Tag: ruhi book 3 grade 3 lesson 4

(This story is also an activity in GAME/ NARRATIVE section)

In accordance with God’s command, Moses returned to Egypt and went with Aaron to see the Pharaoh. Though He had spent so many years as a simple shepherd, majesty and grandeur had become manifest in Him. Moses asked that the Hebrew people be allowed to return to their homeland, to worship and serve God. He proclaimed the Message of the oneness of God, Creator of all things, but the Pharaoh refused to listen and demanded proof of the greatness of God. At this, Moses cast down his staff, and as it fell to the ground, it turned into a serpent before the eyes of all in the Pharaoh’s court. But the Pharaoh was not convinced. He believed that his own priests and sorcerers could perform acts as great as Moses’, so he called them to the palace to demonstrate their skill. Once they had gathered, all of the Pharaoh’s sorcerers cast their staffs to the ground where they, too, turned into serpents. But when these serpents encountered the one that Moses had cast, it swallowed each of them up in turn. This story of Moses’ encounter with the priests tells us that, no matter how much power they have or how much knowledge they possess, those who oppose God’s Manifestation can never disprove His claims, and the proofs that Moses put forth, like the serpent, overpowered the arguments made by the priests. Yet still, the Pharaoh would not accept Moses’ Message of one God. His heart was hardened, and he would not let the Hebrew people go.

Not long after, Moses returned to the Pharaoh and warned him that ten plagues would afflict the land of Egypt if he did not free the Hebrew people. But the Pharaoh was heedless to the warning, and one by one the plagues came. First, there was a heavy flood that filled the River Nile with red silt, overflowing the reservoirs and contaminating the water so there was little to drink. Next, great hailstones fell and destroyed the crops, creating a shortage of food. The hailstones were followed by swarms of locusts so thick that they blocked the sun. Then a scourge of frogs overran the city. Prior to the onset of each plague, Moses would foretell the event and would call on the Pharaoh to relinquish his grip on the Hebrew people, and each time the Pharaoh would refuse until he saw the consequences of the plague. He would then promise to let the people go. But each time he would break his promise and, in anger, increase the burden on the enslaved people. Egyptians and Hebrews alike blamed Moses for all the suffering in the land.

When the tenth plague came, the disease spread everywhere and took many lives. Even the Pharaoh’s eldest son became sick and died. The Hebrew households were, however, passed over by the plague. At last, after this tenth affliction, with his country and family devastated, the Pharaoh told Moses that He could take the people out of Egypt.

Moses led the Hebrew people through the desert. Day and night they traveled until they reached the shores of the Red Sea. The people were exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. They had barely stopped when they realized the Egyptian army was pursuing them. The Pharaoh had changed his mind once again and wanted to return the people into bondage. Now they were trapped. With the Egyptians behind them, they could not turn back; yet they could not move forward since there was no way to cross the sea. There seemed to be no escape, and they feared for their lives. They began to lose hope. But Moses reminded them that God would not abandon them and would always take care of them. Then, as the Egyptians drew nearer, God commanded Moses to raise His staff and stretch His hand out over the sea. As He did so, the water divided, leaving a path for the people to pass through. With another wave of His hand, the water flowed back again, washing away the Egyptian army and leaving the Hebrews safe on the other side of the Red Sea.

After their escape through the Red Sea, the Hebrew people were finally free from the Egyptians. But they still had a long way to travel through the hot, dry desert, if they were to reach the land of their forefather, Abraham. Conditions were harsh, and food and water were scarce. Discontent began to grow. Many complained and doubted Moses and the teachings of God. When they reached the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses left the people and climbed the mountain to commune with God. In His absence, the people turned back to the old ways. They melted their jewelry and created a golden idol, which they started to worship, forgetting the one true God. After forty days, Moses returned. He carried two stone tablets, upon which were inscribed God’s laws. Seeing that the people had returned to the worship of idols, Moses destroyed what they had made and begged God to show forgiveness to them.

In the confusion, however, the tablets Moses had brought were also destroyed, and so He returned to Mount Sinai and communed with God for another forty days. Once again, He came down from the mountain, His face radiant, carrying tablets engraved with Ten Commandments, laws by which the Hebrew people should live. They were commanded, for example, to recognize the one true God, to honor their fathers and mothers, and not to murder or steal or speak dishonestly. Moses told the people that if they obeyed these laws of God, they would become a holy nation. In response, the Hebrews, who came to be known as the Jewish people, promised to be obedient to God’s commandments. Later, the laws and teachings brought by Moses were recorded in a Holy Book called the Torah.

At last, after many long years in the desert, they neared Canaan, the Promised Land. Moses was then very old. From a mountain top, He could see the Promised Land and knew that the Hebrew people had reached their goal. His Mission was complete, and it was there, on the mountain top, that His earthly life came to an end. Moses had guided His people with wisdom and gave them God’s Ten Commandments to obey, and so they were raised out of slavery to a high state of civilization.

Note that all the items below are found in the attached PDF. some can be presented as photos, some can be made ahead of time or substituted for your own prop.

Suggested Props:

1. Handcuffs ( two strips of paper or foil looped together)
2. small basket or picture of Moses basket,  (there is one in the craft section)
3. crown for a prince
4. picture of great stone pyramids
5. sheep
6. staff,
7. large snake
8. small snakes
9. red silt/sand
10. hailstones (paper wadded up)
11. locusts
12. frogs
13. toy medical kit (for disease), OR PHOTO IN PDF
14. gold coins
15. ten commandments were written out on paper in the shape of stone tablets
16. the Torah

Today’s historical episode recounts the life of Moses.  In relating this narrative to the children, whether in whole or in part, you should be sure to emphasize that Moses guided the Hebrew people out of slavery and educated them through the law of God, raising them to a higher level of civilization.

Moses was born in the land of Egypt thousands of years ago.  His family was among the many descendants of the children of Abraham, the Hebrew people, who had settled and prospered long before in the Promised Land.   Most people lived by farming and tending animals, and when drought come to the Promised Land and water had grown scarce, the Hebrew people made their way to Egypt, where they lived happily for a long time.  But eventually, the king of Egypt, known as the Pharaoh, became fearful of the Hebrew people, believing they might try to overtake his land, and so he made them slaves. Even worse, he ordered that all their newborn male children be killed to prevent them from growing into soldiers who could rise up against him.  It was around this time that Moses was born. 

Imagine the fear that filled the heart of Moses’s mother when she gave birth to her new little Son.  For three months she was able to keep Him in hiding, but when she could conceal Him no longer, she put Him in a small basket and sent it floating down the Nile, praying that He would be found and saved.  Later her daughter Miriam discovered that her tiny brother have been taken from the basket to the household of the Pharaoh who was persuaded to spare His life and had given the name Moses.  So it was that Moses came to be raised in the Pharaoh’s palace and was treated as his very son.  He was a prince.

At times, young Moses would inspect the work of the Hebrew slaves, who were laboring under harsh conditions to build structures and great stone pyramids at the Pharaoh’s command.  He saw the cruelty with which they were treated, and He grew troubled by their suffering.  Moses, of course, came to know that He, too, was of the Hebrew people, which, unlike the Egyptians who worshipped idols, believed in one God, as taught by Abraham.  Eventually, Moses met His sister Miriam and His older brother Aaron, who had been born before the Pharaoh’s cruel order.  Still, He was separate from His people, a member of the Pharaoh’s household.

One day, however, while carrying out an inspection of some construction work, Moses saw an Egyptian overseer striking a slave, who was struggling to defend himself.  The man cried out for assistance, and Moses swung out His arm to help him.  The overseer fell to the ground, killed by the powerful blow. 

News of the incident quickly spread throughout the city, and Moses fled from Egypt to escape the Pharaoh’s men, who sought to put Him to death as punishment for killing one of the ruler’s overseers.  Moses begged God for forgiveness, as His intentions had been but to help the beleaguered Hebrew slave, and He asked God to show Him the way forward.  He was led to the land of Midian, where He was taken in by the family of a prosperous shepherd.  He eventually married one of the shepherd’s daughters and was given responsibility for several flocks of sheep, spending long hours alone in the open countryside tending to the animals.  The suffering of the enslaved Hebrew people in Egypt was never, however, far from His thoughts, and especially during times of solitude in the countryside, He would pray and meditate, asking God for guidance.

It was while tending sheep, alone, that Moses became aware of the Station to which God had called Him.  He saw a bush burning in the countryside that was not consumed by the flames.  As He approached the bush the Voice of God could be heard, bidding Him make His way back to Egypt and with His brother Aaron by His side, call on the Pharaoh to free the Hebrew people.  Moses was assured that He would be given the strength to accomplish so great a task, liberating the Hebrews from the yoke of oppression and guiding them to the land of their Forefather, Abraham.

In accordance with God’s command, Moses returned to Egypt and went with Aaron to see the Pharaoh.  Though He had spent so many years as a simple shepherd, majesty and grandeur had become manifest in Him.  Moses asked that the Hebrew people be allowed to return to their homeland to worship and serve God.  He proclaimed the message of the oneness of God, Creator of all things, but the Pharaoh refused to listen and demanded proof of the greatness of God.  At this, Moses cast down his staff, and as it fell to the ground, it turned into a serpent before the eyes of all in the Pharaoh’s court.  But the Pharaoh was not convinced.  He believed that his own priests and sorcerers could perform acts as great as Moses, so he called them to the palace to demonstrate their skill.  Once they had gathered, all of Pharaoh’s sorcerers cast their staffs to the ground where they, too turned into serpents.  But when these serpents encountered the one that Moses had cast it swallowed each of them up in turn.  Of course, Bahaullah explained that the staff of Moses was in reality “the rod of celestial dominion”.  He tells us that Moses possessed Divine knowledge and we know that through the Pharaoh’s priests tried to disprove His claims, the proofs that Moses put forth, like the serpent, overpowered the arguments they made.  Yet still, the Pharaoh would not accept Moses’ Message of one God.  His heart was hardened, and he would not let the Hebrew people go. 

Not long after, Moses returned to the Pharaoh and warned him that ten plagues would afflict the land of Egypt if he did not free the Hebrew people.  But the Pharaoh was heedless to the warning, and one by one the plagues came.  First, there was a heavy flood that filled the River Nile with red silt, overflowing the reservoirs and contaminating the water so there was little to drink.  Next, great hailstones fell and destroyed the crops, creating s shortage of food.  The hailstones were followed by swarms of locusts so thick that they blocked the sun.  Then a scourge of frogs overran the city.  Prior to the onset of each plague Moses would foretell the event and would call on Pharaoh to relinquish his grip on the Hebrew people, and each time the Pharaoh would refuse until he saw the consequences of the plague.  He would then promise to let the people go.  But each time he would break his promise and, in anger, increase the burden on the enslaved people.  Egyptians and Hebrews alike blamed Moses for all the suffering in the land. 

When the tenth plague came, the disease spread everywhere and took many lives.  Even the Pharaoh’s eldest son became sick and died.  The Hebrew households were, however, passed over by the plague. At last, after this tenth affliction, with his country and family devastated, the Pharaoh told Moses that He could take the people out of Egypt.

Moses led the Hebrew people through the desert.  Day and night they traveled until they reached the shores of the Red Sea.  The people were exhausted, hungry, and thirsty.  They had barely stopped when they realized the Egyptian army was pursuing them. The Pharaoh had changed his mind once again and wanted to return the people to bondage.  Now there were trapped.  With the Egyptians behind them, they could not turn back; yet they could not move forward since there was no way across the sea.  There seemed to be no escape, and they feared for their lives.  They began to lose hope.  But Moses reminded them that God would not abandon them and would always take care of them.  Then as the Egyptians drew nearer, God commanded Moses to raise His staff and stretch His hand out over the sea.  As he did so the water divided, leaving a path for the people to pass through.  With another wave of His hand, the water flowed back again, washing away the Egyptian army and leaving the Hebrews safe on the other side of the Red Sea.  

The sea now behind them, the people still had a long way to travel through the hot, dry desert.  Conditions were harsh, and food and water were scarce.  Discontent began to grow.  Many complained and doubted Moses and the teachings of God.  When they reached the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses left the people and climbed the mountain to commune with God.   In His absence, the people turned back to the old ways.  They melted their jewelry and created a golden idol, which they started to worship, forgetting the one true God.  After forty days Moses returned.  He carried two stone tablets upon which were inscribed God’s laws, the Ten Commandments, Seeing that the people had returned to the worship of idols, Moses destroyed what they had made and begged God to show forgiveness to them.

The tablets had also been destroyed in the confusion, so Moses returned to Mount Sinai and communicated with God for another forty days, at the end of which He came down from the mountain.  His face was radiant, with a new set of tablets, again engraved with Ten Commandments, laws by which Hebrew people should live.  For example, they were commanded to recognize the one true God, to honor their fathers and mothers, and not to murder or steal or speak dishonestly.    Moses told people that if they obeyed these laws of God, they would become a holy nation. In response, the Hebrews who came to be known as the Jewish people promised to be obedient to God’s commandments.  Later the laws and teachings brought by Moses were recorded in a Holy Book called the Torah.  

At last, after many long years in the desert, they neared Canaan, the Promised Land Moses was then very old.  From a mountain top, He could see the Promised Land and knew that the Hebrew people had reached their goal.  His mission was complete, and it was there, on the mountain top, that His earthly life came to an end.  Moses had guided His people with wisdom and gave them God’s Ten Commandments to obey, and so they were raised out of slavery to a high state of civilization.    

Moses in the Basket: Pendulum Powered Card

This card is easy to make even if the instructions are a bit long. Download the template pieces. Note you can draw your own clouds, or grass or use the template. You can also draw the sky in and then color it. Cardbase is an 8.5″ x 6″ cardstock folded in half

Materials Needed

1. Cardstock (white and light blue)
2. Stiff clear plastic  (Acetate) or heavy cardstock
3. Glue
4. Penny

Instructions

• Download the template pieces and print them on white cardstock.
• Cut a card 4.25″ x 5.5″ white
• Cut a card 4″ x 5.25″ light blue or white
• Cut out clouds, waves, and grass 
• Cut pendulum from acetate or heavy card stock
• Glue or tape the penny to the round end of the pendulum
• Now position the pendulum onto the card that is 4″ x 5.25″ (light blue)  
• Check to see that waves/grass covers the penny. Once the position is correct, secure with a brad (Split pin)
• Use foam tape on the back of the waves and grass pieces and position it on top of the pendulum
• Add the Moses basket to the top of the pendulum
• Finish the sky with clouds or draw in the sky of your choice.
• Attach to 4.25″ x 5.5″ card
• Attach the finished pendulum card to your notebook or to the card base (8.5″ x 6″ base) and use it as a greeting card
• Enjoy

The basic mechanism is here, add color and eyes, etc to make it into a frog for the plague.

How to use

1. Print and color the template
2. Carefully cut out the bean along the solid lines
3. Fold along the dotted lines
4. Place a marble inside of the bean and glue the two sets of flaps 
5. Now, you’ll want to find a slightly inclined surface, one that is not too slippery
6. Let your little bean “come to life.”