I. STORIES OF THE BEGINNINGS
LESSON 1
THE CORRELATED LESSON
At the beginning of this lesson the teacher and each pupil should have his Bible in hand.
Let us look at this book of ours which is the finest story book in all the world. What name do you find on the back of the book? The word Bible means “The Book,” and that is the best possible name for God’s Word, because it is the Book of all the world, the one of which more copies are made, sold, and read than of any other. In the last hundred years 316,000,000 copies of the Bible were sent out by the different Bible societies of the world.
Now let us look at this wonderful Book. Turn to the title-page and we will read together what we find there. Containing what? So there are two great divisions in this book of ours, one called the Old Testament and the other the New Testament, and it is just as you would think from the names. The Old Testament tells of things that happened long, long before those that are told about in the New Testament. (Drill on the names of the two parts of the Bible until the class is familiar with the words.)
Now let us look at the page opposite the first book of the Old Testament. What do you find there? (The Names and Order of the Books of the Old Testament.) So you see our Bible, the great Book of the world, is not simply one book but a whole library of books. How many books are there in the Old Testament? (If there is time it might be well to let each one count for himself.) So the Old Testament has 39 books.
(Follow the same plan with reference to the New Testament, and when the pupils have found that there are 27 books have them find the number of books in the Bible by adding the two numbers. When you have drilled on these figures and facts sufficiently give to each pupil a copy of the Pupil’s Book for Work and Study and show them the first part of Lesson 1, letting them tell what words are to be written in the spaces as the work for the following day at home. Do not let them look ahead at the other lesson, as that is to be taken up after the lesson has been taught.)
LESSON 1
In the Beginning
Teaching Material.—Genesis 1:1 to 2:3.
Pupil’s Reading.—Genesis 1:1-5.
Memory Text.—In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1.
LIGHT FROM OTHER BIBLE PASSAGES
Nehemiah 9:6; Job 12:7-10; 26:7-14; Psalms 19:1-6; 33:6-9; 74:16, 17; 90:2; 95:4, 5; 104:1-35; Jeremiah 51:15, 16; Amos 4:13; John 1:1-3; Revelation 4:11.
FROM THE COMMENTATORS
What, then, are the truths taught us in these chapters? The first is that there has been a creation, that things now existing have not just grown of themselves, but have been called into being by a presiding intelligence and an originating will. No attempt to account for the existence of the world in any other way has been successful. A great deal has in this generation been added to our knowledge of the efficiency of material causes to produce what we see around us; but when we ask what gives harmony to these material causes, and what guides them to the production of certain ends, and what originally produced them, the answer must still be, not matter but intelligence and purpose.—The Expositor’s Bible, Genesis, Marcus Dods.
The record is not a geological treatise, but a hymn of praise to God, magnifying his mighty works, indicating man’s high relation to him, and hallowing the weekly Sabbath, which is man’s day of rest.—The Handy Commentator, A. R. Payne Smith, Dean of Canterbury.
The cosmogony of Genesis shows, in opposition to the conceptions widely prevalent in antiquity, that the world was not self-originated; that it was called into existence, and brought gradually into its present state, at the will of a spiritual Being, prior to it, independent of it, and deliberately planning every stage of its progress. The spirituality, not less than the dignity, of the entire representation is indeed in marked contrast to the self-contradictory, grotesque speculations of which the ancient cosmogonies usually consist. “It sets God above the great complex world process, and yet closely linked with it, as a personal intelligence and will that rules, victoriously and without a rival.”—The Book of Genesis, S. R. Driver.
If anyone is in search of accurate information regarding the age of this earth, or its relation to the sun, moon, or stars, or regarding the exact order in which plants and animals have appeared upon it, he should go to recent textbooks in astronomy, geology, and paleontology. It is not the purpose of the writers of Scripture to impart physical instruction, or to enlarge the bounds of scientific knowledge. So far as the scientific or historical information imparted in these chapters is concerned, it is of little more value than the similar stories of other nations. And yet the student of these chapters can see a striking contrast between them and extrabiblical stories describing the same unknown ages handed down from prescientific centuries. Here comes to view the uniqueness of the Bible. The other traditions are of interest only as relics of a bygone past. Not so the biblical statements; they are and ever will be of inestimable value, not because of their scientific teaching, but because of the presence of sublime religious truth in the crude forms of primitive science. If anyone wishes to know what connection the world has with God, if he seeks to trace back all that now is to the very fountain-head of life, if he desires to discover some unifying principle, some illuminating purpose in the history of the earth, he may turn to these chapters as his safest and, indeed, only guide to the information he seeks.—The Christian View of the Old Testament, Frederick Carl Eiselen.
AIM
To present the thought of God as the Creator of all things, the rightful ruler of the universe, and to establish in the child an attitude of reverence toward God as Creator, and toward nature as his work.
LESSON PREPARATION
The best possible preparation for the teaching of this lesson and the accomplishment of its aim is to saturate one’s mind with the God-permeated story of the creation in the lesson passage, and other Bible passages given, in which God stands preeminent as the almighty Creator of the universe.
In the Intermediate period, the four years that follow the Junior, it would be highly interesting, and instructive as well, to discuss with the class the various creation stories that are found in the writings of antiquity, and to compare them with the story as given in Genesis; but these children have not the historical background that would be necessary to enable them to appreciate such discussions. What they are most intensely interested in is the deeds of people. Not what people think or what they are, but what they do, attracts the Junior child; and in like manner it is not the attributes of the Deity, but his power manifested in the universe, creating, ruling, and overruling, that will hold the attention and minister to the spiritual needs of those we teach.
LESSON PRESENTATION
Point of Contact
(Show a picture representing a person or persons in the act of prayer. The well-known Angelus is perhaps one of the best for this purpose. Question on it, and get from the children, if possible, the story of the call to prayer.)
The sweet sound of the bell borne on the evening breeze from the steeple of the village church comes to the field where the workers are busy with their tasks. What do they do as they hear it? To whom are they speaking when they bow their heads?
Let us think for a moment of another scene. It is in another country far away from this, and the people look very different from those in our picture, but they too are bowing, not simply the head but the whole body, for they are kneeling and their heads are bowed to the earth. What do you think they are doing? Yes, they are praying, but to what? As we look toward the east we see that the sun is just rising above the horizon, and it is the sun that those people are worshiping. In that country and in others we could find people who worship the moon in the same way, and the reason why these things are done is that all people everywhere have a desire in their hearts to worship, and these people have taken the things that they see which seem to them to be the most wonderful and have made gods out of them. They know nothing about this greatest Book in all the world, which you and I know and love, and so they do not know of the great and good God to whom you and I pray, and whom we call our Father.
If we could see those people and talk with them what would we wish to tell them? It seems to me that for these people, the first story to tell from God’s Word would be the first story in that Book, one that we have heard, perhaps, many times, but which we never tire of hearing, and which we are to hear once more to-day.
The Lesson Story
It seems strange, does it not? to think of a time when there was no earth; but there was such a time and there our story for to-day begins. All was black darkness where this world now is, but God was in his heaven, for in his Word we read, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” So in the eternity of long, long ago God lived and ruled, and he was thinking of a people whom he would make in his own image to be his children, and of the home that he would make for them. Then it was that from the great black space of the universe darkness fell away, for God said, “Let there be light: and there was light. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.” Under the almighty hand of the Creator, at his command, this planet that we call the earth began to swing in its orbit, but it was wrapped in vapors until God spoke again saying, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” At his words the clouds gathered together above, separating themselves from the waters upon the earth, “and God called the firmament Heaven.” (From this point try reading the story from the Bible, but have it so thoroughly in mind that if you find the attention of the pupils wavering in any degree you can return to the other method. Whether you read or tell the story of the six days, have the pupils open their Bibles and read with you the first three verses of the second chapter.)
“In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11).
What a beautiful story it is, and how glad we are to know that all the wonders of the earth and sky and sea are the handiwork of our Father! “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).
The unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator’s power display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an almighty hand.
Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly, to the listening earth,
Repeats the story of her birth;
While all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
This is what the poet has said about the moon, sun, and stars in the heavens, and then he says that though there is no voice or sound that we can hear, still they truly sing and always of God their Creator. This is the way that the poet has told the story to us:
What though in solemn silence all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound
Amid the radiant orbs be found?
In reason’s ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice;
Forever singing as they shine,
“The hand that made us is divine.”
—Joseph Addison.
The most wonderful thing of it all is that though our God is so great he tells us in his Word that we may speak to him in prayer. That is the meaning of the Angelus bell calling to prayer every day, and it is the meaning of other bells which on one day in the week ring sweet and clear, not as a call to prayer in the midst of work or play, but as a call to worship on the day that is holy, set apart from the duties of the week, and made a day of loving service and praise to our God.
THE PUPIL’S BOOK FOR WORK AND STUDY
If you have not already done so, read carefully the comments and suggestions on page 22, concerning the necessity for helping the children to start the work in their books correctly. Read what is said on page 26 about promotion requirements and let your pupils know at the beginning of their work how important it is for them to do regularly what is asked of them in the Work Book if they wish to earn an honorable promotion at the end of the year.
LESSON 2
THE CORRELATED LESSON
(Holding your Bible, review something in this way:)
What is this book called? What does the word Bible mean? Into how many parts is the book divided? What are they called? Why is the first called the Old Testament and the second the New? How many books are there in the Old and how many in the New? How many in the Bible? What is the name of the first book in the Bible? Who can spell that word? What does it mean? What is the first verse in the first book?
(Open your Book for Work and Study that the pupils may see your first lesson neatly written and the pictures pasted. Even though you have had the children together during the week as suggested on page 22, in order that you might help them work out this first lesson in their books, it will be an encouragement to them if you examine each book and commend the work heartily when it is possible to do so. If any have not yet done the work it is of the utmost importance that you have them stay after Sunday school or see them either at their homes or your house before next Sunday. To allow the first week’s work to be neglected will leave the child to conclude that it is not very important after all and that you do not really care whether it is done or not. As soon as possible the children must learn to do the work without assistance, but at the beginning they will need both help and stimulation. Speak of the fact that if they do all the work in the Junior Course and keep their books, they will have a little library of twenty-three books illustrated with many beautiful pictures. Tell them of the exhibit of Work Books when the work of all the Juniors will be shown to other people in the Sunday school and to the parents and friends of the children. Whatever you can do to make the child see the value in his book and arouse his pride in his work will be a great help to him in establishing habits that make for strength of character. To allow a pupil to fail to do his work is to encourage a neglect of duty and indifference to just obligations, which will inevitably weaken his moral fiber.)
LESSON 2
The Garden of Eden
Teaching Material.—Genesis 2:4-25.
Pupil’s Reading.—Genesis 2:9, 15-25.
Memory Text.—And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Genesis 2:15.
LIGHT FROM OTHER BIBLE PASSAGES
Proverbs 14:23; 18:9; 22:29. Ecclesiastes 9:10; 11:6; Romans 12:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:11, 12.
FROM THE COMMENTATORS
Man is not made simply to enjoy life; he is to labor and work. Even such a garden as the one described in verse 9 gives scope for man’s activity; he is to till it, to develop its capacities, and adapt it to his own ends, and to keep (Isaiah 27:3) or guard it, against the natural tendency of a neglected garden to run wild, and against damage from wild animals or other possible harm.—The Book of Genesis, S. R. Driver.
But man is not designed solely to till and keep the garden. There are dormant in him capacities of moral and religious attainment, which must be exercised, developed, and tested. A command is therefore laid upon him, adapted to draw out his character, and to form a standard by which it may be tested. It is a short and simple command, unaccompanied even by a reason; but it is sufficient for the purpose: man’s full knowledge of what he must do or not do can be attained only as the result of a long moral and spiritual development, it cannot exist at the beginning. And the command relates to something to be avoided: the acknowledgment and observance of a limitation, imposed upon his creaturely freedom by his Creator and Lord, must be for man the starting point of everything else.—Die Genesis Erklärt, August Dillmann.
It is not enough to place man in the garden: further provision is yet required for the proper development of his nature, and satisfaction of its needs, a helper who may in various ways assist him, and who may at the same time prove a companion, able to interchange thought with him, and be in other respects his intellectual equal, is still needed.—The Book of Genesis, S. R. Driver.
In order to complete man’s happiness three primal laws were given. The first was work; this was embittered later in consequence of man’s sin, but is still his greatest blessing, whether he recognizes it as such or not. We find this to be true, for whenever man evades work, and seeks pleasure only, his whole nature becomes impoverished, and deprived of the stability of earnest purpose and responsibility which ought to be his birthright. The gift of law, even in its rudimentary stages “thou shalt not,” is the second great blessing to man. The moral law, putting man into the right relationship between good and evil, is as necessary as the great laws of the physical world are to the universe. Further, with the revelation of that law was given also the penalty of transgression. “In the day that thou eatest thereof, dying thou shalt die.” “The wages of sin is death.”—Bible Lessons for Schools, Genesis, E. M. Knox.
AIM
To help the pupils to realize that work is a part of the infinite plan for the development of character; to make it evident that it is noble to be a worker, and to lift the everyday duties of home and school from the plane of drudgery to that of joyous cooperation in God’s purposes.
LESSON PREPARATION
The gospel of the dignity of labor has never been adequately preached, therefore the preparation for this lesson may include the entire reversal of what has been ground into the teacher’s consciousness from the beginning until now, concerning the place of work in the world. For many years people have read the Lord’s words to Adam after the fall, which consigned him to the task of wresting his sustenance from the unwilling earth, as if that were the introduction of work into the world, and as if it were, therefore, brought in simply as a punishment for disobedience. This was evidently the thought in the mind of the poet who sang,
Dear work! art thou the curse of God?
What must his blessing be!
Throwing aside all such misconceptions, read the material for this lesson with the thought of finding in it how, under the ideal conditions of Eden, work was given to man which would require the use, and therefore minister to the development of his physical powers in tilling the ground; how his mind was given exercise in plans for guarding or “keeping” the garden and in naming the animals; and how the higher spiritual powers were called into service when he was given a companion in association with whom the emotions of love and tenderness would find expression. It is implied also in Genesis 3:8, that God was wont to meet with Adam and Eve in the garden and talk with them there.
The picture that we get as we study this passage in this way has in it the elements of congenial employment, companionship, obedience to the highest law, and communion with God, and these are exactly the elements that will bring the nearest approach to the ideal in any life to-day.
LESSON PRESENTATION
Introduction
I wonder if you can remember the time when you first began to ask such questions as these: Who made the world? Who made the moon and stars that shine in the night, and the sun that lights and warms the day? Who made the trees and taught them how to grow? Who made all the animals? Who made the fish that swim in the water and the birds that fly in the air? Have you ever asked such questions? They are the questions that children have been asking always, ever since there were any children in the world, and the story that answers all these questions for us is one that mothers have told to their children for thousands of years. Do you know what story I mean? Who can answer the question, “Who made the world?” by using just one verse from the Bible?
The Lesson Story
Our story to-day is about a garden. It was a beautiful garden, more beautiful than anything you and I have ever seen. In it were all kinds of trees and plants, grasses, flowers, and herbs. A river watered the garden. Animals lived in the garden; birds made their nests in the trees and flew across the blue of the sky, filling the air with their sweet songs. Everyone who has heard or read the story of the Garden of Eden thinks of it as a beautiful place in which there was nothing to distress or make one afraid.
The story tells us that God made this garden as a home for the man whom he had created in his own image. “The Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden”—to do what do you suppose? Just to amuse himself all day long? No, God did not put Adam into the garden that he might have a pleasant place in which to do nothing. He was put into the garden “to dress it and to keep it.” He was to find the greatest joy working in the garden, picking the fruits, caring for the growing things, and in guarding them from anything that might not be good for them. Even in the garden there was studying to be done; for Adam studied the animals and the birds, watched them at their play, saw how they lived, and gave to each a name that was suited to it. This kind of work was pleasant, but Adam could not make companions of the animals, and though he had work to do Adam was lonely. God saw that this was so, and he said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.” And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and when he awoke he found a woman at his side whom God had given him to be his companion and friend. Now he was no longer lonely, for he had some one with him who had a mind and spirit like his own, who could talk with him and help him in his work as none of the animals could possibly do. So Adam and Eve were happy in obeying the heavenly Father. They found pleasure in doing what he told them he would like to have them do, and in keeping from doing what God had said they must not do. Let us read from God’s Word just what this was. (Verses 16 and 17.)
When the sun had gone behind the western hills, and the refreshing breezes of the early evening were making the air sweet and cool, and the birds were singing their good-night songs, then it was that the sweetest of all the joys of the day came to the pair in the garden, for we are told that God walked with them in the cool of the day.
Have you ever thought you would be glad if there were no such thing as study? Have you ever wished that you could play all day and never do any work? I suppose all of us have felt that way sometimes, but would it be best for us? Would we be happy very long if we had nothing to do but play? Not very long. I have often heard boys and girls say at the end of the long summer vacation that they were glad to go back to school. And this story, which pictures for us a garden of beauty and happiness, tells of study and work as well as play, of loving companionship and through it all a spirit of cheerful obedience to God. (Memory Text.)
THE PUPIL’S BOOK FOR WORK AND STUDY
Show the picture for this lesson and go over the work for the coming week as carefully as you think necessary, but not so elaborately as to rob it of all freshness for the child when he comes to take it up by himself.
LESSON 3
THE CORRELATED LESSON
What was the name of our story last Sunday? In what book is that story found? In what chapter were your readings for the week? Tell me what you found in the picture for the lesson. If you were asked to write a title under the picture what would you choose? (Tell the children they may write a title in their books.) What work was given to Adam that he did with his hands? What did he have to think and plan for? What was the memory text of the lesson? Suppose the heavenly Father had not cared to have his children do any work, how do you think that verse would have ended then? “The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden”—to do what? (To have a good time, may be suggested.) Do you think he would have had a really happy time without anything to do? No: God himself is not idle, and his children, because made in his image, cannot be really happy unless they do something worth while with the powers that he has given them. I suppose there are some kinds of work and study that you have to do that you do not enjoy doing, but you can do anything if you remember that it will please the heavenly Father, your own father and mother, and others who love you. Your play afterward will give you much more pleasure, and the best of it is that, after a while, you will learn to like the work. What command did God give to Adam about one of the trees in the garden?
(Show your book and find out what the pupils have done in theirs. Discourage emphatically any attempt to do this work ahead of the lesson-teaching in the school. The tendency in the beginning will probably be on the part of many to rush ahead with the work while it is novel, but when the novelty has worn off there will be a reaction and it will be difficult to get the work done at all. Keep in mind constantly that one great purpose to be accomplished through the work book this year is to teach the children to follow instructions implicitly.)
LESSON 3
Hiding from God
Teaching Material.—Genesis 3:1-24.
Pupil’s Reading.—Genesis 3:1-15.
Memory Text.—Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? saith Jehovah. Jeremiah 23:24a.
LIGHT FROM OTHER BIBLE PASSAGES
Psalm 139:7-12; Proverbs 28:1, 13; Jeremiah 2:17, 19; Romans 5:12-19; 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22.
FROM THE COMMENTATORS
As of the tree of life which stands in the paradise of the future it is said, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life”; so in Eden man’s immortality was suspended on the condition of obedience. And the trial of man’s obedience is imaged in the other tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From the childlike innocence in which man originally was, he was to pass forward into the condition of moral manhood, which consists not in mere innocence, but in innocence maintained in presence of temptation.... Only by choosing the good in presence of the evil are true manhood and real maturity gained.—The Expositor’s Bible, Genesis, Marcus Dods.
Like the great Teacher of Nazareth, the prophetic author of this marvelous story was dealing with the deepest experiences of human life. His problem was to make clear and plain even to children the nature of that inner struggle which we call temptation. He accomplishes his end by the use of the simple story and dialogue. Attention and interest are fixed from the first on the experiences of a certain man and woman. The story has all the personal charm of those fascinating popular tales which come from the ancient East. Its prologue, the primitive story of creation, was old centuries before the days of Moses. In the first scene the actors are the serpent, the woman, and the man. In the dialogue between the serpent and the woman is brought out vividly the struggle that raged in her own mind between her natural inclinations and her sense of duty. In the second scene Jehovah appears. The acts and motives of the man and woman and the terrible consequences of sin are portrayed so concretely and dramatically that even the youngest and simplest reader can fully appreciate them. The thoughtful reader, however, soon discovers that the marvelous biblical narrative is far more than a mere record of the experiences of a primitive man and woman. Like the inimitable parables of Jesus, it is a chapter from the book of life.—Heroes and Crises of Early Hebrew History, Charles Foster Kent.
Among the many religious teachings with which this marvelous story abounds may be noted: (1) Innocence does not become virtue until it is tested and proved by temptation. (2) If the testing is to be effective, the temptation must be of a character to appeal to the individual tested. (3) Sin is not God’s but man’s creation. (4) To sin is to act in accord with the baser and more selfish rather than the nobler and diviner motives. (5) An act of sin destroys a man’s peace of mind and purity of thought. (6) Sin unconfessed is a sin constantly committed, and it absolutely prevents even God himself from forgiving the unrepentant sinner. (7) In keeping with the law of cause and effect, sin brings its own inevitable punishment. (8) The worst effect of sin is the severing of the normal, harmonious relations between God and the individual. (9) Most of the pains and ills of life are the result of some one’s sin. (10) Man must learn in the school of pain and toil the lesson of obedience. (11) Even though guilty and unrepentant, man is still the object of God’s unceasing love and care—Ibid.
AIM
To show through the story of the first disobedience the character and consequences of all sin, and to point out the only way to escape from it.
LESSON PREPARATION
The story that we have in this lesson must make an appeal to every child because there is no child in our Junior Department who has not had the experience of being disobedient, and also, doubtless, of trying to hide both the sin and himself from the one disobeyed. Probably there can be no more effectual way of beginning the preparation of this lesson than for the teacher to think back to his own experience as a child, and recall in what manner he made his way back through repentance and forgiveness to a complete restoration of the feeling of loving freedom that should exist between parent and child. The attitude of the one in authority is always a very important factor, but even with the most wise and loving of parents or guardians, the natural tendency of the one who transgresses is to concealment. With the facts of the story clearly in mind and the memory of one’s own experience as a guide, it should be easy to make the children realize that disobedience always brings unhappiness in the end, and a sense of separation from those who love us; that the worst thing anyone can do is to try to hide a disobedient act, because the only way to get back to the right road again is through the opposite course—brave confession instead of cowardly hiding or denying, repentance and the determination to forsake instead of clinging to the wrong.
Prayer is always the most essential part of our lesson preparation, and in this lesson especially we need to pray that we may be given such heavenly wisdom and so much of love in our own hearts that we can make the children see the heavenly Father as a God of infinite love and compassion, one who hates sin but loves the sinner. Many people who are now teaching children have testified that in their own childhood, from the way in which these Old Testament stories were presented, they saw in God only an avenging Deity, eager to punish or destroy. We must always remember that Jesus never presented his Father and ours in that way, and that he whose life was given to provide a way of escape for sinning humanity said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”
LESSON PRESENTATION
Introduction
(Describe the happy home life of a family of children, each having his own work to do in the home, each taking a pride in doing his work in the best way, and tell of the playtime following the work. Picture the children going down the street to meet their father as he comes home from work, and the joys of the evening time when all are together. Then tell of a day when the playtime was not so happy because one of the boys did not care to play. He said he was not sick, but he certainly was cross, and took no pleasure in any of the things that he generally loved to do. When the time came to go to meet father he would not go, but instead went to his own room. Of course the father missed him and when he found his boy was not ill he was anxious to know what the trouble could be.) Can you guess what it was that made Walter wish to hide from his father that night?
The Lesson Story
What a beautiful garden that was of which we heard last Sunday! And how happy Adam and Eve were as they did the work God had given them to do, and enjoyed the loveliness of the place which God had given them for a home, looking forward each day to the time when he would come and walk and talk with them there! But there came a sad day, when all that was changed. The garden was just as beautiful, but Adam and Eve found no pleasure in it. The work was there to be done, but they had no heart for it. Open your Bibles to the second chapter of Genesis and read with me verses 16 and 17. That does not mean that the moment they disobeyed they would die, but that the sin would open the door for death to enter the world, and that some day death would come to them as the result of disobedience.
One day the tempter said to the woman, “Is it possible that God has said that you must not eat of the fruit of all the trees of the garden?” Eve answered (Genesis 3:2, 3). The serpent said: “That is not true. You will not die. The real reason why God does not wish you to eat of the fruit of that tree is that when you do so you will become as a god yourself, for you will know good and evil.” It seems strange that Eve would listen to anyone who said that what God had told her was not true, but she did. She even began to look at the tree and its fruit and to long to have it, until, finally, she took it and ate, and gave some to Adam, and he ate. Then they did know good and evil, for they could remember the days when they were obedient and the happiness that they had, and now through shame and fear and the wretchedness of a guilty conscience they saw what evil is, and that with their own hands they had opened the door to let it into their lives. There was no longer any joy in the thought of the heavenly Father’s coming to the garden, and they tried to hide themselves from him. “Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? saith Jehovah.” How would you answer that question? Of course they could not hide from God, and it would be the worst possible thing to do if they could. God knew of the wrong they had done and the punishment that the sin must bring to them, but his only wish was to help his sinful children, for he loved them then as always. (Have the children read verses 9 and 10 to themselves and then answer this question:) What reason did Adam give for hiding himself? Was that the true reason why he was afraid? No, for he had been naked before and had never been afraid. It was his sin that made him afraid. (Read verses 11, 23, 24.)
You have guessed that the boy I told you about in the beginning of the lesson had disobeyed his father, and that that was the reason why he wished to hide. You knew because you have sometimes felt like hiding yourself for the same reason. So you can see how this old, old story tells what we know is true when it shows us that wrong doing separates us from the one whom we have disobeyed and makes us miserable. What was it that spoiled the happy home that Adam and Eve had in the Garden? What was it that spoiled Walter’s good times? Yes, disobedience; and it is always so. Those who break God’s law have to suffer for it in some way. But how glad we are to know that God loves us so much that when we are sorry and tell him so, he will forgive us and give us a chance to try again. Listen while I read you something that the Bible says about this. (Psalm 86:5; 1 John 1:9.)
THE PUPIL’S BOOK FOR WORK AND STUDY
There probably will not be anything in the work outlined for this week that the children cannot easily do. It would be well, however, to call their attention to the memory text printed on page 8. Have them pronounce the name of the book from which it is taken, and help them to find the reference and read the words from the Bible. Ask them what the “a” after the reference means, and if they do not know, have them read again the paragraph explaining this on page 3. The easiest way for the children to find the book of Jeremiah when unfamiliar with any of the books is to open the Bible in the middle. The book opened to will be Psalms, which you can explain is the hymn book of the Bible, and then they can turn the leaves to the right until they reach the book of Jeremiah. Tell them that the name is that of the man who wrote the book.
LESSON 4
THE CORRELATED LESSON
Get the facts of last Sunday’s story briefly from the children, leaving most of the time for the answers to Wednesday’s question in the pupil’s work book concerning what they think Eve should have done when she was tempted to disobey God. Another question which it will be helpful for the children to think through and find an answer to is, After Adam and Eve had disobeyed the heavenly Father, what should they have done right away when they realized the wrong and felt the shame? If each pupil can be brought to see, through thinking it out for himself, that the only possible help for one who has done wrong comes from God, and that Adam and Eve should have gone to God to confess their sin and ask forgiveness instead of trying to hide from him, the conclusion will point its own moral and each child will make his own application.
See how many know the memory text and the name of the book in which it is found. If there is time, read to the children Psalm 139:7-12, letting them follow you with the Bible open before them. Ask all to read softly with you, each making it his own prayer, verses 23 and 24.
LESSON 4
Cain and Abel
Teaching Material.—Genesis 4:3-15.
Pupil’s Reading.—Genesis 4:3-15.
Memory Text.—Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not. 1 Corinthians 13:4a.
LIGHT FROM OTHER BIBLE PASSAGES
Job 11:14,15; Romans 6:12,16; Colossians 3:12-14; James 3:14; 5:9.
FROM THE COMMENTATORS
The narrative ... impressively shows how sin, having once appeared, became hereditary in the human race, and speedily developed into its most revolting form. Its details enable us to see how jealousy, when indulged, leads to hatred and murder, and violates not only the ties of humanity but those of family affection; how the sinner casts off all regard for the truth and for his natural obligations; how progress in sin adds to the misery of man’s lot; and “conscience doth make cowards of us all.” The truths taught are, that God looks on the hearts of his worshipers, seeks to restrain the sinner ere he yields to passion, marks the death of the innocent, and graciously mitigates his punishment when his mercy is sought.—The One Volume Commentary, James R. Dummelow.
Those who do not serve God hate him who does because they cannot help wishing that they were like him, yet they have no intention of imitating him, and this makes them jealous and envious. Instead of being angry with themselves, they are angry with him.—Sermons, Thomas P. Newman.
The reason of the rejection of Cain’s offering was that he had not been “doing well.” (“It would be strange if the gods looked to gifts and sacrifices and not to the soul.”—Plato.) Notice that the offering is secondary: Abel and his offering, Cain and his offering; the man and his state of spirit are the important elements.—Commentary on Genesis, Marcus Dods.
AIM
To help the child to feel the beauty and strength of the love that envieth not, and to awaken within him a desire to possess it.
LESSON PREPARATION
Envy is defined as “selfish ill-will toward another because of his superior success, endowments, or possessions.” It is a feeling which is apt to be displayed by children comparatively early because of the greater success of their classmates in school, or of the larger possessions of those whose parents have either more money or less wisdom in spending it than their own. It is so ugly a trait and so insidious in its attacks that it is well to have a lesson like this which shows the sin in its most hideous form. The story of Joseph’s brethren, who hated him because he was more worthy than they, and of Saul, who viewed with murderous jealousy the popularity of the young David, are other instances of the direction in which envy inevitably carries those who yield to it. In preparing the lesson imagine how the two boys probably differed in their boyhood, for “great crimes are committed only by men whose characters have been gradually debased by lesser sins.” Kent points out nine vital truths illustrated by the story of which the preceding quotation is one. Another which Juniors would be able to understand is that God patiently points out to the offender the right way and endeavors to influence him to follow it. Another is guilt unconfessed cuts a person off from his fellows.
LESSON PRESENTATION
Introduction
I am thinking of a strange picture in which a flaming sword that turns in every direction closes the way into a garden. Back in the distance I can see a place over which the sun is shining with warmth and beauty. Trees and plants and birds and flowers are all glad in the sunshine, and the animals are running and playing for very joy; but there are no people there. What garden is it that I see? Were there ever any people in it? Who were they? What command was given to them there? When they disobeyed that command they could no longer live in that beautiful home, and when they went out from it the flaming sword was placed there to show them that they could never hope to go back to the place where they had been so happy while they were innocent and obedient children of the heavenly Father.
Suppose some one should ask us to tell how people might have a happy home in these days—what would we say? I should say that first of all the people in the home must love and be glad to help each other. (Let the children express their own ideas freely but guide the conversation so that the essentials of obedience, cheerfulness, and kindness will be mentioned.)
The Lesson Story
I have a story to tell you to-day about two brothers. When the first one was born his mother named him Cain, and as she looked at him she said to herself, “I hope my boy will be strong to fight against evil.” But as he grew older the face of the mother became sad as she watched her boy, for soon she saw that he was yielding to evil tempers instead of fighting against them. After a time another baby boy came to the home, and he was called Abel. Together the two boys grew, the father and mother teaching them and hoping the best things for them. When each was old enough to choose the way in which he would make his living Cain became a farmer and tilled the ground, planting seed and raising fruits and grains. Abel became a shepherd and spent his time raising and caring for his sheep.
It seems from the story that Abel succeeded better than Cain, and Cain became envious and jealous of his brother. The Bible does not tell us so, but we may be quite sure that Abel was a cheery, pleasant, unselfish, helpful son to his father and mother, and that Cain was gloomy, selfish, and cross in the home. Cain saw the difference between his brother and himself, but instead of trying to be like Abel he simply hated him for his goodness.
During their boyhood days Cain and Abel had seen their father bring offerings to the Lord, and as boys they had taken their part with their father and mother in the family worship; but when they were grown men each must do for himself what their father had done for them when they were young. So it came to pass that Cain and Abel brought their offerings to God, Cain bringing some of the fruits that he had raised, and Abel bringing the best of his flock. God was glad to accept the offerings of Abel because the spirit in which Abel brought his gift was one of love and joy. God can read the very thoughts of our hearts, and as he looked at Cain he saw envy and jealousy and hatred choking every good thing in his life, and because he was cherishing such evil thoughts, his offering could not be acceptable to the God of love. When Cain saw that his offering was not accepted he became very angry, he scowled and hung his head. Then the Lord said to Cain: “Why are you angry, and why is your countenance fallen? If you will do what is right, you will please me. If you do wrong, sin is like a wild beast crouching at your door, wishing to destroy you; but you can rule over it if you will.” See how tenderly the heavenly Father showed Cain his wrong, and tried to help him back into the right way. But Cain let sin, that is like a wild beast, stay at his door, and did not try to conquer it. After a while he said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out into the field,” and when they were in the field alone together, Cain in his envy and hatred of his brother rose up against him and killed him. Open your Bibles at the fourth chapter of Genesis and read with me verses 9 and 10. God told Cain that he would be from that day a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. Cain answered, “My punishment is greater than I can bear, for I shall be driven away from thy face, and anyone who finds me will kill me.” But the Lord appointed a sign for Cain which would show people that they must not kill him, and Cain went away from his father’s house.
Sin had ruined another life. As it had driven Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, so now it drove Cain away from his home, and left his father and mother in the greatest sorrow they had ever known.
How dreadful envy, jealousy, and hatred are, and how much unhappiness they have brought into the world. Is there anything strong enough to conquer this sin which God said is like a wild beast? Yes, love is stronger than anything else in the world. Envy cannot even stay where love is. “God is love,” the Bible says, and he will help us to be loving and kind if we ask him. “Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not.” (Have this text repeated, and if the conditions are such that you can do so, close with a sentence prayer.)
THE PUPIL’S BOOK FOR WORK AND STUDY
Read to the class the directions given under Thursday’s work for finding 1 Corinthians 13:4a, and let them find the verse without comment or other explanation on your part, in order to make sure that they are able to follow such printed directions. Of course it is important that they should be able to find the verse, as it is the memory text of the lesson.
LESSON 5
THE CORRELATED LESSON
Home Preparation
Take some small blank cards or slips of heavy paper and prepare them for use in the class by writing plainly on one side and on the other these things: First card (1) Genesis, (2) Beginnings. Second card (1) Genesis 1:1, (2) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Third card (1) What story is in Genesis, chapter 2? (2) In what book and chapter is the story of the Garden of Eden? Fourth card (1) What story is in Genesis, chapter 3? (2) In what book and chapter is the story of the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Fifth card (1) What story is in Genesis, chapter 4? (2) In what book and chapter would you look for the story of Cain and Abel? Sixth card (1) Where is the verse that begins, “Love suffereth long”? (2) Repeat 1 Corinthians 13:4a. Seventh card (1) Where could you find the question that begins, “Can any hide himself in secret places”? (2) Repeat Jeremiah 23:24a. Eighth card (1) What is the meaning of the word “Bible”? (2) The Book. Ninth card (1) How many parts has the Bible, and what are they? (2) Two, Old Testament and New Testament. Tenth card (1) The Bible contains how many books? (2) Sixty-six. Eleventh card (1) How many books in the New Testament? (2) Twenty-seven. Twelfth card (1) How many books in the Old Testament? (2) Thirty-nine.
Review in Class
Explain to the pupils that each one is to have a card on which is some question, and if he can answer it, he is to keep the card, if he cannot answer it, the one next to him on the left may try, and so on around the class. If no one can answer, the card is to be laid aside to be drilled on later. If it is answered, the one who gives the correct answer keeps the card. Most of the cards are made out in such a way that it makes no particular difference which side up they are placed; that is, whichever side is up will suggest to one who knows what is on the other side. But in the questions on the Bible, books, etc., the cards should be placed with the question up. Of course it is obvious that the pupil who has the most cards in his possession at the end of the review has done the best work in it.
LESSON 5
Review
Teaching Material.—Genesis, chapters 1-4.
Pupil’s Work.—Answering questions and reading Genesis 4:20-22.
LESSON PREPARATION
Read at one sitting the first four chapters of Genesis, and then think through the stories to get at the inner meaning which you have tried to bring to the children. The class review with the cards will have brought the more mechanical facts that have been learned sufficiently to mind. This review should emphasize the truths that the stories hold in solution, but should do this, not by dogmatizing concerning them, but by leading the children to make the statements for themselves. Because of the natural interest of children in the origin of things enough new matter is introduced in the Pupil’s Book for Work and Study to give the names of the persons to whom are ascribed the originating of tent life, music, and the making of instruments of metal. These things should not be touched upon in this lesson, however, but left as a surprise for the home work.
LESSON PRESENTATION
Recite to the children the lines from Joseph Addison’s hymn, “The Spacious Firmament on High” (quoted in the first lesson). Why is it that the sun, the moon and the stars make people think of the power of God? What else that you see every day reminds you of God’s handiwork? Can you tell the story which was given us in the Bible to teach us that God made all things? (Have the story told briefly and as nearly as possible in the Bible words.)
What is the name of the beautiful home which God gave to Adam? What did Adam have to do in the garden? Why could not the animals be his true companions and friends? What did God do for him? (Let the children describe what they think might have been a day in the life of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Mention the two trees and the command concerning them if the children do not do so, and see if without any reminder or suggestion from you, they tell that in the cool of the evening God walked with the pair in the garden.)
What a happy home that was in the Garden of Eden! Were Adam and Eve always happy there? How was it that one day instead of looking forward with joy to the time when God would come to talk with them, they tried to hide from him? Yes, they had not been strong enough or loving enough to obey, and having been disobedient, they were afraid to meet God. Was it right for them to try to hide? What should they have done?
We had a story of two brothers. What were their names? (Let the children tell the story briefly.) What was it that made Cain do such a dreadful thing? Could he have conquered the sin that crouched like a wild beast at the door of his heart, if he had tried?
I am going to ask you four questions, and I think you can answer each one of them in the words of a Bible verse. Who made the world? What did God give Adam to do in the Garden of Eden? Can anyone hide from God? Tell me two things that love does and one that love will never do.
LESSON 6
THE CORRELATED LESSON
(As the references to Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain are the first passages that have been given in the pupil’s book without being first presented in the class, it will be interesting to see how well the children have succeeded in getting at the facts.)
What was our picture for this last week? How many people were there in it? What were they doing? What was the name of the man who is called “the father of all who play upon the harp and the organ”? So we found from our Book which tells us of the beginnings of things, that way back in the ages of long ago people learned how to make instruments of music and to play upon them. To-day we have wonderful instruments, great pipe organs, violins, pianos, cornets and other instruments of brass, and whenever we see these or hear their music we will remember that the Bible tells us that the one who first thought of making music in that way was named Jubal.
When a man is taking care of large herds of cattle, what does he need to find for them? It is not easy to find pasture for a great many cattle, and it would be very tiresome and even impossible to go back every night to the home. It would not be comfortable to sleep on the ground with no protection from the rain or cold. Who was it that first thought of having a tent to live in, and carrying it with him wherever he went? So Jabal was the father of all such as take care of cattle and live in tents. Are there any people to-day who live in tents all their lives?
(With a class of boys the reference to Tubal-cain could be introduced by asking for a penknife and getting the pupils to tell of the man who first thought of making tools and weapons out of metal. Ask if anything is being invented to-day. Lead the children to see that the possibilities of discovery and invention are by no means exhausted, and help them to realize the wisdom and love of God in giving to man power to think out such things.)
LESSON 6
The Building of the Ark
Teaching Material.—Genesis 6:5 to 7:5.
Pupil’s Reading.—Genesis 6:5, 9, 14-22.
Memory Text.—Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Genesis 6:22.
LIGHT FROM OTHER BIBLE PASSAGES
Psalm 103:17, 18; Proverbs 1:33; 19:16; Jeremiah 18:7-10; Ezekiel 33:14-16; Matthew 24:35-39.
FROM THE COMMENTATORS
The narrative here becomes more circumstantial than it has been in chapters four and five, for the Flood is the first event of crucial importance since the Creation and the beginnings of man upon earth (chapters one to three), of which Hebrew tradition told. The Flood marks the end of a past age and the beginning of a new one; it is thus an event in which the purposes of God may be expected to declare themselves with peculiar distinctness; and it is, accordingly, treated as the occasion of a great manifestation both of judgment (chapter 6) and of mercy (8:15 to 9:17). The Flood is a judgment upon a degenerate race: Noah, with his family, is delivered from it on account of his righteousness; as humanity starts upon its course afresh, new promises and new blessings are conferred upon it.—The Book of Genesis, S. R. Driver.
What, then, is the purpose of inspiration? Is it to insure that we shall have clear and infallible information on certain questions of geology and astronomy, or on the way in which God created the heavens and the earth? Is it to keep us from mistakes about the history of Israel?... Surely not. God had no intention of giving us an encyclopedia of scientific knowledge, and thus depriving us of the discipline of acquiring such knowledge for ourselves.... Inspiration is concerned with what is to us of infinitely more importance—even the guidance of our conduct, the building up of noble characters for God. It has been well said that conduct forms three fourths of human life, and it is with these three fourths that the inspired writings have to do. Their inspiration therefore consists not so much in their infallible science or minutely accurate details of history, as in their teaching God’s will and God’s relation to men.... These writings concern themselves with the great moral and spiritual facts, duty, character, moral responsibility, the happiness that comes from harmony with the will of God. Their object is to teach the eternal contrast between Righteousness and Unrighteousness, Obedience and Disobedience, Selfishness and Self-sacrifice, Purity and Lust; to teach men that God is on the side of holiness and good, that his help and sympathy are near in the fierce fight with temptation, and that even when the fight is lost and the life defiled, there is a way back to holiness and God if men will but earnestly seek it.—How God Inspired the Bible, J. Paterson Smyth.
They (the Scriptures) conveyed to the Hebrews, and they still convey to us, the worthiest conceptions of God and of His relation to the world and men. They are a standing witness to the fact that the nation of Israel enjoyed a peculiar revelation of the true God. If the “folk-lore” of the Hebrews, like that of all other peoples, was inconsistent at many points with our modern knowledge of nature and history, yet it was so purified among them, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, from all taint of heathenism, that, as it stands in the opening chapters of Genesis, it contains nothing inconsistent either with the religion of Jehovah or with the fuller revelation of Jesus Christ.—The One Volume Bible Commentary, J. R. Dummelow.
AIM
To present the ideal of unquestioning obedience to the commands of God, and through the story to deepen the impulse to choose and do the right.
LESSON PREPARATION
A careful study of the passage of Scripture assigned for the teacher in this lesson presents much that is interesting and many points that are puzzling. For one’s own information and satisfaction it would be well to read the article on the Deluge in any good Bible dictionary and to consult commentaries on the narrative. But in preparing the lesson for the pupil attention must be centered on the story as given in the verses that the pupil is to read. The simple account of the one man who was “righteous,” “perfect [or blameless] in his generation,” and who “walked with God” in loving obedience, when the “wickedness of man was great in the earth,” and “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” is one that makes a strong appeal to the children. The building of the ark; the surprise of the people as they saw a boat built upon dry land, and their undoubted ridicule of Noah; his opportunity for preaching righteousness; the completion of the ark and the going in of the animals, Noah and his family, are the elements of a story of surpassing interest, which carries also a strong religious impression in its emphasis upon obedience and its reward. The negative side should not be dwelt upon.
The teacher will need to note carefully just the point in the story where this lesson ends. The story is so generally told as a whole, including the building of the ark, its completion, the going in of animals and people, the coming of the rain, the rising of the waters, the final settling of the ark on dry land, and the going out of Noah and his family and the animals, that the natural tendency will be to encroach upon next week’s lesson without meaning to do so.
LESSON PRESENTATION
Introduction
(Have your Work Book open at page 14.) We had some rules last week in our Work Book, and they were headed, “How to Have a Happy Home.” How many of you read those rules? Suppose I read them very carefully now, and you see if you think any of them might be left out of the list. Which one of these rules do you think is the hardest of all to obey? (If the children do not speak of it themselves, call their attention to “Be willing and obedient,” and explain that it means not simply to do what you are told to do, but to do it willingly and cheerfully.) It is often hard to obey, because the command is to do some hard or disagreeable thing, and the harder it is to obey, the more temptation there is to do unwillingly what we are told to do, and to be cross about it. When one obeys in that spirit all the beauty of the obedience is taken away. One who obeys willingly will soon find that he can obey cheerfully, and it is only such obedience that is pleasing to the heavenly Father.
The Lesson Story
I have a beautiful story to tell you to-day of a man who obeyed in just that way. The name of this man was Noah. In his time there were many people living in the world, but, except Noah and his family, no one of them cared to please God, and they did not even try to obey him. The Bible tells us that “the earth was filled with violence,” and that God said the evil doers must be destroyed. But Noah was not one of these, and to him God said something like this: “The people are so wicked and cruel that I shall have to send a flood upon the earth which will destroy all those who are doing such evil things, but I want you to build an ark in which you and your wife and children shall be saved.” This ark was to be a great boat three stories high, with rooms in it, and a large door in the side. Just as soon as Noah knew what God wanted him to do he bought the wood and hired carpenters and began the work of building the ark. (Show the picture for this lesson.) Do you think it was an easy task to build that ark in a land full of wicked people? Of course, when his neighbors saw what he was doing they were curious to know what this great building was to be. When he told them, can you imagine how they would laugh at him for building a boat on dry land, and how they would laugh harder still when he said there was to be a flood? It must have been hard for Noah to stand their ridicule, but he never thought of giving up the work. He did a braver thing than just keeping on with the building, too, for all through the years he was at work the Bible says that he was “a preacher of righteousness.” He told the people of the punishment that was surely coming, and urged them to give up their wicked ways and do the sort of things that would be pleasing to the heavenly Father. But they would not listen, and would not believe what he told them. Still Noah kept patiently on working and preaching until the ark was finished. Then God said to his faithful servant, “Before very long I will bring the flood of waters upon the earth.” Let us read what it says in the Bible about the things that Noah was to do before the flood came (Genesis 6:19-21). Do you suppose that Noah did all that just as God had told him to do? Let us read that next verse very carefully together: “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” Is not that a splendid thing to be said about any man? Let us read the words again and then close our books and say them, for that is our memory text this week, and it is one that we would like always to remember, I am sure.
The Bible says that God told Noah what he wanted him to do. How does God tell you and me what he wants us to do? (Guide the conversation so that the children themselves will mention the Bible, God’s message, and the Sunday school and church where the meaning of the message is explained to us and where we try to help each other to be doers of the Word. Teachers at school and those who guide and direct in the home should also be mentioned.) You see that as you obey these helpers that God has given to you, you are learning to do according to all that God has commanded you. What has Jesus said of those who hear the Word of God and keep it? (Luke 11: 28.) “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” Shall we not ask the heavenly Father to help us to be so strong to obey and so willing that something like that may be said of us too?
Prayer
(To be used if the conditions in the room and the spirit of the class make possible a quiet moment in which heads may be bowed, and the words, softly spoken by the teacher, heard by all the members of the class.)
Our Father in heaven, we are glad that we have the Bible with its stories of people who loved and obeyed thee in the long ago. May we learn from these stories how to be more obedient to-day. Help us to be cheerful, loving doers of the Word. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
LESSON 7
THE CORRELATED LESSON
Use your own copy of the pupil’s book, and let the children talk over the lesson on the Building of the Ark freely and informally. If you should find that any one of the class has been dwelling in thought upon the people outside of the ark, and wondering why it was necessary that all of them should be destroyed, have them read Genesis 6: 11, and help them to see that people who choose to live in sin cannot be saved from its consequences. “Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him” (Psalm 140: 11. See also Galatians 6: 7, 8).
People were sowing violence and reaping violence. Human life was not respected. God’s laws were scorned and ignored. There had to be a new beginning for the world, if there were to be any people left in it.
Do not refer to this side of the question unless the children speak of it. If they do, emphasize the patience of God and the warnings that were given through Noah’s preaching and the added force that his words would have because of the actual building of the ark going on daily before their eyes.
Give the children this name drill, telling them not to answer any question that cannot be answered by a name. Who lived in the Garden of Eden? Who was told to build an ark? We had a story about two brothers: what was the name of the older one? The younger? How many people went into the ark? (This should not be answered because it cannot be answered by a name.) Who is said to have been the first to make musical instruments? Who is called the father of all who live in tents? What is the name of the book in which our lessons are found?
Who is said to have been the first man to think about making weapons and tools out of metal? What is the name of the first story in the Bible? In that story what did God make first? What did God call the light? What name was given to the darkness? What was the gathering together of the waters called? What is the light that rules the day? What is the lesser light that rules the night? What other lights are there in the sky at night?
LESSON 7
The Flood and the Rainbow
Teaching Material.—Genesis 7: 6 to 8: 22; 9: 12-17.
Pupil’s Reading.—Genesis 8: 6-20; 9: 12-17.
Memory Text.—I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9: 13.
LIGHT FROM OTHER BIBLE PASSAGES
Isaiah 54: 9, 10; Jeremiah 33: 19-21, 25, 26.
FROM THE COMMENTATORS
The Noachian covenant guarantees the stability of natural law. The covenant with Abraham was confirmed in its promise to Isaac and Jacob and insured a blessing through their seed to all nations.... Of still greater significance was the covenant at Horeb or Sinai.... It was really a constitution given to Israel by God, with appointed promise and penalty, duly inscribed on the tables of the covenant which were deposited in the ark.—Bible Dictionary, Hastings.
As the expulsion from paradise and the exile of Cain gave to mankind a new chance, a fresh start, so with the flood. Wickedness had by this time so prevailed that the earth needed to be washed from sin; but God did not repeople it with a new race set above the possibility of wrong-doing—rather, the race of man was given a new opportunity. The moral necessity of the catastrophe is emphasized by God’s long attempt—in the preaching of Noah for a hundred and fifty years—to win men back to goodness, to induce a voluntary change of heart. The outstanding feature of the story is the covenant, which henceforth runs through the history of Israel, and of the spiritual Israel.... The emphasis laid upon the sanctity of life is especially worthy of note. The sons of Noah might well have believed that God held life cheap after its widespread destruction. Observe, therefore, the insistence upon this command, and that its sanction is still the same as before the almost universal appalling wickedness—that man is made in the image of God. The principle of the flood is not destruction but salvation, as was that of the sentence of death upon Adam. By the flood the danger of departing from God was emphasized for all generations.—Telling Bible Stories, Louise Seymour Houghton.
This word (covenant) occurs some two hundred times in the Old Testament, and the idea lies at the root of the whole conception of law among the Jews. Covenants as made between men, form the beginnings of civilized government.... The word is also used of the relation of God to man; of his justice, his unchangeable nature, and his protecting power, on the one side, and the corresponding duties devolving upon man, especially as embodied in the law of Moses, on the other. A series of covenants (with Abraham and his successors, with Israel in the wilderness, with David) runs through Old Testament history. The particular idea in the covenant with Noah is that of the uniform working of God in nature and of his loving care for his creation. On these two ideas are based all physical science, which could not exist if there were no laws of nature, and all religion, which otherwise would become mere superstitious dread of unseen powers.—The One Volume Commentary, James R. Dummelow.
AIM
To associate the thought of God’s promises with the rainbow, and to show that his promise is to bless and that our part is to obey.
LESSON PREPARATION
There are so many details in this story that are interesting to children that the main task in preparing the lesson, after becoming thoroughly familiar with those details, is so to arrange the different items that the climax shall stand out clearly, and the full force be given to the point of greatest teaching value as stated in the aim of the lesson.
LESSON PRESENTATION
Introduction
One summer day Alice and Kate and Robert were playing out under the trees on the lawn and having a fine time, when it seemed to them as if the sun had been put out as suddenly as an electric light is turned off. They looked up and saw that there were heavy black clouds all over the sky. “Run,” said Robert, “it is going to rain.” They hurried as fast as they could, but had barely time to pick up their toys and rush to the veranda before the rain came down in torrents. They found a sheltered place where the rain did not beat in and settled themselves to play, but they had hardly started a new game before the sun shone out as suddenly as it had disappeared a few minutes before. “It has stopped raining,” said Alice. “Yes,” said Kate, “but look at those dark clouds.” Robert ran to the steps that he might see the clouds better, and exclaimed, “O, come quick and look! It goes all the way across the sky.” What do you suppose he saw? Have you ever seen a rainbow? What is the first thing you do when you see one? Probably we all want to do as Robert did and call every one within calling distance to come and see it, for it is so beautiful. In the long, long ago I suppose children did that same thing when they saw a rainbow, but I am sure they did something else too. I think they ran to their mothers or fathers and said, “Won’t you please tell us the story of the rainbow?” The story of which those fathers and mothers always thought when they saw the rainbow and the one which they told to their children is the one that I am going to tell to you to-day. Perhaps they called it just what it is called in our books—the Story of the Flood and the Rainbow. It is another story about the man who built the ark. What was his name? (Review briefly.) What is the verse which tells us how Noah obeyed God?
The Lesson Story
Finally there came a day when God told Noah to take into the ark his wife, his three sons and their wives, together with “every beast after its kind and all the cattle after their kind and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two, of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.” When all were safely in the door was shut. Then the rain came and the waters rose high and higher until all the mountains were covered. Upon the waste of waters the ark floated. Days and weeks and months went by, still the waters were over everything. Then God caused a high wind to pass over the earth and the waters began to go down. One day Noah opened the window of the ark and sent a raven out and the raven did not come back. Then Noah sent out a dove, but the dove found no rest for her foot and came back to the ark, and Noah took her in. After waiting seven days more, Noah sent the dove out again and at evening time of that day she came back and in her bill she brought an olive leaf. The olive trees grow only in valleys, so Noah knew that the water must have dried off the earth. He waited seven days more and sent the dove out again, but this time she did not return. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold the face of the ground was dry. And God spake to Noah saying, “Go forth from the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons and thy sons’ wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing, both birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
So Noah and his family once more stood in God’s sunshine upon the dry land. The first thing that Noah did after leaving the ark was to build an altar to the Lord and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving. God was pleased with Noah’s sacrifice and gave him a promise that never again should the earth be destroyed by flood, and he said: “While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.” Just then the sun shone brightly against a dark cloud, and a brilliant rainbow spanned the sky. God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for endless generations. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”
So with the bow shining against the cloud mothers and fathers told this story to their children. To them the rainbow was the sign of God’s covenant—his promise to bless the earth and all who live upon it. They remembered something else when they saw it and that is that they had a part in the covenant. God’s part was to bless; theirs to obey. The rainbow will remind us, too, of God’s promise. When we see it stretching across the heavens, in our hearts we will praise the heavenly Father for his loving kindness, and ask him to help us to be his obedient children. How glad we are that he has said, “for endless generations,” because that means that his blessing will be for always and always.
THE PUPIL’S BOOK FOR WORK AND STUDY
Show the picture for this lesson and have the children repeat the memory text as they see the rainbow in the picture.
Note.—If you have not already done so, read about the Rainbow Bookmark, on page 24. You will need one to use in teaching next Sunday’s Correlated Lesson.