The Death of Moses

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As the time of Moses’ death drew near, the Lord told him to appoint Joshua as the new leader of Israel. Moses appointed Joshua and told him and all of the people to be strong and courageous because the Lord would be with them as they entered the Promised Land. Even at the age of 120, Moses was strong and had excellent vision, so the Lord directed him to climb Mount Nebo and view all of Canaan, the Promised Land. After viewing the land, Moses died.

Bible verses used in this episode:

Numbers 27:12-23 and Deuteronomy 31:1-8; 32:48-52; 34:1-12

Outline:

1. Leadership passes from Moses to Joshua (Numbers 27:12-23 and Deuteronomy 31:1-8)
2. Moses dies (Deuteronomy 32:48-52; 34:1-12)

Tips for teaching children:

• Play follow-the-leader with younger children. First “Moses” can lead, and then ”Joshua”.
• With older children, discuss attributes of a good leader (in school, in clubs, organisations and even government). If you notice natural leadership qualities in children, be sure and encourage them.
• Review the life of Moses. Collect items or illustrations that depict his life. As children look at the items they can share what this relates to in Moses’ life. Items might include a basket, leaves coloured as if on fire, anything from the plagues, a stick/staff, water, sand, the number 10 and more.

Tips for teaching adults:

• Divide class into groups of 5 or 6, supply paper/pens.  Challenge the groups to write down as much as they know about Moses from books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – his life, his experiences, his ups and down, his personality.  Spend about 20 minutes in the groups and then come together to share what each group has written down.  Did any group have a fact about Moses that the other groups didn’t have?
• Another idea is to have volunteers draw on a whiteboard something from the life of Moses or something they know about Moses.  The rest of the class guesses what is being drawn.  As a teacher you could help things along by writing several things from Moses' life on cards and have people randomly draw a card and then draw this on the whiteboard.
• Ask each group to choose one thing about Moses that instructs us to follow God more closely and more wholly and pray about that.

Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:

Bible Lesson: The Death of Moses

Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.

Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.

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