Week 161 · about 45 minutes
Numbers 2
Numbers 2 · Memory verse Numbers 2:2
Get the free weekly Sunday school and bedtime printable pack
For a parent or teacher. Children do not make accounts here. The pack is a week of printables, not a child profile.
Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Numbers 2), the matching word search and answer key (Numbers 2 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a wooden spoon
Hold a wooden spoon. Read Numbers 2 in about four minutes, stopping at Numbers 2:2: ““The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses: at a distance from the Tent of Meeting shall they encamp around it.”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Numbers 2?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Numbers 2 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,” 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, ““On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their divisions: and the prince of the children of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud.” Numbers 2 opens with these words: “Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,” The line to keep is Numbers 2:2: ““The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses: at a distance from the Tent of Meeting shall…” Carry the word “children” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Numbers 2:2: ““The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses: at a distance from the Tent of Meeting shall they encamp around it.”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Numbers 2? Then try this: Read ““The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’…” 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 Numbers 2. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Numbers 2:2. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Numbers 2 and write Numbers 2:2 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Numbers 2:2
““The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses: at a distance from the Tent of Meeting shall they encamp around it.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Numbers 2. Help us remember Numbers 2:2 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.