Week 14 · about 45 minutes
Ten Good Words on the Mountain
Exodus 20 · Memory verse Psalms 19:7
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Words on the Mountain), the matching word search and answer key (Ten Good Words), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: two paper tablets
Hold up two paper tablets. In about five minutes, tell the class this: God gives the Ten Commandments so his people know how to love him and love each other. Show the prop and ask, “What does this have to do with Ten Good Words on the Mountain?” Let two children answer. Then read Psalms 19:7 together: “Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s testimony is sure, making wise the simple.” Close by asking one child to say the lesson back in their own words, using the prop.
Story script
God called Moses up a mountain wrapped in cloud. The people waited below. God was not trying to be distant. He was giving his rescued people a way to live free. Slaves had been told what to do by a cruel king. Now God would tell them how love works.
He gave ten words. Love God first. Do not bow to statues or use God’s name like a toy. Rest one day in seven. Honor your father and mother. Do not murder, cheat in marriage, steal, lie about your neighbor, or hunger after what belongs to someone else.
The words were not a ladder for showing off. They were a fence around a garden, so life inside could grow. God’s people would break the words many times. The commandments would show them their need, and God would keep being merciful. One day Jesus would fulfill the law with a perfect life and a willing heart.
Rules you understand can feel like care. When a parent says “no grabbing” or “tell the truth,” it sounds a little like Sinai: love God, and love the person next to you. Ask God for a heart that wants the good words, not only a mouth that repeats them.
Group game
Call out a kind action. If it fits loving God or loving people, children hold up the tablets. If not, they sit down and try a better action.
Craft
Write one family rule of love on a stone-shaped paper.
Memory verse
Psalms 19:7
“Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s testimony is sure, making wise the simple.”
Take-home prayer
Lord, your words refresh my soul. Teach me to love you first and to treat people with honor. Amen.