Lesson 20

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Today's Theme:
God wants us to do our best.

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Today's Story:

King Solomon builds a temple.

I Kings 5-9

Optional Memory verse: "Remain in me and follow my
teaching. If you do this, you can ask anything you want,
and it will be given to you."
John 15:7
International Children's Bible, New Century Version

Materials Needed:	Promised Land mat,
King Solomon figure,
Priest figure
Some Fisher Price type figures to represent God's people,
A few twigs broken into 2 or 3' pieces to represent logs,
4 or 5 pieces of gravel or small stones,
Optional: a stick of incense and some matches,
A model of a temple made from a shoe box for the kids to decorate in class. This model temple will be used in subsequent lessons throughout the year
Materials needed for Model Temple:	1 shoe box,
A piece of corrugated cardboard, 6" longer than the shoebox,
A small dowel rod about an inch wider than the shoebox,
3 small wooden blocks, about 3/4" cubed, (the cedar blocks available in the house ware section of grocery and discount stores for storing with sweaters work great.
1 wooden block from a child's toy set,
1 lid from a juice bottle (Gatorade type bottle or water bottle with a squirt type lid),
Matchbox "Box of the Agreement" from previous lessons,
Scrap of plain white or off white fabric, the width of the shoebox and about 3" longer than the depth of the shoebox,
Wax paper,
Silver or Gold foil, or construction paper (to cover the matchbox),
Scraps of different colors of tissue wrapping paper, cut into 1 inch pieces,
Children's markers in golds, blues and purples and/or stamp markers in those colors,
Glue sticks,
Gray, brown or tan construction paper.

Prepare the Temple before class: Kids will decorate it during class.

Before class prepare the shoebox as illustrated below:


Using a shoebox for the temple:	1. Cut a doorway as illustrated above,
2. Cut notches near the back of the shoebox for the curtain to hang on a dowel rod.	The back room of the temple (Holy of Holies), was separated from the rest of the temple by a curtain.
Leave about 1/3 of the shoebox for this back room.
Cut the Dowel rod to about 1/2" wider than the shoe box.


Using a piece of corrugated cardboard for the temple floor and courtyard area:	3. Cut the cardboard to fit inside the shoebox.	Leave about 6" extending past the doorway.
Glue or sew the scrap of fabric over the dowel rod and place the curtain in place as illustrated above.
Mark with pencil where the curtain falls on the cardboard floor.

Using the items illustrated above to represent the temple furniture:	Remove the cardboard from the box,
Cut holes (corresponding to the numbers in the above right illustration) into the cardboard for each of the following pieces to fit into like puzzle pieces:	1. The matchbox "Covenant Box",
2. A cedar block to represent the "Table with the Menorah",
3. A cedar block to represent the "Table with the Incense", (this will be placed just below the pencil line indicating the curtain placement).
4. A cedar block to represent the "Table with the Shew Bread",
5. The squirt end of the lid from the water bottle to represent the "Lavar",
6. The wooden block for the "Altar".

Optional: Cut holes into the sides of the shoebox for windows:

Put the cardboard back into the shoe box,

During the story the children will participate as you place the "temple furniture" into the corresponding holes and hang the curtain.

During class the kids can make stained glass windows with wax paper and scraps of colorful tissue paper - although Solomon's temple probably did not have stained glass windows.

Intro. Activity: Have the kids decorate the shoebox and
temple furniture for today's story.

	Tell the kids that you need some of them to be:	Furniture Makers and have them:	color the wooden blocks with gold markers,
cover the matchbox with foil.
A Curtain Maker to:	color the curtain with blue and purple markers or stamp markers.
Temple Builders and have them decorate the shoebox with "stones".,	have them cut or tear pieces of gray, brown or tan pieces of construction paper into "stones" and glue them onto the box (or color it with crayons).
Stained Glass Window Makers: Use a piece of wax paper for each window:	Rub a glue stick over the wax paper,
Stick scraps of different colors of tissue paper on half the wax paper,
Fold the rest of the wax paper over top of the tissue paper.
Staple each "window" in place behind the window openings in the shoe box.

Note: Save the model temple. It will be used in other lessons throughout the year

Closing Discussion:

Close in Prayer asking God to help you do your best.

Telling the Story:	Last week we learned that King Solomon asked God for wisdom. This week we are going to hear a story about when King Solomon worked very hard and did his best.
God wants us to do our best, too.	Lay out the Promised Land mat.
Add Solomon figure near the Dead Sea.
King Solomon had promised his father who was the king before him, that he would build a temple for God in the Promised Land.
His father had felt that it wasn't fair that the king of the Promised Land got to live in a beautiful palace, but God's house was just a tent.
Do you think that's fair?
Well King Solomon agreed that it wasn't fair that God's house was a tent.
So he did his best and worked very hard to have a beautiful temple built.
He sent a message to a king in another land to sell him beautiful cedar trees.
The king sent workers into the forest to cut some beautiful trees for God's temple.	Pretend that you are working very hard sawing down a tree.
Now let's pretend we're rolling the logs to the sea to be taken to King Solomon.
Now let's pretend to tie the logs together to float them down the sea coast to King Solomon	Place some small twigs in the Mediterranean
Push the twigs down the Mediterranean then place them next to Solomon.
King Solomon hired workers to cut big stones for the temple.	Pretend that you are stonecutters cutting big stones for the temple and shaping them into smooth blocks.	Place some pieces of gravel with the sticks
Then King Solomon hired best craftsmen to make beautiful curtains and furniture for the temple.	Pretend that some of you are curtain makers sewing the curtain for the temple.
Pretend that some of you are cutting and hammering pieces of wood together to make the furniture.
God's people all worked very hard and did their best building the temple and making the temple furniture.
After the temple was all finished God's people gathered together for a big festival when the furniture was put in.	Place the shoe box temple at the bottom of the mat near the Dead Sea.
Place Solomon next to it.
Gather some Fisher Price or similar type figures around it.
This piece of furniture was called the altar.	Show the children the block altar.
It was placed outside the temple building right here.	Place the altar in it's corresponding hole.
It was the place where animal sacrifices were offered.
This is called the laver.	Show the children the laver "juice lid".
All the priests had to wash themselves before they entered the temple. So it was filled with water.	Place the juice lid upside down in front of the temple doorway in it's hole.
Inside the temple building there was a table with 7 special candles on. These candles were called the Menorah.	Place the cedar block representing this table into it's corresponding hole.
There was another table over here that had special bread on it. There were 12 loaves of bread on this table. This bread was called the shew bread.	Place a cedar block in the proper hole to represent the Table of Shew Bread
This table here was right went next to the curtain. The priests burned incense on it.	Place the 3'rd cedar block in it's hole
Optional: show the kids what incense is.
This back room behind the curtain was called the Holy of Holies.	Point out the area behind the curtain.
This was the place where the special box with God's laws was kept.	Place the Covenant Box in it's slot.
It was called the Covenant Box. It was in a room all by itself.	Add the curtain
Only a special priest could go in this room and only on a special day once a year.
Surrounding the temple was a big stone wall.	Let the kids help you make a row of blocks all the way around the temple building.
The part in between the wall and the building was called the courtyard.
But this whole thing including the courtyard was called the temple.
Everyday the priests gave sacrifices at the altar	Walk the priest figure to the altar and each of the following places as you tell about them.
Everyday the priests washed themselves at the Laver before they went into the building.
Everyday they lit the Menorah with the special candles on this table.
They put special bread on the table.
And they burned incense on this table.
Did the priest go behind the curtain to the Covenant Box every day?
No only one time a year on a special day and only one special priest called the High Priest could go back there.
After all the furniture was put inside the temple, King Solomon prayed and asked God to take care of the temple night and day.
God answered Solomon and told him something very important.
Listen carefully to find out what that very important message was.	Read I Kings 9: 3, 6-7.
What was the important message that God told Solomon?	To obey God's laws,
To never worship other gods.
What did God say would happen if if they worshipped other gods?	God would force the people to leave the Promised Land.
God would tear the temple down.
Did King Solomon do his best to build a beautiful temple for God?
Do you think King Solomon will do his best to keep God's laws and never worship other gods?
What can you think of that you can do your best on?

Optional Snack:	Let the kids try Matzo.	Explain to them that God's people call this unleavened bread because it doesn't raise like normal bread does.
This was the king of bread that was put on the Table of Shewbread every day.

Supplemental Bible Readings:
(Suggested daily readings)

1. I Kings 5:1-12
2. I Kings 8: 1-2, 6, 10, 22-30
3. I Kings 9: 1-7
4. Kings 11:1-13
5. I Kings 11:27-31, 38-43*
It helps to distinguish between Rehoboam and Jereboam
by calling one "Ray" and the other "Jerry".
6. I Kings 12:1-8, 12-16, 20

Materials Needed for Next Week:	Promised Land Mat,
King Solomon figure,
Prophet figure,
4 or 5 Fisher Price or similar type women figures,
A man figure,
Optional Snack: variety of sweet cereals, raisins, vanilla wafers, animal crackers, etc. to make gorp + garlic powder or other ingredient that would make the gorp taste bad.
1 small bowl and 1 large bowl for making the gorp.