Rotation.org Writing Team

ELISHA

COMPUTER

PASSAGE

Bible Story: 2 Kings 2:1-15
Key/Memory Verse: 2 Kings 2:9b

PURPOSE

The story of Elisha receiving his teacher's mantle tells children about their role in the church and the purpose of learning God's Word. It helps them understand the choice they have to pick up and continue in God's work. See Bible Background for details.

Objectives

Children will:

Locate the story in the Old Testament portion of the Bible.

Tell the story in their own words.

Define prophet, disciple.

Discuss the relationship between Elijah and Elisha -- teacher/disciple.

Explore the meaning of Elisha's request for a double portion of Elijah's spirit.

Explore the meaning behind Elijah's passing the mantle to Elisha.

Discuss ways they learn from parents and teachers and pick up their "mantles."

Memorize 2 Kings 2:9b.

PREPARATION

Read Bible Background.

Materials

• Bibles
  
• Cellophane or crinkle-crunch material or paper for flames
  
• Computers
  
• Cookie sheet
  
• Extension cord
  
• Fabric, colorful
  
• Leaf blower
  
• Markers – dry erase, permanent, and washable
  
• Paper, white
  
• Pitcher
  
• Scissors
  
• Software – Elijah & Jonah CD (Sunday Software Inc.)
  
• Teaching tips and outline for Elijah & Jonah CD (http://www.sundaysoftware.com/Elijah-Jonah/Elijah-Jonah-Tips.pdf)
  
• Water
  
• White board
  

Advance Preparation

Preview CD and make sure everything's working right on your computer.

Recruit extra helpers for young children.

Do a test run of the Elijah cutout and mantle cloth flying up in the leaf blower whirlwind.

Cut a ten-inch piece of fabric for each participant to use as Elijah’s mantle.

Fill a pitcher with water.

PRESENTATION

Open & Dig (20 minutes)

Begin by reviewing in open Bibles the location of the Elijah stories, 1 Kings 19 -- which they may have already studied -- and the Elijah-Elisha episode found in 2 Kings 2. Include some discussion of the timeline so that the students can place Elijah and Elisha in Israel's history. Make note of the fact that Elijah is considered the greatest prophet in Israel, and was the one who appeared to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration along with Moses.

As you acquaint the students with the location of these stories, discuss the role of a prophet -- to preach against injustice and teach the right way of worshipping God.

Discuss today's software: The Elijah & Jonah CD.

Writing on a white board for all to see, describe "Old Elijah -Young Elisha" -- the section of the CD they will be using. Write down some "key questions" and program highlights they will be responsible for discussing at their computer with their teacher. Tell them that the retelling is not long, about 15 minutes, so they should take their time going through each pop-up question during the story. The teaching guide for the program has numerous suggested questions in it.

The Elijah & Jonah CD contains the complete story, nearly word for word of Elisha's walk with Elijah, the Whirlwind, Chariot of Fire, and the passing of Elijah's mantle. The key visual and audio components emphasize the strong bond between teacher and student.

Following the main retelling of the story, teachers and students may choose to go into one of several optional activities provided in the CD, depending on how much time you have and the age of your students. These activities include:

Elisha's Story Quiz (just about the Elisha-Mantle story)

Elijah's Quiz Game (all about the 3 Elijah stories on the CD)

What's in a name (an interesting study note for older children discussing the meaning of Elijah and Elisha's names - as they relate to Jesus' name)

Catch Me If You Can (help Elijah collect good things while avoiding Ahab and Jezebel)

Exit the software.

Reflect - Closure (15 minutes)

Students are going to re-create the key scene from the story using a leaf blower, crunchy material for fire sounds, small cloth mantles (one for each student), and their own cutout Elijah.

1. Have each student cut out a small Elijah figure on lightweight paper. Let them "dress" him quickly with colored markers.

2. Give each student a small piece of cloth representing his or her "mantle." Using permanent markers, have them write the names of five or six people in the church and their family who teach them about God.

3. Give each student a piece of crunch paper or cellophane to make the “fire” sound in the story.

4. Position a helper on the floor with the leaf blower pointed toward the ceiling.

5. Gathered around the leaf blower, walk around in a circle retelling the story. Assume the role of Elijah and ask your young Elishas three times to stay behind. Have them respond as Elisha did "I will not leave you." Then stop the action and ask the important question: "What do you want from me before I go?" And have the children respond with Elisha's words, "I want a double share of your spirit. I want to continue your work." Respond by saying, "It will be yours if you stay with me, and if you see me go." Then say, "suddenly, a chariot of fire pulled by horse on fire came between Elijah and Elisha." At this point all the students should make the flame noise as loud as they can. Continue by saying, "And Elijah was taken up into heaven by a whirlwind." Have the leaf blower start up and one by one have the students release their Elijah cutouts and mantles into the air stream. Have each one shout, "My Father, my father, My Defender of Israel!"

After everyone has “caught” his or her mantle, turn off the leaf blower and pour a small amount of water on the table or in a shallow pan such as a cookie sheet. Then have the students strike the water just like Elisha did, saying, "Where is the God of Elijah?" Even a small amount of water will spritz just enough when struck. This is all very fun and memorable and you can bet they'll all want to try it several times. It will be a lesson they will never forget!

Close with a prayer such as:

Lord give us the desire to learn more about you. And help us each to grow up and be the kind of prophets Elijah and Elisha were. Pass their mantle to each of us. Amen.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

Young children will need some help with the software activities. Recruit helpers.

ALTERNATE SOFTWARE SUGGESTIONS

Use Let's Talk CD (Sunday Software) or Kid Pix 3 CD to recreate the key dialog from the story.

Use publishing software to produce a Tabloid-like retelling of the Elijah-Elisha Whirlwind story. Include interviews from bystanders and the other prophets about what it all could mean.

CONTRIBUTOR: Neil MacQueen

We have used this lesson and here are our notes about this lesson:
We did not use the leaf blower technique in the computer workshop – we used it in our video workshop. (Which is posted at: http://rotation.infopop.cc/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=120606712...351026991#8351026991 )

The following material was used at the beginning of the DIG portion of our lesson. Note that the key verse was written ahead of time on the whiteboard.

Ask: This story took place many years before Jesus was born. Where do you suppose would we find this book in the Bible? (in the Old Testament)
Say: Our story is found in a book of the Bible called Second Kings.
Say: There are two prophets in our story, Elijah (Elijah is pronounced: ee-LAI-juh. The students have just finished a Rotation about Elijah.) and Elisha (Elisha is pronounced: ee-LAI-shuh.)

Teach the way to remember which prophet came first –just like in the alphabet, j (in EliJah) comes before s (in EliSha). [Write the two names on the whiteboard for readers.]

Ask: Who can tell me something about Elijah?
What is a prophet? (a messenger of God)
Say: Prophets taught the people the right way of worshipping God. Elijah is considered the greatest prophet in Israel. Before Elijah was taken up into heaven, Elisha asked him for something.

For 1st and 2nd grade:
Read to them the key Bible verse, referring to the whiteboard.

For 3rd grade and up:
Distribute Bibles.
Have the students find 2 Kings, chapter 2, verse 1.
Point out the verse you want them to read – verse 9b. Point out that the “b” means the second part of the verse.
Have them read together verse 9b.

For all students:
Ask: In Bible times what were the inheritance customs? [See if the students remember from the story of Jacob and Esau.]
Say: In those days, before a father died, he would pass his property on to his sons. Everyone would get an equal share, except the first-born son. That son would get twice as much as anyone else. Even though Elisha was not Elijah’s born son, he was like a son to him. Elisha was asking for a first-born son’s blessing, and for Elijah to give him his most valuable possession, the quality of his spirit. Let’s hear our story to learn more about this.

Then we turned to the computers and followed the lesson shown above.

--Carol