Week 177 · about 45 minutes
Numbers 18
Numbers 18 · Memory verse Numbers 18:5
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Numbers 18), the matching word search and answer key (Numbers 18 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a folded cloth
Hold a folded cloth. Read Numbers 18 in about four minutes, stopping at Numbers 18:5: ““You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Numbers 18?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Numbers 18 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your fathers’ house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.” 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, ““But you shall not redeem the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.” Numbers 18 opens with these words: “Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your fathers’ house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons…” The line to keep is Numbers 18:5: ““You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.” Carry the word “perform” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Numbers 18:5: ““You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Numbers 18? Then try this: Read ““You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the…” 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 18. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Numbers 18:5. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Numbers 18 and write Numbers 18:5 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Numbers 18:5
““You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Numbers 18. Help us remember Numbers 18:5 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.