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?

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A Water Solution

Tags

book of Exodus, Children of Israel, God, Moses

Excerpt (from chapter 15) Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme by Marcia Goldlist

After the children of Israel crossed the Sea of Reeds safely they went for three days without finding any water. The children of Israel complained to Moses and Moses asked God what to do. God gave a solution to Moses.

Bible Study Tools

Discuss:

• What happens today when people feel they need something that doesn’t exist?
• We all need water to survive. If you complain because you don’t have something that you really need is it different than complaining that you don’t have something that you just want?

Creative Thinking:

• Many people in the world live without clean water. Do you have a responsibility to help them get clean water? Why or why  not?
• What options did the children of Israel have besides asking God for water to drink?

Homeschool Activities That Everyone Can Use:

• Why do people complain?
• Find out where in the world today people do not have clean drinking water.
• God told Moses to put wood into water to make it taste sweet and good. That is an invention. Research some new inventions that turn unsuitable water into drinking water.
• If the water tasted bitter, but had nothing wrong with it, should the children of Israel have drunk it without rejecting it?
• How much water are people supposed to drink in a day? Why do we need to drink water?
• Think of something that does not exist where you live that you think people would use. Make a plan of how you could create this thing.
• The water that the children of Israel found tasted bitter. After Moses put the wood into the water it tasted sweet and good. Find out how we taste different flavors.

You can buy Enjoying Exodus: The Bible in Rhyme through any Amazon site or the Book Depository.