Twelve Men Go Into Canaan

"It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways." Psalm 95:10

After the commandments were given to the Israelites they continued on their journey. The ark where the commandments were kept was carried with them and God traveled with them. He made a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night so they could see him. 

When they came near to the land called Canaan Moses sent twelve men to see the land. They came back, carrying a large bunch of grapes between two of them on a pole. They said the land was full of strong cities and strong men. Some of the men said that they wouldn't be able to win the land and they would all be killed. Only two men, Joshua and Caleb, said they shouldn't fear because God had promised to save them and give them the land. The other people didn't listen and they cried out that they should have stayed in Egypt. They threw stones at Moses and Aaron when they tried to quiet them. 

God showed them His glory and would have abandoned them in that moment if Moses hadn't quickly prayed for them. Instead of abandoning them, God said no one who had said they would fail would enter into the land. They had to stay in the wilderness until all of the adult men, except Joshua and Caleb, had died and their children were grown. Then their children, who had learned to trust God and do as he said, would be the ones to live in the promised land.

QUESTIONS

1. How did the Israelites know which way to go in the wilderness ?

2. What was the ark ?

3. What was in it ?

4. How did God show them His Presence?

5. Whom did Moses send to look at the land ?

6. What did these men bring back?

7. But what did they say of the country?

8. Who were afraid ?

9. Why was it wrong to be afraid ?

10. Who only were not afraid ?

11. What were the people ready to do?

12. How were they punished ?

13. How long were they to stay in the wilderness ?

14. Who would die?

15. Who would grow up to go in?

16. Who were the two good brave men?

17. What was promised to Joshua and Caleb?

Moses Destroys the Golden Calf

"Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God." Deut. 7:9

Moses stayed on Mount Sinai for 40 days. The Israelites didn't know what happened to him. They thought he'd died because he'd been gone for so long. Even though they'd heard God's voice speaking to them, they grew impatient and didn't want to wait. So they said they wanted something to worship since Moses was gone. They took their gold earrings and melted them down and made a golden calf. Then they began to worship this idol, and they sang, danced and had a feast. 

Moses came down off of Mount Sinai with the tablets God had written. He heard shouting and singing, then saw people dancing around the golden calf. He grew angry at them and threw the two tablets down on the ground. They broke into pieces. He punished the Israelites for disobeying and he broke the calf to pieces and ground it up.

Then he prayed to God to forgive them. God did, and Moses received two new tablets of stone with the commandments written on them.

QUESTIONS

1. Where did Moses go?

2. What was God going to give him ?

3. Who were left below ?

4. What did the Israelites want?

5. What did they make of their earrings ?

6. What is the Second Commandment ?

7. How did they break the Second Commandment ?

8. What did Moses do with the tablets?

11. Why did he throw them down?

12. What did he do with the golden calf?

13. What did he do then?

14. What did God do?

God Writes the Ten Commandments

"The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire." Deuteronomy 5:4

When God spoke the Ten Commandments, he called Moses to speak with Him in the cloud. Moses was the only man that spoke to God this way. 

God gave him two blocks of stone where He'd written the Ten Commandments with His own finger. Then God told them to make a chest - an ark - to keep the commandments in. He told Moses to make it from wood, cover it with gold, and have two cherubims - angels - on each side. This chest was called the Ark of the Covenant. 

God told Moses to put the Ark inside of a room in a tent. He told him how to make the room, how to make the curtains for the tent and everything they would need to carry it with them. This was called the Tabernacle and it was a holy place. The Israelites could pray in front of the Tabernacle but they couldn't go inside because it was going to be God's holy place. The room where the Ark was kept was called the Holy of Holies. Only the priest God chose could enter that room.

The first High Priest God chose was Moses' brother, Aaron. God gave Moses instructions on how to make Aaron's clothing. He had a beautiful tunic to wear and a cap with a "Holiness to the Lord" etched on it. Aaron was also made an embroidered robe, decorated with bells and pomegranates and a blue scarf over his chest. He was to wear a breast plate and on it would be twelve precious stones, each carved with the name of a tribe of Israel. Then Aaron would always have them nearby, on his heart and his mind, when he prayed to God. 

God gave Moses all of these instructions while on the mountain, and Moses went back to the people to tell them what to do.

QUESTIONS

1. What was given to Moses on Mount Sinai?

2. Who spoke the Commandments ?

3. To whom did God give them ?

4. What were they written on ?

5. Who wrote them ?

6. Where were they to be kept ?

7. What was the chest like ?

8. What was the chest called ?

9. Where was Moses to put the chest ?

10. What was the room called ?

11. Who could go near the Holy of Holies?

12. Who was the first High Priest?

13. Who was Aaron?

14. What was Aaron supposed to wear?

15. Why couldn't the people come inside ?

God Gave the Israelites Manna From Heaven

"He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not." Deut. 8:3

God gave the Israelites water to drink, but he also gave them food to eat.

All around the land were hard stones. There was some grass for the animals to eat, and a few trees, but they didn't have any fruit on them and there wasn't any corn to make bread. The people grew hungry and they started to complain. "What will happen to us?" They cried.

But God didn't forget them. When they woke up the next morning they found small, white discs on the ground. They tasted like wafers made with honey. 

This was called manna, and God had sent it to them to eat. It was there every morning except on the Sabbath. They had to wake up early to gather it, because it would melt in the sun. They had just enough for what they needed for the day. It would spoil if it was saved for the next day. The only day they could gather and save more was Friday, the day before their Sabbath day. This was because God had told them not to work on Saturday, the Sabbath day, and gathering the manna was considered work. Today, most people in the protestant church takes Sunday as a Sabbath day. 

The fourth commandment tells us to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. All the time the Israelites were in the wilderness, the manna came to them each morning so they could have food. 

QUESTIONS

1. Where were the Israelites ?

2. What did they drink in the wilderness?

3. What else did they want?

4. Why could they not get bread ?

5. What did God give them instead ?

6. What was the manna like ?

7. Where did it lie?

8. When was the manna on the grass?

9. Who was to eat it?

10. Who sent it?

11. What became of it in hot sunshine?

12. Would it stay fresh?

13. What was the only day when it could be saved?

14. How much came down the day before the Sabbath?

15. What could not be done on the Sabbath?

16. What is the Fourth Commandment?

17. So why did they get twice as much manna the day before ?

18. When did no manna come?

19. What day do we take as our Sabbath?

The Brass Serpent Cures the Israelites

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." John 3:14

The Israelites weren't very patient. Anytime they had a problem, they began to complain and worry. They didn't remember that God was taking care of them and He does what is best for us. 

There was part of the journey that covered a lot of steep, stony ground. It was very hot and uncomfortable. When the Israelites saw the path ahead they started to complain and spoke out against God and Moses.

So again God punished them. He made little snakes that live in the desert come out of their hiding places. The snakes bit the complainers and they died. The others then said they were sorry and to please make the snakes stop. 

God told Moses what to do. Moses had to melt some brass and made the form of a serpent, one that looked like the little snakes that had bitten them, and put it on a pole. If anyone who had been bitten would come and look at the brass serpent his bite would get well and he wouldn't die.

This was a miracle God provided to teach the Israelites to trust in him. And we remember the brass serpent even today. If you look at the mark of a doctor today, the mark is a serpent on a pole. This image still stands for healing today.

QUESTIONS

1. What sort of place did the Israelites have to travel over?

2. How did they like it ?

3. What did they do?

4. Why shouldn't they have complained?

5. Who had been taking care of them?

6. How did God punish them?

7. What happened when the serpents bit them ?

8. What were they sorry for ?

9. What did Moses have to make?

10. Where did he put the brazen serpent?

11. What were they to do if they were bit?

12. What cured them?

God Provides Water from a Rock

"Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God." Deut. 6:16

A desert is full of rocks and sand, prickly plants and no water. Do you remember the story of Ishmael and how thirsty he was in the desert? God heard him crying for water and sent an angel to lead his mother to a well.

When the Israelites left Egypt, they were traveling through this wilderness. Mount Sinai stood up in the midst and all around them were rocks of red and black marble, all dry and parched under the hot sun. The Israelites were hot and thirsty, but they didn't pray as Ishmael had. Instead, they grew angry and said, "Is God with us or not?"

They tempted God by complaining. God could have punished them for complaining, but God showed mercy to them and pitied them. He told Moses to take his staff and go to a nearby rock. When Moses struck the rock God made a spring of water flow from it. All the people and their animals had enough to drink. 

God performed this great wonder and was very kind to provide for them, even though they were complaining. God was close to them and was with them all the time. They could have prayed instead of complaining. 

Don't be like the Israelites. When something hard happens, don't complain about it, but pray and God will help you. Either the problem will go away or you will better be able to handle it.

QUESTIONS

1. Where had the Israelites come from?

2. Who was leading them ?

3. What kind of place did they get into ?

4. What is a desert like ?

5. What was the mountain in the middle of the desert ?

6. What can't be found in the desert ?

7. Who was the boy that was thirsty there before ?

8. What did Ishmael do when he was thirsty ?

9. But what did the Israelites do ?

10. What did they say ?

11. What should they have done instead?

12. Did God punish them?

14. What did Moses strike?

15. What came out of the rock?

16. Who made the water come out of the rock ?

17. Wasn't it good of God to give them water?

19. What should you do when a thing is hard ?

Aaron Chosen as the High Priest

"The rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." Numbers 17:8

God chose the high priest and his job was to offer sacrifices. The priest had to kill a lamb, goat or a bull by the altar and give it to God. This was before Jesus came. Jesus was the Son of God, and he died on the cross to take away our sin. Now that He has come and died, we don't sacrifice animals to God anymore. We remember Jesus' sacrifice when we take communion at church. 

The high priest had a beautiful tunic to wear. He wore a mitre on his head with a gold plate on it, and the words "Holiness unto the Lord". He wore a blue, red and white robe embroidered with gold and bells and pomegranates around the hem. He wore a scarf called an ephod and a breastplate made of twelve precious stones, each engraved with a name of a tribe of Israel. 

God said He would choose the high priest, so He told Moses to tell the chief man of each tribe to bring him a dry rod or staff and put them in the Holy Place of the tabernacle they built. The one whose rod would grow again, just as if it were still on a tree, would be the high priest. When the men returned the next morning, one of the rods had budded with green leaves and white flowers while the other eleven were still dry branches. It was Aaron's rod. This was God's way of letting the Israelites know that Aaron and his sons and grandsons after him were always to be priests. 

QUESTIONS

1. What was a priest?

2. What was his job?

3. What was a sacrifice?

4. How was it offered?

5. What creatures were killed ?

6. Where were they put ?

7. What was this to make the children of Israel think of?

8. Why don't we kill animals now?

9. Who has been sacrificed?

10. What did the high-priest wear on his head ?

11. What color was his dress?

12. How was it decorated?

13. What was on his chest?

14. What did God say He would show them?

15. What were the twelve men told to bring ?

16. Where were the rods put ?

17. What was to show who should be priest?

18. What were the eleven rods like in the morning?

19. But how did one look?

20. Whose was it?

21. What was Aaron chosen to be?

More Plagues On Egypt

"There is none like me in all the earth." Exodus 9:14

God spoke to Moses from a burning bush and told him to lead the children of Israel away from the people in Egypt who were cruel to them. 

But the king of Egypt, called Pharaoh, wouldn't let them go. God sent plagues to them as a message and punishment, but Pharaoh wouldn't change his mind. God sent ten plagues, and you hear about three of them to this day.

First, the sheep and cows that the Egyptians worshiped got sick and died. Then the people got sick and had sores all over their body. Then God sent a terrible storm with thunder and lightning and hail so big it killed anyone in the fields and broke all the tree branches. Pharaoh was frightened at the storm and said the people could go. 

So Moses prayed to God and the storm stopped. When everything was still again, Pharaoh changed his mind and said the people couldn't leave. God continued to be angry at him for this. 

Sometimes we're a little bit like Pharaoh when we say, "No, I won't," when we're asked to do something. Even when we're punished, we stay stubborn and say, "No one will force me to do that!" And we make our hearts hard when we do this. It's sad because this hardness is wrong. It hurts us and it hurts God. 

Pray to God to help you when you feel stubborn and feel your heart harden. Ask him to teach you to obey. And don't forget and do the same thing again when the punishment is over, or it will have done you no good and you will have to be punished again. 

QUESTIONS

1. What did God want Pharaoh to do?

2. Who spoke God's words to Pharaoh ?

3. But what did Pharaoh say ?

4. Who was Pharaoh?

5. Who was Moses?

6. What was done to Pharaoh ?

7. Did he mind ?

8. Tell me the three plagues we hear of today.

9. How many plagues were there in all ?

10. What happened in the thunderstorm ?

11. What did Pharaoh say when he was frightened?

12. So what stopped?

13. But did he let the people go?

14. What fault in us is the same as Pharaoh's?

15. What should we do?

16. Who can help us to fight with their obstinate temper?

17. But how must we get God's help?

Plagues Over Egypt

"I will redeem you with a stretched out arm." Exodus 6:6

The Israelites were very unhappy because Pharaoh was cruel to them and they all thought it was Moses' fault. But Moses told them they would be saved and God was going to show them His power and they would remember what He had done for them. He was going to punish Pharaoh because he wouldn't obey him.

God made His power known so that Pharaoh and the children of Israel would know he was the great Lord of heaven and earth and must be obeyed. 

First, Moses stretched out his staff and all of the water in the river turned into blood. For seven days is was all one red stream of blood. Even the water stored in jars was turned to blood. Seven days later Moses stretched the staff out again and it turned back into pure water. But Pharaoh still didn't let them go. 

Then, God sent frogs into the land. There were so many frogs they came into the houses. They were in the bedrooms and the tables - everywhere. Pharaoh couldn't bear them and he said if the frogs would go away he would let the children of Israel go. 

Moses prayed to God and the frogs died. But Pharaoh changed his mind again and wouldn't let the people leave. 

So God sent lice to the people. Lice are a bug, a parasite, that lives on blood from the human scalp. The Egyptians couldn't bear anything dirty, but Pharaoh didn't care. 

Next, God sent swarms of flies into the cities. The flies were buzzing everywhere and even stinging people. Pharaoh said again he would let the people leave, but as soon as the flies died he changed his mind again. 

He was trying to fight against God, and that's why God allowed this miseries on him and the Egyptian people. If people will not do better after being punished, worse and worse is sure to come on them.

QUESTIONS

l. How did God punish Pharaoh ?

2. What four plagues have I told you of today ?

3. Why did these dreadful things happen?

4. Did Pharaoh care about them?

5. Why did he not mind them ?

6. What happens to those who do not mind being punished ?

Moses and Aaron Go to Egypt

"And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord?" Exodus 5:2

God promised Moses help, so he sent his brother Aaron to help him deliver God's message. They went to Pharaoh and told him that the people were to leave and go worship God. But Pharaoh asked, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I don't know the Lord and I won't let Israel go." 

Then he became more cruel to the children of Israel. He made them work harder and beat them if they didn't do all the work given to them. They were making bricks, and Pharaoh made them make bricks but didn't give them the straw they needed. He said they needed to find it themselves but they needed to make just as many bricks as before.

The children of Israel cried out and were angry with Moses. They said he'd brought more trouble on them. They were miserable and wished Moses and Aaron hadn't come. They said he made them worse off instead of better.

Aaron was a better speaker than Moses, and that's why God sent him to help Moses. Aaron spoke to the Israelites and asked them to wait just a bit longer. Soon it would be over and they wouldn't have to make bricks anymore and would then go to the beautiful country God had for them. Some of the Israelite's remembered their grandfathers and great-grandfathers had described that country they'd come from. They'd been told it was a country with steep hills and a river, green valleys and bright streams, thick woods, gardens and vineyards.

Cows were in the pastures and the wild rocks and hollow trees filled with bees nests, so it was called a land of milk and honey. The Israelites should have wanted to hear of this place, but they didn't care. They wanted to know what they were going to have for supper instead of thinking about a land far away. 

People are often like that when they care about the "right now" instead of the "by and by." If we want just what pleases us today, instead of caring what will be good for us as we grow older, we become stubborn like the Israelites who wouldn't listen to Moses or God.

QUESTIONS

1. Who was Pharaoh ?

2. Who were the children of Israel?

3. Who had been sent to call them ?

4. What did Pharaoh say to Moses?

5. How did he use the Israelites?

6. What would he not give them?

7. Who was Moses brother?

8. What was Aaron to do for Moses ?

9. Who spoke to Moses ?

10. Who told the people what God said to Moses?

11. What kind of place did God promise?

12. What did Moses say it flowed with?

13. Why?

14. Did the Israelites care?

15. Why not?

16. When are we like them ?

17. Which should we care for most, now or by-and-by?