The Judges

BIG IDEA: God will work through people who trust Him.

This free Bible lesson, The Judges, will teach preschool and elementary students about the true story of the period of Judges in Israel before the monarchy.

FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Judges 2:6-3:6, 21:25

All of the printable activities and digital slides needed for the lesson, as well as a full printable lesson plan for both elementary and preschool are available.

Below is the outline of the free elementary Bible lesson.

PREP & SUPPLIES

• printed “PSALM 119:105 REFLECTION” for each student
• pens/pencils
• coloring supplies

LESSON HOOK ACTIVITY

(SLIDE) Can someone tell me what a “pattern” is? (allow responses)

A pattern is a set of things or events that happen over and over in a specific order.

I am going to tell you a story and I want you to see if you notice a pattern in the story.

Use the following slides to tell the story. Guide the students to see the pattern of the people (1) falling into sin, (2) suffering from their sin, (3) repenting and turning away from their sin, (4) being delivered from their sin.

(SLIDE) Once upon a time there was a group of people who decided that their way was better than God’s way. So they decided to do things their own way and ignore God’s commands. They began to bow down and worship things that were not the one True God.

(SLIDE) This made God angry, so the people began to suffer at the hands of evil kings and rulers. They were forced to work for evil people and spent many years suffering.

(SLIDE) The people were so sad that they began to call out to God to save them. They prayed to God for help so that they wouldn’t have to serve mean kings and rulers.

(SLIDE) God sent a special man to defeat the enemy armies. God was with the man and the Israelite army so they were victorious.

(SLIDE) God helped the man defeat the enemy army and the people were happy again and began living in peace.

A few years after God allowed the special man to defeat the enemy army, the man died.

The people were living in peace and were happy in the land, but soon they began to make friends with people who did not know the one True God.

(SLIDE) Their new friends told them about the things they loved. So, the people began to bow down and worship things that were not the one True God. Soon they didn’t think about God anymore.

(SLIDE) Another evil king forced the people to work for him for many years because the people had forgotten about God. The people were suffering so badly. Then, they remembered God!

(SLIDE) They began to pray to ask God to save them from the evil king and the sadness that was in their lives. God heard the prayers of the people.

(SLIDE) God made another special man strong. The man went out with an Israelite army and defeated the evil king’s army.

(SLIDE) The people were thankful to God and began living in peace after the special man defeated the enemy army.

(SLIDE) Sadly, the special man died and the people forgot about God again. They began to bow down and worship the things their new friends loved. Because of their sin against God, they started to live under the rule of another evil king who made them suffer. When they cried out and prayed to God, He sent another special leader to defeat the evil king and his army so the people could be free and live in peace again.

What pattern do you notice in this story? (allow responses and discussion before moving to the next slide)

(SLIDE) The pattern that this group of people kept going through in the story is that they would (1) sin, which would lead to them (2) suffering. After they suffered a while, they would (3) repent and turn back to God, and then God would (4) deliver them from, or bring them out of, their suffering.

The group of people in this story are the Israelites, and we are going to learn about a time in history when they were going through this exact pattern of life.

BIBLE LESSON

Last week we learned about the time when the Israelites entered into the Promised Land.

God led the Israelites to the land that He had promised to Abraham over 400 years earlier.

(SLIDE) Genesis 12:1-3 NIrV

[“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s family. Go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. And I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you. I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. All nations on earth will be blessed because of you.’”]

(SLIDE) We learned that after Moses died, Joshua became Israel’s new leader. Joshua followed God’s commands and the Israelites respected Joshua as their new leader. Following God’s commands, Joshua led the people into the Promised Land. They crossed over the Jordan River and defeated the people in the city of Jericho.

God was with the Israelites as they continued to conquer the land that He had promised to give them. Joshua divided up the land among the tribes, and this was the beginning of the nation of Israel living in the Promised Land.

(SLIDE) When we begin reading the next Book of the Bible, which is called The Book of Judges, we find out that the people started to make some terrible decisions.

Is the Book of Judges in The New Testament or The Old Testament of The Bible? (The Old Testament)

How do we know the Book of Judges is in The Old Testament? (We are learning about the nation of Israel before Jesus came to the Earth to live as a man.)

After Joshua died, the next generation of people were born and raised, and since they were not alive at the time before their families entered into the Promised Land, they were not familiar with all that God had done for the nation of Israel. What are some of the amazing things God had done for the Israelites? (allow responses)

(SLIDE) God had performed signs and miracles to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He had sent plagues onto the land of Egypt, He had parted the waters of the Red Sea so they could walk through on dry ground, He had provided food and water for them in the desert wilderness, He had been with them as they had defeated other kings and armies, He had dried up the waters of the Jordan River so they could cross into the Promised Land, and He had made the walls of the city of Jericho fall down so they could take over the city.

Most of the generation of people who saw these amazing things that God had done had already died, and the newer and younger people had not gotten to see God’s work.

So the people started to fall away from God and His commands.

(SLIDE) The first commandment that God gave to Moses, and to us, says: “Do not put any other gods in place of me”. (Exodus 20:3)

He is the one True God. We must not worship or bow down to any other gods. We must put God first and love Him the most over anything else in our lives.

The people who had lived in the land before the Israelites did not worship our God, the one True God.

LEADER NOTE: Some students may be curious and ask about “other gods”.

Other religions have their own false (not true) gods that they believe in. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the Son of the one True God. People who believe in other religions worship false gods, gods that are not the one True God. Our God commands us not to worship any other gods.

God had already warned the people to destroy the places where the people worshipped other gods, but they did not obey. The people who lived in the land began to convince the Israelites to worship the false gods of other religions. (Judges 2:2-3)

(SLIDE) Judges 2:11-13 NIrV

[The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD…They deserted the LORD, the God of their people. He had brought them out of Egypt. But now the Israelites served other gods and worshiped them. They served the gods of the nations that were around them. They made the LORD angry…because they deserted him.]

The Israelites began to follow the gods of the people who were living in the land after God had commanded them not to.

This made God angry, and the Bible says that because He was angry with the Israelites:

(SLIDE) Judges 2:14-15 NIrV

[The LORD handed the Israelites over to their enemies all around them. Israel wasn’t able to fight against them anymore and win. When the Israelites went out to fight, the LORD’s power was against them. He let their enemies win the battle over them. The LORD had warned them that it would happen, And now they were suffering terribly.]

But the Israelites are God’s chosen people, so He made another way to rescue them.

(SLIDE) He gave them special leaders, called “judges”. When we think of a “judge” we probably think of a courtroom. The judge sits behind a big desk and hands out the sentence to a criminal who has been found guilty of a crime by the jury.

(SLIDE) But these judges were not like a judge in a courtroom. The “judges” that God called and raised up were special leaders who would bring the nation of Israel through a specific problem at a specific time.

The Bible says:

(SLIDE) Judges 2:18-19 NIrV

[When the LORD gave them a leader, he was with that leader. The LORD saved the people from the power of their enemies. He did it as long as the leader lived…But when the leader died, the people returned to their evil ways. The things they did were even more sinful than the things their people before them had done.]

Each new leader that God raised up would bring the Israelites through a difficult time, but then as soon as that leader died the people would go right back into worshiping other false gods and making bad decisions.

The Book of Judges teaches about a period of time that lasted over 100 years in the history of Israel.

The Bible says about the people during the time of the judges:

(SLIDE) Judges 21:25 NIrV

[In those days, Israel didn’t have a king. The people did anything they thought was right.]

The nation of Israel did not have a leader that remained in power. During that time, the people did anything they thought was right. They were not following what God had taught them was right. They were following their own ways.

God had commanded and warned the people of Israel to put Him first over any other gods. But the people continuously chose to stray away from God.

They did have good times when they chose to obey Him, but then they would go back into their old ways of making bad choices.

The judges that God raised to lead the people over the many years we can read about in the Bible were great leaders who followed God’s commands. God used them and worked through them to bring the people through times that were difficult.

The judges trusted and followed God.

(SLIDE) Big Idea:

God will work through people who trust Him.

Do you notice that sometimes people in our world today do things that are against what God wants?

Can you be someone who trusts and follows God?

Can you be someone who leads others to trust and follow God?

When YOU trust God, He will work through You!

Sometimes it is difficult to go against what other people are doing when you know what they are doing is wrong. But, when we ask Jesus to be our Savior, Who does He send to live in our hearts? (The Holy Spirit)

The Holy Spirit lives inside all believers in Jesus, and He never leaves! The Holy Spirit can help you turn away from what is not right and be a leader who trusts and follows God.

(SLIDE) What does it mean to believe in, and follow, Jesus? (allow responses)

The Bible tells us in the Book of Romans in The New Testament:

(SLIDE) Romans 10:9-10 NIrV

[Say with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord.” Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Then you will be saved. With your heart you believe and are made right with God. With your mouth you say what you believe. And so you are saved.]

(SLIDE) When we believe in Jesus it means that we:

• believe that Jesus is God
• believe that Jesus came to the Earth to live a sinless life
• believe that Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins
• believe that Jesus rose back to life on the third day

When we believe all of these things and ask Jesus to be our Savior, He will save us. Then we begin to follow Him and live our lives for Him.

We are all sinners. Sin separates us from God.

Jesus loves us so much. He gave His own life to save us from our sins. When we accept His free gift of salvation, He takes away our sins so we can be close to God.

Does anyone have any questions?

Dear God,

Thank You for the true story of the judges in the history of Israel. Thank You that You still use people and work through people who trust You and follow You. Please help us to be strong leaders who lead other people to do what is right in Your eyes. Thank You for sending Jesus to die on the cross to take away our sins. Please help us to be bold enough to ask questions when we don’t understand something from The Bible and bold enough to share Jesus with other people.

We love you and we pray all of these things in Jesus’ sweet name, Amen.

LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY

God worked through the judges to lead the people out of hard times and back to Himself. The judges were faithful to God and followed all of His commands.

To be a good leader, we must be sure that we are following God closely and obeying His commands. Where can we learn about what God wants for our lives? (The Bible)

(SLIDE) We can learn all about God and what He wants for our lives by reading The Bible.

Raise your hand if you read The Bible at least one time per week.

Raise your hand if you read The Bible three times per week.

Raise your hand if you read The Bible every day.

Today we are going to play a game to test ourselves and see if we can be good leaders like the judges. I am going to show you a situation and two choices. Your task is to make the choice that you think would be the closest to what God would want for you to do.

This activity will be similar to “Would You Rather”. Instruct students to move to one side of the room or the other to indicate their choices and then return to the center of the room to hear the next set of choices.

Each set of choices has its own corresponding slide OR you can read the choices out loud.

• Your teacher reminds the class to turn in their homework. Your best friend turns to you in a panic and says, “Oh no! I forgot to finish my homework. Let me look at your paper so I can write down the answers real fast. It will take me too long to do it on my own.”
  • 1 – Give your friend the paper. You don’t want her to get in trouble.
  • 2 – Tell your friend to ask the teacher for more time to finish.
• You are with your brother as he is selling candy bars for a school fundraiser and your next door neighbor buys $10 worth of candy. As you are walking away from the front door, your brother realizes there is an extra $10 bill stuck to the one the neighbor paid him. Your brother says to you, “It’s not a big deal. Let’s just keep the extra money. He will never know.”
  • 1 – Tell your brother he should go back and return the extra money.
  • 2 – Say “Okay!” to your brother and watch him put it in his pocket.
• You are at church with your younger cousin. She has a friend who has never been to church. When you ask your cousin if she has invited her friend to church she replies, “No, I am afraid that she will not want to come with me so I am scared to ask her.”
  • 1 – Tell her you understand her fear and open the door for her.
  • 2 – Tell her she should invite her friend to church and not be afraid of what her friend will say.
• Your little sister has a big soccer game that she really wants to win but the star player is sick. You are really good at soccer so your sister asks you to take the place of the star player. You are older than the age limit of the league, but your sister says, “You are shorter than I am so no one will ever know.”
  • 1 – Say “Yes!” Then put on a jersey and head to the soccer field.
  • 2 – Tell your sister that you aren’t going to be dishonest and she shouldn’t either.
• Several of your friends have been playing games on their phones during the church service and they say to you, “Play a game with us. This is more fun than listening to the preacher.”
  • 1 – Tell your friends that you always put God first in your life.
  • 2 – Agree with your friends and get your phone out of your pocket.

Always remember that God will work through people who trust Him and that includes YOU! If you follow God and make good choices, He will show you how to live and how to lead others.

SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY

We have learned that we can lead others when we know and trust Jesus. To learn more about Jesus, we should read our Bibles often.

(SLIDE) The Bible teaches us that God’s Word, The Bible, is a guide for us.

During your small group time today, you will be able to reflect on the verse found in Psalm 119:105 and what it means for your life.

HANDOUT: Each student should get a Psalm 119:105 reflection paper. (Leader’s Guide is on the next page.)

BREAK INTO SMALL GROUPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY.

Discussion Prompts for Leaders:

• Why did God get angry with the Israelites? (they turned from Him and began worshiping and bowing down to other gods)
• Why did the new generation of people forget about God? (they had not seen all of the amazing things God had done before their families entered into the Promised Land)
• What happened to the Israelites when God got angry with them for straying away from Him? (they fell into the hands of enemies and were forced to serve evil rulers)
• Who were the judges? (people called by God to lead the people out of a specific time of trouble)
• How did God work through the judges to lead the people? (God was with each of the judges and helped them defeat the enemies)
• Our Big Idea is “God will work through people who trust Him”. What does that mean? (God will use people who believe in Him and people who are willing to follow Him for His glory and His purposes; God has a plan for everyone’s life; We should be willing and open to listening to Him and doing what He wants us to do)
• How can you keep God first in your life?
• Has there ever been a time when you felt like it was difficult to go against what other people were doing when you knew what they were doing was wrong?
• Has there ever been a time when God worked through you to help lead someone else?
• Who does Jesus send to help believers? (The Holy Spirit – when we believe in Jesus and ask Him to be our Savior, He sends The Holy Spirit to live inside of us to guide and comfort us)
• What separates us from God? (sin)
• What is sin? (anything that we do that is against God – doing things our way instead of God’s way)
• Who died to take away our sins? (Jesus)
• Who can receive Jesus’s free gift of salvation? (anyone who believes that Jesus is God and that He died and rose back to life – all you have to do is ask Him to save you and He will)
• Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?
• Use any extra time to discuss the lesson and/or the memory verse.
• Psalm 119:105 Leader’s Guide:
  • Your “Word” is a way that God refers to the Bible. Every word in the Bible is from God.
  • This verse is teaching us that the Bible is so important that it lights the way for us in the dark.
  • The Truths in the Bible light our way so we can walk without stumbling/falling.
  • If we read, learn from, and follow the teachings found in the Holy Scriptures we will be on the right path. The Bible “lights our way”.
  • Life is a “path”. Our feet are walking the path of life. The Truths found in the Bible are a “lamp” that lights the path of life for us.
  • Only God’s Light, found in His Word, the Bible, can light our way in a dark world.

CLOSING REFLECTION

We learned that the Israelites chose to worship other false gods and not the one True God. When they strayed away from God, they were brought into difficult times. God raised up leaders in Israel called “judges” to deliver the people through the difficult times. God still works through people who trust Him and follow Him. When we believe in Jesus, He sends His Holy Spirit to live inside of us and help us to know how He wants us to live. The Holy Spirit can help us turn away from what is not right and be a leader who trusts and follows God. To receive Jesus as our Savior all we need to do is believe that He is God, that He lived a sinless life, that He died on the cross to take away our sins, and that He rose back to life on the third day. When we believe these things, we can ask Jesus to be our Savior and He will save us! Then we can begin to follow Him and live our lives for Him.

Reflection Questions:

• Why was God angry with the people? (they were falling away from Him and ignoring His command to worship Him only)
• Who can help you be a leader? (The Holy Spirit; When you ask Jesus to be your Savior, He sends The Holy Spirit to live inside of you and help you.)
• Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?

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