Year C. 3rd Term. Lesson 1. Bible Buddy :Hezekiah

Scripture: for teacher background:  2 Kings 18-20

Making contact:

Discuss what it is like to open a letter or report from school with bad news.

How do you feel? What do you do?

Today’s story is about a king in the Old Testament who got an awful letter. We’ll learn just now about what he did when he got it.

 Exploration:

Today we are going back to learn from our Old Testament buddies. Do you remember our buddies King David and King Solomon, and the prophets Elijah and Elisha? 

Well, there were many kings after that, good and bad, but too many to learn them all, so we’ll just pick out a few.

The country of Israel had been split into 2 countries after King Solomon and the buddy we’re learning about today was king of Judah. His name was Hezekiah.

He was a good king. He ordered that all the idols, shrines and altars that had been dedicated to other gods be broken down. He relied on God.

Seven years later, the enemy army of Assyrians besieged Jerusalem- they completely surrounded it. Hezekiah and the people were trapped inside.

King Sennacherib of Assyria wrote a letter to Hezekiah and in it he said he would destroy Jerusalem and Hezekiah’s God would be able to do nothing!

Hezekiah did a very good thing. He took the letter to the temple and spread it out there in the presence of the Lord. 

He prayed: “O Lord God of Israel, seated on Your throne….You alone are God. You created the earth and the sky. 

Now look Lord what is happening to us. 

Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult You, the living God. 

Now, Lord our God, rescue us from the Assyrians, so that all the nations of the world will know that only You, O Lord, are God.” (2 Kings 19:16-19)

God answered and said He would protect the city for the sake of His own honour.

That night ONE angel of the Lord went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185 000 soldiers.

At dawn the next day, there they lay, all dead.

 Then the Assyrian king, Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh. One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his own sons killed him.

Hezekiah got sick one day and the prophet said he had to get ready to die. Hezekiah prayed that the Lord would remember how he had served him faithfully.

God said he would heal him and let him live 15 years longer. Hezekiah asked for a sign and the Lord made the shadow on the stairway go back 10 steps. (Today’s scientists are still trying to work that one out!)

Application

I have had letters and reports that have worried me and made me sad. At home, I have a little table where I kneel and pray – like my own little prayer corner.

 I have spread out my letters there and asked for my Lord’s help.

Why don’t you try that if you have a bad news letter or report? At church, we also did this once. Our church got letters of complaint, so our prayer meeting people put them on the communion table and gathered around and prayed over them.

Challenge to Mission

 Do you know somebody who is being bullied or threatened in any way, like Sennacherib was threatening Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem? 

Why don’t you go to them and offer to pray with them about the matter instead of just shouting and fighting back like people usually do.

 Consolidation

There is a worksheet with a picture of Hezekiah before God laying down his letter and praying. 

Give the children an opportunity to do this. They can write a little letter on paper you provided and then bring it and kneel before Jesus and pray about those problems.

The worksheet has a word search on it and a memory verse.

Memory Verse

“God cares for you so turn all your worries over to Him.” (1 Peter 5:7)

Print the memory verse on envelopes- one or 2 words on each envelope.