Deborah and Barak

Deborah and Barak

Central Truth: God calls whomever he wishes to serve him.

Scriptures: Judges 4

Again the Israelites did evil. Jabin, a king of Canaan, oppressed them for twenty years. The judge at this time was Deborah, a prophetess and the only female judge. She lived in the hill country of Ephraim. While sitting under a palm tree, the children of Israel came to her for judgment. 

Deborah called for Barak out of Naphtali and said that God commanded to take 10,000 men of Israel from Naphtali and Zebulun to Mount Tabor. God would draw the Canaanite army to Barak and delivered the Canaanites into his hands, but Barak would not be the one to destroy the captain of the Canaanite army, Sisera. Instead, Deborah is chosen for that task.

Bible Scrapbook

Each week the children will be adding to their scrapbooks what they have learned during Sunday School.  The first addition to our scrapbooks was inspired by the Judges Lapbook found on the Bible Fun for Kids website. We added a page about Shamgar, the Judge who defeated the Philistines. Then we added a page for Deborah:

And then we had some fun! I found a wonderful coloring page at the Christian Resources Today website. On a blank page in our scrapbooks, we used glue sticks to glue miniature palm tree leaves on the page.

After we colored our coloring pages, we trimmed them down and glued them on top of the leaves.

Deborah and Barak coloring page on the left. On the following pages, I wrote out the Song of Deborah and Barak found in Judges 5:2-31.

Ehud's Dagger

The Book of the Judges

Central Truth: God can use any person and situation to accomplish his will.

Scriptures: Judges 3:12-30

The story of the Judges of Israel is a period of time between the death of Joshua and the establishment of the United Kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon. During this time, the government of Israel was a loose confederation of tribes gathered around the Tabernacle. There was no national leader like Moses and Joshua. The judges were merely tribal leaders who usually led their own tribes and perhaps surrounding ones.

When Israel was conquered by the king of Mesopotamia, they had turned away from God and was worshipping idols. They served the king of Mesopotamia for eight years until they repented and God sent Othniel, Caleb’s younger brother, to deliver them. The next enemy was Eglon, king of Moab, who conquered Jericho with his allies. When the Israelites cried out to God, he sent Ehud from the tribe of Benjamin to deliver them.

Bible Scrapbook

Each week the children will be adding to their scrapbooks what they have learned during Sunday School. We now begin our study of the Book of Judges. As an introduction to Judges, I found some fun charts and maps to add to our scrapbooks:

I was also inspired by the Judges Lapbook found on the Bible Fun For Kids website. We are using parts of the lapbook to include in our scrapbooks:

Othniel the Judge before Ehud.

Othniel means "Lion of God."

The Land Promise Fulfilled

The allocation of the land to the 12 Tribes of Israel (from freebibleimages.org).

Central Truth: God always fulfills his promises.

Scriptures: Joshua 21:43-45; 24

Joshua had been chosen by God to succeed Moses and became the military captain and master of strategy for Israel. For Joshua to conquer Canaan, it was necessary to conquer the strategically located city of Jericho and then conquering the cities of Ai and Bethel in the heart of the central hill country, dividing the land in two. Joshua could easily campaign against both the south and the north. First, he conquered the southern region of Canaan, and then he conquered the northern region. When the land finally rested from war, Joshua, Eleazar, and the heads of the tribes of Israel cast lots among the twelve tribes. Each of the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received a portion of land along with the other sons of Jacob. The Levites did not receive any land except for forty-eight cities for them to dwell. Since the Levites’ responsibility was to serve the religious needs of the people, they were scattered throughout the entire land.

Bible Scrapbook

Each week the children will be adding to their scrapbooks what they have learned during Sunday School.  This time we added a fun coloring page with the scripture:

"And the people said to Joshua we will serve the Lord our God and obey Him."

Joshua 24:24

After we colored our pages, we cut them to fit into our notebooks and glued them down. Then we added embellishment with blue glittery washi tape.