Eli

The Ark Moves

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello all! Yesterday we did “Samuel hears God” found HERE. Today’s story is from 1 Samuel 4-7.

The Israelites were living in the promised land (the land God had promised to them). They had a tabernacle (like a church) where they would worship God. Inside the tabernacle, there was a big curtain and behind the big curtain was the Holy of Holies–the special place where God’s Spirit lived and where the chief priest only went one time a year to be with God. There was a box in this special place called an ark. (Not a boat, like Noah’s ark–this was a box). It was called the ark of the covenant. A covenant is like a promise. God had made a promise to always be with His people and to always love them. (He promises us that too!)

This box had a lot of special rules. Only the Levites (the people in charge of the church) could touch it and only in a special way. It was supposed to stay in the tabernacle and stay covered behind the big curtain. If they had to move it, it was supposed to be covered with three blankets so the people couldn’t see it. (The Bible says we can’t look at God because He is so bright and amazing!) God even told Moses EXACTLY how it was supposed to be built. Inside the box they put the rules God gave Moses for the people to obey, they also put Aaron’s staff (his special stick) and they put some manna (that special bread God gave His people). God’s Spirit, His power was over the box. God was very specific in how He wanted it to look and how the people should treat it. They should be very careful and very worshipful. (Because it wasn’t “just” a box–it was God’s Spirit and power.)

 

Samuel was a grown up now and Eli the priest was now a grandpa. He had two boys who were grown ups too. One day, the Israelites went to fight the Philistines and they decided to take the ark of the covenant with them so they could win. (They did not ask God is they could). They fought and fought…but they lost and the Philistines TOOK the ark with them!

Eli’s two sons died during the fight and when Eli heard they died AND that the special box was gone, he fell over in his chair, bonked his head and he died too.

The Philistines took the special box (the ark) to one of their cities and put it next to one of their pretend gods. The next day, they found the pretend god statue face down on the ground in front of the ark (like it was worshipping the REAL God). They put the statue back up and the next day they found it again on the ground, like it was worshipping God, but this time the statue’s head and hands were broken off. The people in that city were scared and then they got very very sick and they decided to move the ark. “That God must not like us having His ark, we should move it!”

So they moved it to a different Philistine city. And all the people in THAT city got sick. They moved it AGAIN and those people got sick too! So they decided maybe they should just send it back to Israel!

They put the ark on a special truck and had two cows pull it. The cows brought the ark back to Israel. When it got to Israel, the Levites (the people in charge of the church who were allowed to touch the ark) carefully took it off the truck. Some of the Israelites didn’t obey God’s rules though and they peeked into the box and then they died.

Then they took the ark to a man’s house. His name was Abinadab. Abinadab loved and obeyed God. His son was put in charge of watching the ark and taking care of it. And it stayed at his house a looooong time. It SHOULD have gone back to the tabernacle…but it didn’t for a long long time.

 

The people did not take care of God’s special box. They did not respect God’s power or His instructions. The people in this story did not ask God if they could take the box from the tabernacle, the Philistines didn’t care about moving the box away from God’s people…the Israelites didn’t obey God and they looked inside…everyone thought God’s power was something THEY could move around. But no one is bigger, stronger, or smarter than God.

God is WONDERFUL and PERFECT and POWERFUL, He can be everywhere at all times and He is bigger than everything and He loves us and takes care of us….isn’t that amazing?! That’s why we worship Him! We love Him and pray to Him, we trust only Him…but the people in this story did not. They thought they could do whatever they wanted with God’s things…instead of respecting God and asking HIM what they should do.

God tells us what He wants us to know in the Bible–we can read His words and know what He wants. When God tells us to do something (or to not do something) we should always obey because we know God’s way is the BEST way.

 

For our craft today, we drew the ark of the covenant. (Instructions from Exodus 25). This is my 5 year olds’ interpretation of what it looked like.

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

 

Hannah Prays

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello all! Today’s lesson is from 1 Samuel 1-2. Last year’s lesson and craft can be found HERE.

During the time of the judges, there lived a woman named Hannah. She was married but she didn’t have any children. More than ANYTHING she wanted to be a mommy. She prayed and prayed and waited and waited…but no baby.

Hannah’s husband loved her very much and wanted her to be happy. But there was another mommy who DID have kids who was very mean to Hannah and said “Ha ha! I have kids and you don’t!”

Sometimes the things people say to us make us feel very bad. These words made Hannah feel worse too.

Each year, Hannah and her husband would travel across Israel to go to the tabernacle (the church) to pray and give their gifts and sacrifices to God.

One year, after a long time praying and waiting, Hannah was so upset, she went outside and prayed. She talked to God and said, “If You will give me a baby, I promise I will teach him about you, and he will serve You his whole life!”

She prayed and cried so much that Eli, the chief priest (the lead caretaker of the tabernacle) came out and said, “Why you are acting so crazy? Have you done something bad?”

“No! I haven’t done anything bad,” answered Hannah. “I was just praying!”

Then God told Eli to say, “May God give you what you have asked of Him.”

Hannah believed the words of God..that she would be given a baby and when she went home, God gave her a baby in her belly! She had a baby boy and named him Samuel. When Samuel was big enough, Hannah taught him all about God, and how God had listened to her and what a wonderful God He is. When Samuel got even a little bigger, Hannah took him back to the tabernacle so he could live with Eli and learn how to serve God.

Hannah promised to raise her baby to love God and to serve in the tabernacle. If God had given her a baby before then, she might not have taken him to the tabernacle to serve God…but God had big plans for Samuel.

God’s plan and His timing is always right. We know God hears us when we pray…but that doesn’t mean we can ask God for everything we want and we will get it right away. Sometimes God says yes, sometimes He says no, and sometimes He has us wait.

Waiting can be hard…but God has a good plan. We can always trust His plan, even if things don’t go our way (like Hannah did). She was a good mommy to teach Samuel about God and she was good woman to trust God, even when it was hard.

 

For our craft today, we just used watercolors to illustrate any part of the story they wanted to.

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“Hannah and the lady that was mean to her”
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“Hannah with a baby in her belly and a polka dot dress”

 

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

Samuel Listens to God

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi friends.

Today we are learning more about little Samuel. This story comes from the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 3.

Remember when Samuel was big enough, his mommy Hannah took him to the tabernacle to live with Eli the priest to learn about God and to serve God. Samuel was getting bigger, and one night he was asleep in the tabernacle when a voice woke him up.

“Samuel!”

“Eli?” said Samuel. He got up and went to Eli. “You called for me?”

“What?! No I didn’t!” replied Eli. “Go back to bed.”

Again, Samuel went to bed, but again he heard “Samuel!”

He got up and went to Eli. “Yes, Eli?”

“I didn’t call you!? Go back to bed.”

So a third time, Samuel laid down to sleep and again, he heard the voice. “Samuel! Samuel!”

This time when Samuel went to Eli, Eli knew it must be God trying to talk to young Samuel. “Go back and listen to what God has to tell you.”

So Samuel went back and laid down. When he heard his name, he said, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

God told Samuel that Eli’s sons had bad some bad choices, and Eli didn’t stop them. Because they had disobeyed God, they would have some bad consequences.

When Samuel got up the next morning, Eli demanded that Samuel tell him what God said. Even though the news wasn’t good for Eli, he knew if God said it, then it would happen.

God talked to Samuel a lot as he got older. The people in Israel believed and they listened to the words of God from Samuel. God gave him a lot of important jobs, because he was willing to serve God and to listen.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that God wants to talk to kids? Just like you! And He has big plans for you. When you pray (talk to God), be sure to listen too. God probably won’t talk out loud to you…but maybe. Sometimes God also uses His spirit to talk to our hearts, and He uses the Bible to tell us what He wants us to know.

*This lesson is also an important one for parents. Eli was punished for not stopping the evil of his sons. It wasn’t his choices, but rather his passive allowance of evil choices by his sons that brought destruction upon Eli. And it is worthy to note, that it took Eli three times to recognize it was God speaking to Samuel. It is easy to miss God, or to assume His voice from others. Spending time with God in prayer and in His word allows us to know His heart and to truly discern the words of God. (A quote I thoroughly enjoy is: Real discernment is not knowing right from wrong, but right from almost-right.) This will also help us lead our children to God. God chose the lesser, the small boy to be His servant and to speak His messages. We can not underestimate God’s love and plan for our children.*

For our craft today, we drew with white crayon on black paper, a sleeping Samuel.

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Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!