Rotation.org Writing Team

DEBORAH

SCIENCE

PASSAGE

Bible Story: Judges 4:1--5:31
Key/Memory Verse: Judges 5:31

PURPOSE

Use science experiments to discuss the story of Deborah.

Objectives for Rotation

See Bible Background.

Objectives for Workshop

Recognize the characters in the story and know something about them -- Deborah: a judge, obedient to God, confident in her faith; Barak: military leader summoned by Deborah; Sisera: enemy general; Jael: a woman who hid Sisera but then killed him.

Judge the actions of the characters in the story based on their obedience to God; extrapolate this to making judgments about our own choices.

PREPARATION

Materials List

• Bibles
  
• Bottle, plastic 2 liter with lid
  
• Glass eyedropper
  
• Magnets, one per group
  
• Objects that are attractive to magnets, various – 7
  
• Objects that are non-attractive to magnets, various -- 5
  
• Water
  

Advance Preparation Requirements

Read the Bible story.

Read Bible Background.

Gather materials.

Experiment #1
Remove labels from the 2-liter bottle.

Completely fill 2-liter bottle with water – there should be no room for air in the bottle.

Fill the eyedropper ½ to 2/3 full of water.

Put the eyedropper in the 2-liter bottle and put the lid on the bottle. The eyedropper should be floating. If it sinks to the bottom, remove it and reduce the amount of water in the eyedropper.

Test the experiment – follow instructions in the Introduction section.

Experiment #2

Label the items that are attractive to magnets by writing the following on separate pieces of masking tape and attaching them to the objects:

Deborah
Barak
Jael

“Stood up for someone who was being bullied”
“Asked a new student to sit with me at lunch”
“Did my chores without complaining”
“Was nice to my brother/sister”

Label the items that are non-attractive to magnets by writing the following on separate pieces of masking tape and attaching them to the objects:

King Jabin
Sisera

“Fought with my brother/sister”
“Lied that I didn’t have homework”
“Picked on someone at school”

Verify that those items that should be attracted to the magnet are, and those that shouldn’t be aren’t.

PRESENTATION

Open – Introduction

We’re talking today about a story from the book of Judges.

Is the book of Judges in the New Testament or the Old Testament? [Old Testament]

Is the Old Testament in the front of our Bible or the back of our Bible? [Front]

At the time of the stories in the book of Judges, Israel was a group of 12 tribes. They didn’t have a king or president or single other leader like the nations around them did and like we do today. Instead, when a situation arose where the people needed a leader, God raised up a “judge” to lead the people.

[Get out prepared 2-liter bottle with eyedropper in it.]

One of the things we see when we read the book of Judges is that the people would be close to God and obey his rules, just like this eyedropper is close to the lid in this bottle.

[Now, squeeze bottle and hold it – the bottle will resist because there’s no air in there, just keep squeezing. The water level will rise in the eyedropper, and the eyedropper will gradually sink.]

Over time, the people would grow farther and farther away from God. They would forget to do what he wanted.

Then, something would happen and the people would remember God and come back to him. [Release pressure on the bottle. The eyedropper should fly back up to the top.]

This cycle repeats over and over in the book of Judges.

[You may want to pass the bottle around and let others try to get the eyedropper to sink.]

The judge we’re talking about today is Deborah. Everyone get a Bible and let’s open our Bibles to Judges 4. The Israelites have gone through a cycle where they’ve fallen away, but King Jabin of Canaan is causing problems and the Israelites have remembered God and prayed to him.

Let’s take turns reading beginning at verse 4.

[Ask each student to read 1-2 verses. Always ask if they want to read and do not require it.]
Read Judges 4:4-11, 12-23

Dig - Main Content

Divide the students into groups of 2-4 people.

Give each group a magnet, and a set of the objects that are labeled Deborah, King Jabin, Sisera, Barak, and Jael.

Tell the students that today they get to be a judge. Today, they will decide who listened to God and did what he wanted. Ask the students to separate the objects into people who obeyed God.

Once they have separated the items into two piles, tell them that the magnet is also a judge. The magnet will stick to the items that have the names of people who obeyed God. Ask them to test their hypothesis by touching the magnet to each “person.”

Let them re-tell the story in their own words, using the objects as stand-ins for the people and the magnet to show each time that someone obeyed what God was telling them.

Give the students objects labeled with the situations. Have them separate them into piles of situations where people were obedient to God and where people weren’t. Ask them to test their hypothesis by touching the magnet to each situation.

Reflect – Closure

How can you tell in the story who was obedient to God?

What sorts of things does God want you to do?

How can you tell what God wants you to do?

Do you think it was hard for Deborah, Barak, and Jael to do what God wanted them to do?

Is it sometimes hard for us to do what God wants us to do? Why?

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

Adaptations - Younger Children

Read the Bible story to them from the Bible or a children’s Bible.

You may want to do the magnet experiment as a group so that you can read the names/situations.

Adaptations - Older Children

Ask them to come up with different situations for the obedient/non-obedient piles.

SOURCES
VanCleave, Janice. Janice VanCleave’s 201 Awesome, Magical Bizarre, and Incredible Experiments. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1994.

CONTRIBUTOR: Jo Oehrlein