(15 minutes with questions and prayer)
Teacher Note: Have the children form a semi-circle with their chairs. Start your story time with a few stretches to get the wiggles out. Go over your expectations for Bible Story Time (hands in their laps, feet on the floor, listen to you when it is your turn to talk, etc.). Make sure you have the Bible open on your lap while you tell the story.
Below is a Bible story that you can read word-for-word to your students. With younger children, focus only on the main points of the story (see text in bold). With older students, share more of the story’s details.
Who can tell me why our parents or teachers give us rules? They usually give us rules to protect us because they want what is best for us. Do you always obey the rules? God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments because He loved them and wanted to protect them. In today’s Treasure Story, we are going to learn about how the Israelites disobeyed God.
The Israelites created a statue of a golden calf. Moses was at the top of Mount Sinai receiving God’s law for the people. When the Israelites grew tired of waiting for Moses to return, they asked Aaron to create a god that they could see and worship. They didn’t want to wait anymore for God to direct their next steps. Aaron asked the people to give them their rings of gold, and he created a golden statue of a calf.
God grew angry with the Israelites because of their disobedience. They had disobeyed God because they had created an idol and chosen to worship it. An idol is anything that takes the place of worshiping God. The Israelites wanted to worship the statue instead of God. God wanted to destroy the Israelites because they were so quick to turn from His commandments.
When Moses returned from the mountain, he was very angry with the Israelites. When he saw the Israelites worshiping the golden calf, he threw down the tablets that had God’s law written on them. The tablets broke when he threw them down. He also burned the calf with fire. Moses hated that the Israelites had so quickly forgotten all that God had done for them. Who can tell me some of the things that God had done for the Israelites? He had parted the Red Sea, provided food and water for them in the wilderness, and gave them the Ten Commandments.
God forgave the Israelites, but they were punished for their sin. God did not like that the Israelites had disobeyed Him. They had to learn to obey and trust Him. The Israelites needed to know that God hated sin. Those who decided not to follow God were killed, and the others were struck with a plague for a period of time.
Next week, we will learn how God showed mercy to the Israelites despite their sin against Him. God was not happy with their disobedience, but He still loved the Israelites. He loves us too, which is why He sent Jesus. Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sin. Because He took our punishment, God forgives us when we sin. Because of Jesus’ blood that covers our sins, we are made clean. We can be thankful for God’s mercy too.
Bible Story Questions