Week 186 · about 45 minutes
Numbers 27
Numbers 27 · Memory verse Numbers 27:8
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Numbers 27), the matching word search and answer key (Numbers 27 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a cup of water
Hold a cup of water. Read Numbers 27 in about four minutes, stopping at Numbers 27:8: “You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Numbers 27?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Numbers 27 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph came near. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.” 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, “Yahweh said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel.” Numbers 27 opens with these words: “Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of…” The line to keep is Numbers 27:8: “You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter.” Carry the word “speak” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Numbers 27:8: “You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Numbers 27? Then try this: Read “You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall cause his…” 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 27. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Numbers 27:8. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Numbers 27 and write Numbers 27:8 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Numbers 27:8
“You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Numbers 27. Help us remember Numbers 27:8 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.