Week 179 · about 45 minutes
Numbers 20
Numbers 20 · Memory verse Numbers 20:1
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Numbers 20), the matching word search and answer key (Numbers 20 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a key
Hold a key. Read Numbers 20 in about four minutes, stopping at Numbers 20:1: “The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Numbers 20?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Numbers 20 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.” 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, “how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers.” Numbers 20 opens with these words: “The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh.…” The line to keep is Numbers 20:1: “The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and…” Carry the word “children” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Numbers 20:1: “The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Numbers 20? Then try this: Read “The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. 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 20. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Numbers 20:1. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Numbers 20 and write Numbers 20:1 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Numbers 20:1
“The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Numbers 20. Help us remember Numbers 20:1 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.