God Wants Our Best

Excerpt from Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme by Marcia Goldlist              

God told Moses exactly what spices and in what amount He wanted to inaugurate the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony.

Discussion Questions:

• Does God really like things such as spices?
• What does it mean to inaugurate something?
• God asked specific spices to be mixed together. He specified that they were to be the best of these species. Picking the best spices might be easy, but can we always do our best?

Creative Thinking:

• What difference could the exact mixture of the spices make to God?
• God told  Moses to take the choice of the spices. Make a list of when people take the best of something.

Activities for Homeschooling and Afterschooling:

• Find out what types of things are inaugurated and why.
• Research spices.
• Do you believe that God likes earthly pleasures such as the smell of spices? Explain.
• Research how we smell.
• Most people do not do their best all the time. Explain what makes you do your best?
• God tells Moses to take the choice of the spices. Do you think that there was a chance that Moses would not have taken the best of the spices for inaugurating the tent of meeting and the ark of testimony?
•  Do you think that Moses ever got tired of God telling him what to do? Explain.

 

 

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The Significance of Ritual

Tags

Aaron, water

Excerpt from Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme by Marcia Goldlist

Aaron and his sons and their future generations are to wash their hands and feet before serving God.

Discussion Questions:

• What does spiritual cleansing mean?
• Do you think that the washing was used for a physical or spiritual cleaning?
• Washing before serving would have been a ritual.
  • What is ritual?
  • How could a ritual help people concentrate on their job?

Creative Thinking:

• Give as many reasons as you can for why washing hands and feet would be important?
• Why would the feet and hands be picked for cleansing?

Activities for Homeschool and Afterschool:

• Research how water cleans.
• Research a ritual from another cultural that you didn’t know about before.
• Write a diary entry for the water about how it felt being used to wash the hands and face of Aaron and his sons.
• Write a comic strip featuring the hands and feet talking to each other during the washing ritual.
• Write a tweet or a blog post for a descendant of Aaron being washed for the first time.
• How do you think Aaron’s thoughts would differ from that of a descendant while being washed for the first time?
• Research ways to wash yourself when there is no water available.
• See how many different things you can find that water is good for.

Priesthood Was a Job for Life

Tags

Aaron, priesthood

Excerpt from Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme by Marcia Goldlist

The priesthood was a job given to Aaron, and his sons, and his descendants for ever.

Discussion Questions:

• Do you like it when people ask you what you want to be when you grow up?
• How would you feel if you knew what job you would have because you were born into a specific family?
• Would you like not having to think about what you were going to do when you grow up?
• Do you think that you would resent not being able to pick your profession?

Creative Thinking:

• It was common for people to learn a profession and stick with it for life. Today that is uncommon. Write a list of advantages and disadvantages for staying with a profession for life and for frequent changes in profession.
• Do you think that a descendant of Aaron would do a better job than someone else because his family had always done the same job?
• Do you think that it is more important to like a job, be good at a job, or make a good living from a job. Explain your answer.

Activities for Homeschooling and Afterschooling:

• Pick a job that you might want to do when you get older. Outline all the steps that you will need to accomplish in order to get that particular job.
• Is there a difference between a job and a profession? If so what is the difference.
• Do you think that you are more qualified for a job if you train for it as an apprentice or if you study for it in University? Explain your answer.
• Write a journal entry explaining how you feel when you get to the age of going into the priesthood like your brothers, father, grandfather, etc.
• Write a journal entry from someone who really would like to be a priest but can’t because he is not of the lineage of Aaron.
• Do you think that you would worry more or less about doing a good job as priest because your whole family is part of the priesthood? Explain.
• Write a song or a poem explaining how you feel about your life being mapped out for you.

Oil in the Bible

Tags

Moses, oil

Excerpt from Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme by Marcia Goldlist

Moses was told to take anointment oil and put it on Aaron’s head before he performed his sacred duty. 

Discussion Questions:

• What exactly is oil? Where does it come from?
• What does it mean to anoint someone?
• What would have been the purpose of the anointment?
• Do you think that you would feel special being anointed by oil? Explain.

Creative Thinking:

• Why do you think that God chose oil for anointing people?
• What do you think is the difference between a ceremony using water and one using oil?
• What do you think is the significance of the oil being poured over the head?

Activities for Homeschooling and Afterschooling:

• Research oil. From what can we make oil? What were its uses throughout history?
• Research who was anointed with oil and the reasons given for its use.
• Write a journal entry for a priest who was just anointed with oil.
• Make some oil. Write down the steps that you took to make it.
• Take different types of oil and pour them into different containers. Mark each oil so that only you know which is which. Ask someone to touch, smell, taste, and feel the various oils. See if they can tell the difference between them.
•  Make a diagram of how oil was made in ancient times and one for how it is made today.
• Make up a song or poem about oil.
• What are the health benefits and hazards to our health of eating oil. Make a chart with at least three different kinds of oil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does it Matter How We Get to the End Product?

Tags

altar, book of Exodus, Children of Israel, God

Excerpt from Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme by Marcia Goldlist

God told the children of Israel to build an altar. However, he told them that if they used a sword in building the altar, it would desecrate it 

Discuss:

• What does it mean to be desecrated?
• If you are told to build a house, does it matter what tools you use? If it doesn’t matter why did God care if the children of Israel built an altar using a sword?
• Can any item be used for both good and bad?

Creative Thinking:

• Are swords “instruments of war” or “instruments used in war”? Make a list of points for each side of the argument.
• Why would God say not to use a “sword” rather than saying “an instrument of war”?
• If you take the ‘s’ from sword and put it at the end of the word you get “words’. What is the relationship between a sword and words?
• Think of at least five ways to suggest making a desecrated altar holy.

Homeschool Bible Activities:

• Make a list of tools that would be acceptable to God to make an altar.
• Make a list of tools that would probably not be acceptable to God to make an altar.
• Explain why building an altar to be used in the service of God should be pure from the start.
• Find other verses in the Bible with “sword” in them.
• Think of at least five reasons that God would care what tools were used to create an altar.
• Research the origin of the sword.
• In what things today does it matter how you get to a final purpose?
• What were the advantages of using a sword in war?
• Research how various altars were used in different religions and /or in different countries.
• God cared what the children of Israel used to make the altar. Try to justify to God using a sword that was never used in war?

Helping Others

Tags

Aaron, Christian blog, helping others, Hur, Jewish blog

Excerpt from Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme (chapter 17) by Marcia Goldlist

Moses raised his hands to motivate the children of Israel who were fighting Amalek. His hands grew tired and Hur and Aaron helped him.

Discussion Questions Related to Needing Help:

• Have you ever needed physical help?
  • How did it make you feel?
• Have you ever needed help with something that was not physical?
  • How was this different than needing help with something physical?

Creative Thinking:

• Is it harder to help someone with something physical or mental? Why?
• Moses needed support for his arms. This is physical support. People also need mental support. List ways that you can support your friends.

Homeschool Activities (for Language Arts, ministries, youth groups, discussions around the table, and thinking):

• Moses raised his hand to motivate the children of Israel. What are ways that you can help motivate someone?
• Create a campaign for your neighborhood to encourage neighbors to help other neighbors. Use at least two of the following media:
  • local newspaper advertisement
  • flyer
  • twitter
  • billboard
  • door-to-door campaign
  • Facebook
  • school paper
• Write a journal entry for Moses about how he felt to be helped by Hur and Aaron.
• How did the stone feel to be used as a chair to help Moses motivate the children of Israel?
• It is hard to stand for a long time with your hand in the air. Develop exercises to strengthen the arm. Create a memo which you can circulate to people explaining what to do and why.
•  Moses was obviously exhausted. Write about exhaustion.
• We are not told that Hur and Aaron were asked for help by Moses. What are signs that someone needs help?

Pharaoh’s Servants Ask Pharaoh to Let the Children of Israel Go

Tags

Children of Israel, God, plague

Excerpt from Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme by Marcia Goldlist

Pharaoh’s servants have had enough. They ask Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go to serve their God as they have asked to do.

Bible Study Tools

Discussion Questions:

• If God is everywhere why would the children of Israel have to leave Egypt to serve their God?
• Pharaoh kept the children of Israel against their will. Is it ever right to keep people against their will?
• Pharaoh was stopping the children of Israel from practicing their religion. Was that okay?

Creative Thinking Questions:

• People in jail are kept against their will. Should they be given a choice of doing something else instead of spending time in jail? What would some of the choices be?
• What reasons can you think of to not let someone practice their religion?

Homeschool Activities for Those who Homeschool as well as Those who do Not Homeschool:

• Research communism as it was in the Soviet Union and how the people were not allowed to practice religion.
• Check if there is any country today that does not let people practice their religion as they would like.
• People in jail are not free to leave. Are they free to practice their religion? Do they have any restrictions?
• What aspects of religion require people to be free?
• The children of Israel wanted to make sacrifices. Research sacrifices.
• Would sacrifice or prayer be a more meaningful experience for you? Why?
  • If you do not think either prayer or sacrifice are meaningful describe some form of ritual which would have some meaning to you.
• Research prayer.
• Make a chart with the similarities and differences between sacrifice and prayer.
• Pharaoh’s servants wanted Pharaoh to let the children of Israel to go free because they were afraid of the plagues from God. Have you ever given in to someone because you were afraid?
  • How did it make you feel?
  • Do you think that it is the same or different than Pharaoh‘s servants asking Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go so that they would not have any more plagues from God.

Pharaoh is Given a Warning

Tags

God, Moses, Pharaoh, plagues

Excerpt from Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme by Marcia Goldlist

God tells Moses to instruct Pharaoh that anything or anyone who he does not bring in from the field and conceal will be struck down from hail.

Bible Study Tools

Discussion Questions:

• God told Moses to give a warning to Pharaoh. When is it good to give a warning to people?
• What are consequences?
• Pharaoh is told that everything should be brought in from the field and concealed. Who or what are these things and animals being concealed from?
• God set down the consequences very clearly of what would happen to any people or animals found in the field. Why is it good to tell people what the consequences of their actions will be?

Creative Thinking:

• When is it not a good idea to give a warning to someone?
• When is it a bad idea to tell people consequences of their actions?

Homeschool Activities that are also good for non-homeschoolers:

• Write someone a warning about something.
• What kind of warnings are you given? Do you heed them or not? Why?
• Compare a punishment with a consequence. How are they the same and how are they different?
• Research hail.
• Write a poem about hail.
• Describe how you like to be asked to do something and why.
• Interview Pharaoh about his decision to bring his people and animals inside.
• Body language can tell us a lot about what a person really feels. Describe Pharaoh‘s body language while Moses was telling him what God said.

 

Go to Work

Tags

Pharaoh

Excerpt from Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme by Marcia Goldlist

Bible Study Tools

Bible Talk

Discuss:

• Why do adults go to work?
• Does anyone really like work?
• What do you think most people would do if they didn’t have to go to work?

Creative Thinking:

• What are different things people do to get out of work?
• What are the various ways that the children of Israel could keep up their production of bricks and collect the straw needed?
• Write a list of pros and cons for the new edict from the point of view of Pharaoh’s advisers.

Homeschool Activities:

• Research different ways of making bricks.
• Write a flyer to be given out to the children of Israel explaining that they must now find their own straw and keep up their production of bricks.
• Write a dialogue among some of the children of Israel discussing their new situation.
• Write a dialogue among some of the Egyptians discussing the new situation for the children of Israel.
• Explain the benefit of loving your job.
• Name a job that you would really like and explain why you would like it.
• Name a job that you would really hate and explain why you would hate it.
• Why do you think that some people prefer manual labor and others prefer desk jobs?

Check out lots of discussion and creative thinking questions, as well as lots of activities for the book of Genesis with Enjoying Genesis: The Bible in Rhyme Workbook!

Moses and Aaron Ask Pharaoh to Let the Children of Israel Go

Tags

Aaron, Children of Israel, Moses, Pharaoh

Excerpt from Enjoying Genesis: The Bible in Rhyme by Marcia Goldlist

Bible Study Tools

Bible Talk

Discuss:

• The children of Israel were Pharaoh’s slaves. Why would Moses and Aaron think that Pharaoh would let the children of Israel leave Egypt?
• If Pharaoh cared about God would he have treated the children of Israel so badly?
• What did Pharaoh mean when he said that he did not know God?
• What is slavery?

Creative Thinking:

• If you were Pharaoh under what conditions would you consider letting the children of Israel leave Egypt?
• Why would Moses and Aaron ask that the children of Israel be able to go and honor God?

Homeschooling Activities:

• Write a dialogue between Moses and Aaron deciding what to say to Pharaoh.
• What other peoples have been enslaved?
• Write about how another group of people got out of slavery.
• Write about slavery.
• Research Egypt.
• Research the pharaohs.
• Write about what the children of Israel did under slavery.
• Do you think that Moses and Aaron asking Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go into the wilderness to honor God was any less extreme than asking that they be let go from slavery?