Week 237 · about 45 minutes
Joshua 9
Joshua 9 · Memory verse Joshua 9:9
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Joshua 9), the matching word search and answer key (Joshua 9 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a folded cloth
Hold a folded cloth. Read Joshua 9 in about four minutes, stopping at Joshua 9:9: “They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of Yahweh your God; for we have heard of his fame, all that he did in Egypt,” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Joshua 9?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Joshua 9 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it” 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, “The men sampled their provisions, and didn’t ask counsel from Yahweh’s mouth.” Joshua 9 opens with these words: “When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of…” The line to keep is Joshua 9:9: “They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of Yahweh your God; for we have heard of his fame, all that he did in…” Carry the word “servants” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Joshua 9:9: “They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of Yahweh your God; for we have heard of his fame, all that he did in Egypt,” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Joshua 9? Then try this: Read “They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of Yahweh your God;…” 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 9. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Joshua 9:9. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Joshua 9 and write Joshua 9:9 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Joshua 9:9
“They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of Yahweh your God; for we have heard of his fame, all that he did in Egypt,”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Joshua 9. Help us remember Joshua 9:9 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.