Teaching Time

Today we are going to work together to tell the Bible story as we build a wall at the same time!

Point to the boxes. The Israelites had piles of stones to rebuild the Jerusalem walls. We won’t use stones for our wall; we will use this pile of boxes instead.

Direct the children to sit in a curved line between the pile of boxes and the table. Leave a few feet between each child so everyone can see the presentation. 

Ask the child closest to the boxes to find Box #1. That child will give the box to the next child, and so on until the box travels along the line of children and is given to you at the table.

You will open the box and remove the picture, then place the box on the table to begin building the wall. You will then hold up the picture and discuss it using the bullet points.

Continue this way for all eight boxes to complete the Bible story and wall.

(Box #1 Exile)

● Who are these people in the Bible story? God’s people; the Israelites.

● Do they look happy or sad? Sad.

● Why are they sad? They were forced to leave their country.

● Do you remember the big word we learned for that in the video? Exile.

(Box #2 Cupbearer)

● Who are the two men in this picture? Nehemiah and the king (of Persia).

● Nehemiah had an important job; what was he called? A cupbearer.

Being a cupbearer was very important. He had to make sure that nobody tried to put poison or something bad in the king’s drink. It meant that the king trusted Nehemiah with his life!

(Box #3 Nehemiah is sad)

● Why is Nehemiah sad? He heard the Jerusalem wall was destroyed (broken; in ruins).

● What did Nehemiah ask the king for permission to do? Travel to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall.

● Did the king refuse to let Nehemiah go? No. Nehemiah was a favorite of the king, and he said, "Yes!"

● Do you remember why the wall was important to a city in Bible times? For protection; if a wall was broken down, the city looked weak.

(Box#4 Nehemiah in Jerusalem)

● Where is Nehemiah in this picture? He was in Jerusalem.

● Why did he travel there? To visit friends and take a vacation? NO! He went to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls.

● Nehemiah is alone in this picture. Why is he carrying tools? He is going to rebuild the walls.

(Box #5 Work together)

● Who are these people standing by the wall? God’s people; the Israelites.

That's right! God’s people from many places returned to Jerusalem.

● What do they do to help Nehemiah? They worked together to help him rebuild the wall.

Yes! God sent people to help Nehemiah do this big job! And today, if we ask God for help, He will answer our prayers!

(Box #6 Threats)

● Was everyone happy the walls were being rebuilt? No, Nehemiah’s enemies were angry.

● What did the unhappy people do as the Israelites worked together on the wall? Nehemiah’s enemies laughed and threatened them.

● Why did they do that? They didn’t like the Jewish people and did not want them to return to live in Jerusalem.

● What did the enemies who threatened Nehemiah hope would happen? They hoped that Nehemiah would be scared and stop working on the walls.

(Box #7 Protection)

● Oh no! What did Nehemiah do? Did the Israelites stop working? No, Nehemiah trusted God, and they kept working.

● What did Nehemiah do so they could continue working? He had some people work while the others stood guard to protect them from their enemies.

(Box #8 Celebration)

● Why are the people so happy in this picture? Because they finished rebuilding the walls.

● A job this big must have taken years to finish, right? No, it only took 52 days.

Point to the wall you made with the boxes. Wow, look! Nehemiah wasn’t the only one who built a wall! We also made our wall by working together. Nehemiah and the Jewish people succeeded because God gave them strength as they worked together. With God’s help, we can do big things when we work together!