Week 234 · about 45 minutes
Joshua 5
Joshua 5 · Memory verse Joshua 5:7
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Joshua 5), the matching word search and answer key (Joshua 5 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a smooth stone
Hold a smooth stone. Read Joshua 5 in about four minutes, stopping at Joshua 5:7: “Their children, whom he raised up in their place, were circumcised by Joshua; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Joshua 5?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Joshua 5 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “When all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how Yahweh had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we had crossed over, their heart melted, and there was no more spirit in them, because of the children of Israel.” 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, “When they were done circumcising the whole nation, they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed.” Joshua 5 opens with these words: “When all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard…” The line to keep is Joshua 5:7: “Their children, whom he raised up in their place, were circumcised by Joshua; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way.” Carry the word “children” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Joshua 5:7: “Their children, whom he raised up in their place, were circumcised by Joshua; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Joshua 5? Then try this: Read “Their children, whom he raised up in their place, were circumcised by Joshua; for they were uncircumcised,…” 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 Joshua 5. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Joshua 5:7. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Joshua 5 and write Joshua 5:7 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Joshua 5:7
“Their children, whom he raised up in their place, were circumcised by Joshua; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Joshua 5. Help us remember Joshua 5:7 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.