Rotation.org Writing Team

DEBORAH

GAMES

PASSAGE

Bible Story: Judges 4:1–5:31

Key/Memory Verse: Judges 5:31

PURPOSE

Review the sequence, characters, and meaning of the story by playing a matching game.

Objectives for Rotation

See Bible Background.

Objectives for Games Workshop

Participants will be able to:

Locate the story in the Bible; identify the book of Judges as an Old Testament book of history.

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.

Explain the role and meaning of a judge in Old Testament times.

Retell the story in his/her own words.

Examine the cyclical structure of the background to this story: people go astray, there is suffering, the people ask God for help, God sends a judge who delivers, then the deliverer dies and the cycle begins again.

Discover a foreshadowing of the need for a leader who wouldn’t die – Jesus.

PREPARATION

Materials List

• Bibles
  
• Index cards, 4” x 6” or large pieces of cardstock
  
• Markers
  
• Scissors
  
• Yarn
  

Advance Preparation

Read the Scripture for this lesson.

Read and reflect on the Bible Background provided for this lesson.

Gather the materials necessary for the game.

Cut yarn into two-yard lengths, one per card.

Prepare the game cards.

Practice the pronunciation of the names in this story:
Jabin: yaw-bene', Sisera: see-ser-raw', Barak: baw-rawk', and Jael: yaw-ale'.

Prepare the name cards, story cards, and description cards.

Name Cards ------------------- Description Cards

Jabin ---------------------------- Canaanite king
Sisera --------------------------- Commander of Jabin’s army
Deborah ------------------------ Prophet and judge for Israel
Barak --------------------------- Israelite military leader
Jael ----------------------------- Woman who invited Sisera into her tent
Judge --------------------------- Someone who rules and delivers people from enemies
Prophet ------------------------- Someone who tells God’s message

Story Cards -------------------- Description Cards

Old Testament ---------------- First part of the Bible, written before Jesus was born
Book of Judges --------------- History book in the Old Testament
900 ------------------------------ Number of Sisera’s Iron chariots
Israelites’ sin ------------------ Worshiping idols
10,000 -------------------------- Number of Israelite soldiers
Tent ----------------------------- Place where people lived
Goat’s Milk -------------------- Jael gave to Sisera to drink
Hammer and tent peg ------- Jael used to kill Sisera
Battle ---------------------------- Sisera and Barak’s armies fought
Song of Deborah -------------- Song to remember and celebrate the victory
Jesus ---------------------------- The One who saves us from our sins

PRESENTATION

Open - Introduction

Welcome children to the games workshop. Have the children and adults introduce themselves.

Today we are going to be learning about an important woman in the Bible. After our study, we’ll play a game to review the story.

Please open with prayer. Pray your own, or use the following: “Loving, merciful God, Thank you for the gift of this day and for everyone who is here with us. Help us learn from this Old Testament story. Amen.”

Before we begin today’s story, let’s review some history. Long, long ago, Moses was the leader of the Israelite people. He led the people out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land. After Moses died, the Israelite people entered the Promised Land with Joshua as their leader. After Joshua died, the people needed a new leader. During this time, the Israelites turned away from God and did what they wanted to. Worst of all they began to worship false gods and idols like their neighbors. They no longer worshiped the one, true God. The Bible tells us that God sent special people called judges to rule over the people and to help them remember what God wanted them to do. Judges helped deliver the people from their enemies. (Be sure to clarify that the role of the biblical Old Testament judge is not like today’s judge.)

The people listened to the judge, but when the judge died, they returned to their old ways -- following false gods and turning away from the one, true God. But God loved His people. He would not give up on them and so would send another judge. This went on and on for many years. Our story is about one of the judges during this time -- a woman named Deborah. Let’s find the story in our Bibles.

Our story is found in the book of Judges. This took place many, many years before Jesus was born. Where would we find this book in the Bible? (Old Testament) There are different types of books in the Bible. Judges is a book of history. It tells about the history of what happened to the Israelites after Joshua died and during the time in history when the judges ruled over Israel. Let’s find the story in our Bibles now.

Help the children locate Judges 4:1.

Say: The story of Deborah is actually told twice. Chapter 4 tells the story.

Help the children locate Judges 5:1.

Say: Chapter 5 is the same story written as a song, called the Song of Deborah.

Pass out the seven name cards prepared earlier. Say the names out loud so the children hear the pronunciations.

Say: There are lots of names in our story. These cards will help us remember who is who.
When the name on your card is mentioned, be sure to hold your card up so everyone can see the name.

Read the story (or paraphrase it) as the children listen. Pause when a character is introduced or named and point to the child holding that name card.

Say: Our memory verse is found in the second story about Deborah, called the Song of Deborah. Let’s find it in our Bibles now.

Help the children locate and read the memory verse in Judges 5:31.

Say: After this great victory, there was peace in the land for forty years. But then the same cycle continued … The people began to worship false gods once again. And so God sent them another judge. The cycle continued on and on for many years.

Dig - Main Content

Deborah Match Game

Supplies

Prepared Name Cards, Story Cards, and Description cards

Prepared yarn lengths – one for each name and story card

Directions

Divide the children into two teams.

Place the name and story cards on the floor in a vertical line, face up.

Shuffle the description cards so they are in a different order from the name and story cards.

About six feet away from the name and story cards, place the description cards face down in another vertical line.

Have the first player on team one turn over one of the description cards. Team must decide together what name or story card is a match and connect the two cards using the piece of yarn. If incorrect the other team has a chance to make the match. If that is also incorrect, turn the card back face down. Either way, play passes to the next team.
Teams should confer together before deciding on the answer. Each player should have a chance to turn over a card and make the yarn match.

Be sure to pause during play to discuss the story in more depth and help the children reflect on the meaning of the story.

Optional: Award points for correct answers if desired. Team with the most points wins the game.

Reflect – Closure

The stories in the book of Judges are called “cycles” stories. That’s because the people repeated the same behaviors over and over again. Have you heard the term “vicious circle” (or cycle)?

What did the Israelites do over and over again that was like a vicious cycle? (disobeyed God, followed false gods, did what felt right to them)

What was God’s response? (God was faithful, sent the people judges to lead them)

Do people today decide to do whatever was “right in their own eyes;” without regard for what God wants? What are some examples?

After Barak’s victory, what happened? (peace in the land for 40 years)

But then what happened? (The cycle began again…the people fell away from following God)

The people cried out to God for help. God sent a judge to rescue them. The judge helped turn the people back to God. But the judges were human and they made mistakes. The judges were human and they died. The people needed a leader who didn’t make mistakes. The people needed a leader who wouldn’t die!

Ask: Did that leader ever come?

Say: Jesus was the leader who would never die.

Reflect – Closure

Gather the children together in a circle. Ask for prayer requests and close in prayer together.

Ask: What is one word or idea from today’s story that you will remember this week? (judge, cycle, following God, falling away from God are some possibilities).

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

Adaptations - Younger Children

Paraphrase the Bible story or use a children’s Bible to tell the story.

Add simple pictures to the story and name cards (use Christian clip art, do an internet search or cut from old Sunday school curriculum or magazines)

CONTRIBUTOR: Jaymie Derden