Week 246 · about 45 minutes
Joshua 18
Joshua 18 · Memory verse Joshua 18:3
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Joshua 18), the matching word search and answer key (Joshua 18 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 Joshua 18 in about four minutes, stopping at Joshua 18:3: “Joshua said to the children of Israel, “How long will you neglect to go in to possess the land, which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you?” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Joshua 18?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Joshua 18 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land was subdued before them.” 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 south quarter was from the farthest part of Kiriath Jearim. The border went out westward, and went out to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah.” Joshua 18 opens with these words: “The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land…” The line to keep is Joshua 18:3: “Joshua said to the children of Israel, “How long will you neglect to go in to possess the land, which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you?” Carry the word “joshua” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Joshua 18:3: “Joshua said to the children of Israel, “How long will you neglect to go in to possess the land, which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you?” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Joshua 18? Then try this: Read “Joshua said to the children of Israel, “How long will you neglect to go in to possess the land, which…” 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 18. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Joshua 18:3. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Joshua 18 and write Joshua 18:3 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Joshua 18:3
“Joshua said to the children of Israel, “How long will you neglect to go in to possess the land, which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you?”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Joshua 18. Help us remember Joshua 18:3 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.