey Pharaoh but said the Israelites were so healthy that they gave birth before they could get there.
Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile (river), but let every girl live.” Exodus 1:22
He did this so there wouldn’t get to be so many Hebrew people. Every baby boy that was born to Hebrew mothers was to be thrown into the Nile River to drown or be eaten by crocodiles.
God saw how His people were being treated. He was preparing a special leader to help get his people out of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Canaan He had promised Abraham.
A lady named Jochebed had a baby boy. She loved her baby and God so much that she was not afraid of what Pharaoh would do to her if he found the baby. She hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds long the bank of the Nile. His sister, Miriam, watched from a distance to see what would happen to the baby.
While she was watching Pharaoh’s daughter, the princess of Egypt, and her slave girl came down to the river to bathe. Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket and sent her slave girl to bring it up out of the water. The baby was crying and she felt sorry for him. She said, "This is one of the Hebrew babies."
Moses’ sister, Miriam, came and asked, "Shall I find one of the Hebrew mothers to nurse the baby for you." Exodus 2:7
"Yes, go," Pharaoh’s daughter said.
And the girl got the baby’s own mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the mother did this.
When he grew older she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s palace. He learned how to read and write and many things, but he did not learn about God because the Egyptian people did not know God. But he must have learned about God from his real mother who helped to take care of him.
How smart God is! Pharaoh wanted to kill all the baby boys and instead, God planned it so Pharaoh’s daughter paid Moses’ mother to care for Moses. Later Moses lived right in Pharaoh’s palace and was protected by Pharaoh.
One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating up a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?"
The man said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?"
Moses was afraid and thought, "What I did must have become known."
When Pharaoh heard that Moses has killed an Egyptian he tried to kill Moses, but Moses ran to a far away land where he became a shepherd. He married and had two sons. He must have thought he was going to help his people be free from slavery, but now he looked like he was always going to be a shepherd. For 40 years he was a shepherd.
One day Moses saw a strange sight. A bush was burning all by itself right in the middle of the desert. Moses noticed that although that bush was burning, it did not burn up. He came near the bush and God called to him from out of the bush, "Moses, Moses."
And Moses said, "Here I am."
"Do not come any closer," God said, "Take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the of Isaac and the of Jacob. I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue him from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land–a land flowing with milk and honey. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
And God said, “I will be with you.”
When God asks us to do something, He will always be with us. He never asks us to do anything we cannot do.
QUESTIONS:
1. What work did the cruel Pharaoh make God’s people (the Hebrew people) do?
2. Why did the Egyptian Pharaoh have the Hebrew baby boys killed?
3. Who did God choose to lead his people out of the land of Egypt?
4. Where did Moses grow up?
5. Why did Moses have to run away from the land of Egypt?
6. What kind of work did Moses do in the land where he went to escape from Pharaoh?
7. Why did Moses notice the burning bush?
8. Who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush?
9. What did God tell Moses to do?
MOSES-PART 1
Bible Memory Verse:
“The Lord will keep you from all harm…” Psalm 121:7
Words to choose from: BASKET, SLAVES, FREE, BRICKS, SHEPHERD, GOD, AFRAID, KILLED, PALACE, SISTER
1. The Hebrew people were __ __ __ __ __ __ of the Egyptian people.
2. The Hebrew people had to make __ __ __ __ __ __ out of straw.
3. The Egyptian Pharaoh had the Hebrew baby boys killed because he was __ __ __ __ __ __ of the Hebrews.
4. His mother hid Moses in a __ __ __ __ __ __.
5. The __ __ __ __ __ __ of Moses was watching when the Egyptian princess found Moses.
6. Moses grew up in the __ __ __ __ __ __ of the Egyptian Pharaoh.
7. Moses ran away because he had __ __ __ __ __ __ an Egyptian.
8. Moses was a __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ in the land where he went to escape from Pharaoh?
9. __ __ __ spoke to Moses out of the burning bush.
10. God told Moses to go back to the land of Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let God’s people be __ __ __ __.
Bible Memory Verse:
“…God cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
“The Lord will keep you from all harm…” Psalm 121:7
“Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.” Psalm 107:28
CHARACTERS: Jolly the Giraffe, Polly the Polar Bear, Leo the Lion
(Jolly & Polly enter)
JOLLY: Hi, Kids!
POLLY: Isn’t it amazing what God did at the time of Moses? It must have looked like there was no hope. It must have seemed like the evil Pharaoh had control of God’s people and could kill their little babies.
JOLLY: But God was really in control. Imagine, Pharaoh’s own daughter looking after the one that was going to rescue the Israelites from Pharaoh.
LEO: (enter) The neat part of it is that Moses’ own mother got to take care of him and teach him about God. And she was even paid to look after her own son! Oh, hi everyone!
JOLLY & POLLY: Hi, Leo!
JOLLY: God takes care of us the same way He took care of the Israelites. The Bible says, “…God cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 and “The Lord will keep you from all harm…” Psalm 121:7 and “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.” Psalm 107:28 Maybe we could each think of a way God has taken care of us.
POLLY: I can think of something—God kept me from getting hit by a car today. I don’t see how a car could miss seeing me, but it did. I just got out of the way.
LEO: Nothing like that has happened to me lately, but God has been looking after me in little ways. I had forgotten my key to my house. I was getting cold and tired and thought I would have to go all the way to my friend’s house. (He keeps a key for me). But then I just happened to notice a key on a window ledge. I didn’t put it there—maybe it was my roommate. I had never seen it there before. God must have let me see it when I needed to. I was so thankful!
JOLLY: Isn’t it wonderful what God does for us? I have an exciting story, too. At least it is exciting to me.
POLLY & LEO: Tell us, Jolly.
JOLLY: I was walking down the street the other day and I met a friend I haven’t seen in a long, long time. I never expected to see her again because she is from Africa. Her name is Kerri the Kangaroo. What are the chances of seeing her on the streets of Hay River! I have been feeling lonely lately. I especially wanted to go back to Africa for a visit, but I don’t have the money. Then God send a friend from Africa to see me. We talked for hours!
POLLY: That’s wonderful, Jolly.
LEO: It’s amazing how God can take care of all His children at the same time. All we have to do is ask Him, and sometimes He takes care of us even when we forget Him.
JOLLY: I know. He loves us so much. Bye the way, do any of you Kids have something to tell about the way God has taken care of you? (wait for answers)
LEO: I bet God takes care of us in more ways than we think possible. I know this week I’m going to try to be more aware of how He takes care of me.
POLLY: Me, too!
JOLLY: That’s a good idea for us all to do. Let’s try to notice all the things God does for us.
JOLLY & POLLY & LEO: Bye, Kids!
(Puppets exit)