Scripture: Joshua 22-24
Learning Objectives:
- Students will review Joshua’s final commands to Israel to be faithful to God after 40 years of wandering the desert.
- Students will create a timeline that outlines a 40 year span in the history of their country (or state) to get an idea of what can happen in 40 years.
Guiding Question: How can we record events that show a passage of time using a time line?
Materials: paper, pencil, books/people to interview/ electronic devices for research
Procedure: Review Joshua’s leadership of the Israelites during their time of wandering in the desert. Emphasize how God blessed Joshua and Caleb by letting them be the only ones to enter the Promised Land out of the Israelites who were addressed in Numbers 14:30. Review how much can happen in 40 years. Examples: A person can grow from a baby to an adult with several children, several wars can revolutionize a country, talk about technological advancements (compare 1970’s technology and computers to today’s advancements), etc. Show students examples of timelines in history. These can be a Bible timeline, country, timelines of a person’s life, etc. Show students how the marks are proportional to the passage of time. Timelines generally combine a date, a description and images.
Provide students with history books, pre-print website articles about their country and/or give them opportunities to use the internet to research. Have students chose 5-10 events that span a period of 40 years in history to record on their timeline. Students can then illustrate their timelines and present them to each other.
Additional Questions:
- What do you consider the most important events on your timeline? Why?
Supplemental Activity: Have students create a timeline of their life so far and what they project for their lives through the time that they are 40. Have them consider what their defining moments in life have been so far and what their future goals are. Consider what events need to take place in order for them to achieve those goals. Let students share these with each other.
Written by: Savannah Negas