Teaching Nahum

[This is part 5 of our series on the minor prophets]

Teaching Nahum

3-5s

Theme: God will deal with those who are against Him

Intro:

·        Build a model of Nineveh to use in the story either out of boxes, lego or jenga blocks. As they do so talk about the story of Jonah from last week.

Story:

Do you remember this place? [Put up picture of Nineveh from last week] Last week we saw that they were the enemies of God’s people and yet when they said ‘sorry’ to God, He forgave them. [put another little model of Nineveh on the table]

The sad thing is that it did not change them completely, and they went back and started doing some really horrible things; things that I couldn’t possibly tell you about they are so bad.

God was patient with them, but they kept shaking their fists at Him and telling Him to shove off. And they did some terrible things to God’s people. God’s people were crying out to God, asking Him to deal with Nineveh.

About 100 years later God had had enough! He was very patient, giving them lots of time to say sorry again, and come back to him. But, although He is slow to anger, there comes a time when wrong things have to be dealt with, they have to be punished.

So God sent His messenger, Nahum. And Nahum brought this message to God’s people, that their great enemy, who had treated them so badly, will be punished. Here’s what Nahum said:

[Dress a leader up as Nahum]

God says ‘I’m very angry with Nineveh!’

God was angry with Nineveh in Jonah’s day, too. Maybe he will forgive them?

God says, ‘It is too late. I’ve given them enough chances to say sorry!’

Oh dear, this isn’t good. God’s not going to put up with people shaking their fists at Him and telling Him to shove off. That’s a really serious thing to do.

Nineveh thought they were really strong. Look at us, they said, with our great armies. No-one can defeat us. But they were wrong, and they should have known it. God has already done the same thing to Egypt! (see 3:9-11).

God says, ‘I’m going to smash Nineveh!’

Soldiers are coming to wipe out Nineveh! [Get them to smash up the model on the table!]

What do you think that would have been like for the Ninevites? Terrible. Let’s see what Nahum has to say about it:

God says, ‘It will be terrible for people in Nineveh when I do.’

Do you know that God will deal with people who deliberately don’t do what He wants and shake their fist at God saying, ‘Go away. We don’t want you.’ God is angry with them. He says to them, ‘You can be forgiven. But not forever. One day I will stop you!’

Crafts:

·        Colouring sheet of prophet saying the theme verse

·        Make model Nahums

·        Make Loudhalers with theme sentence on out of rolled up card

Songs:

·        There’s a way back to God

5-11s

Theme: God will deal with those who are against Him

Intro:

·        Build a model of Nineveh to use in the story. As they do so talk about the story of Jonah from last week.

·        Have a game of ‘Good news, bad news’ eg Bad news, I have to go to the dentist. Good news, I get the day off school.

·        Quiz on Jonah from last week

·        Thumb wars/arm wrestles – idea: opposing each other

Story:

Do you remember this place? [Put up picture of Nineveh from last week] Last week we saw that they were the enemies of God’s people and yet when they said ‘sorry’ to God, He forgave them. [put another little model of Nineveh on the table]

The sad thing is that it did not change them completely, and they went back and started doing some really horrible things; things that I couldn’t possibly tell you about they are so bad.

God was patient with them, but they kept shaking their fists at Him and telling Him to shove off. And they did some terrible things to God’s people. God’s people were crying out to God, asking Him to deal with Nineveh.

About 100 years later God had had enough! He was very patient, giving them lots of time to say sorry again, and come back to him. But, although He is slow to anger, there comes a time when wrong things have to be dealt with, they have to be punished.

So God sent His messenger, Nahum. And Nahum brought this message to God’s people, that their great enemy, who had treated them so badly, will be punished. Here’s what he said:

[Get one up dressed as Nahum and get him to read 1:2-5. Needs to be a strong reader]

God is angry with Nineveh!

Listen to how he’s going to deal with His enemies:

[Nahum reads 1:6-10]

He’s not going to put up with people shaking their fists at Him and telling Him to shove off. That’s a really serious thing to do.

Nineveh thought they were really strong. Look at us, they said, with our great armies. No-one can defeat us. But they were wrong, and they should have known it. God has already done the same thing to Egypt! (see 3:9-11).

Listen to what God is going to do to Nineveh:

[Nahum reads 2:1-6 with feeling!]

Soldiers are coming to wipe out Nineveh! [Get them to smash up the model on the table!]

What do you think that would have been like for the Ninevites? Terrible. Let’s see what Nahum has to say about it:

[Nahum reads 2:10-13]

This will be a terrible day for Nineveh. But, do you know what? It points us forward to another day. There will be a day when God’s patience wears out with those who shake their fist at Him. God will punish those who say ‘no’ to Him. He will deal with those who treat His people, Christians, badly. And that will be a terrible day for them and we need to warn them. Because in the meantime they can turn to God and say sorry.

But also, we deserve this too. We only escape this terrible day because of Jesus’ forgiveness. He has been patient with us, waiting for us to turn to Him and say sorry. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?

Table time:

Funsheet

Craft – Loudhailers with theme sentence or memory verse on (Nahum 1:7)

Memory verse shields – Nahum 1:7 is written on shields. They need to get in order, then read out. Remove one shield at a time to learn it.