Week 115 · about 45 minutes
Exodus 23
Exodus 23 · Memory verse Exodus 23:9
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Exodus 23), the matching word search and answer key (Exodus 23 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a piece of bread
Hold a piece of bread. Read Exodus 23 in about four minutes, stopping at Exodus 23:9: ““You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Exodus 23?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Exodus 23 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, ““You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.” Exodus 23 opens with these words: ““You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.” The line to keep is Exodus 23:9: ““You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” Carry the word “oppress” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Exodus 23:9: ““You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Exodus 23? Then try this: Read ““You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of…” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through Exodus 23. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Exodus 23:9. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Exodus 23 and write Exodus 23:9 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Exodus 23:9
““You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Exodus 23. Help us remember Exodus 23:9 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.