This is the curriculum given out to our preschool teachers at our church. This is for informational purposes only for those who wish to follow a bible study with their young children. I make NO claims on the intellectual property of this material, I did not write it. Please note, I've changed the wording of some things to direct them to parents instead of teachers.
THE PEOPLE WORSHIPED GOD:
Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David. He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign. The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide (using the cubit of the old standard). The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits long across the width of the building and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold. He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree and chain designs. He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim. He overlaid the ceiling beams, doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubimon the walls. He built the Most Holy Place, its length corresponding to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talents of fine gold. The gold nails weighed fifty shekels. He also overlaid the upper parts with gold. For the Most Holy Place he made a pair of sculptured cherubim and overlaid them with gold. The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and touched the temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub. Similarly one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub. The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main hall. He made the curtain of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim worked into it. For the front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits long, each with a capitalfive cubits high. He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains. He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz.
2 Chronicles 3:1-17
When all the work Solomon had done for the temple of theLord was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and all the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of God’s temple. Then Solomon summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. And all the Israelites came together to the king at the time of the festival in the seventh month. When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark, and they brought up the ark and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The Levitical priests carried them up; and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted. The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles. These poles were so long that their ends, extending from the ark, could be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt. The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang:
"He is good;
his love endures forever."
his love endures forever."
Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 5:1-14
LIFE APPLICATION:
I can worship God.
BIBLE MEMORY PHRASE FOR YOUR PRESCHOOLER:
The people praised and thanked God. 2 Chronicles 5:13
BIBLE STUDY:
A friend and I stopped to see the recently finished sanctuary of a local church. When we walked into the worship center, it took our breath away. Everything in that place reflected the glory and majesty of God. The room made us want to praise God, and we did right then and there!
Buildings dedicated to the worship of God can reflect his glory in their design and construction. The temple Solomon constructed truly glorified God. Read 2 Chronicles 3-5. What awe-inspiring and glory reflecting things would you see in Solomon's temple? If you were building a place of worship How would you reflect God's glory and encourage worship?
The temple was extraordinary, but was the temple or its worshipers more important to the heart of God? Was the temple and its beauty more important or the God it glorified? What about you? Do you believe God cares more about you than where you worship? How can you truly worship God?
We can build places for worshiping God; they can be beautiful reflections of him. But we need to keep things in the proper perspective. The bible teaches that God is more interested in people than he is with the buildings they erect to him. Read 2 Chronicles 5:11-14. When did God manifest his presence in the temple? What caused God to respond? The praise of the people, not the beauty of the temple,brought God's presence into their midst!
The people in Solomon's day exhibited their praise and thanks to God in song. Giving songs of praise and prayers of thanks to God are the focus of your teaching this week. Kids and preschoolers can begin to understand that people at church worship God when they sing songs to him and talk to him. Boys and girls can learn that they can worship God too.
Part of our mission (at our church) includes intimate worship with God. It's just one measure of how we are loving God as we seek to fulfill the mission of Jesus. Pray now for your children and family. Pray that each family member will walk away from this week with a deeper understanding of what it truly means to worship God intimately. Pray for specific opportunities to introduce your children to the concept of worship. Remember, it's starts in you!
READ THIS TO YOUR PRESCHOOLER:
God had a special job for King Solomon. God wanted King Solomon to build a special church. The church would be a beautiful place where people could come to sing and say thank you to God.
King Solomon used many workers to help build the church. The building was very large. It had a porch across the front. On each side of the front door was a big, tall column.
The inside of the church was covered with gold. Workers used many sparkling stones to decorate the church. King Solomon told the church to make a curtain from red, blue, and purple cloth. The curtain was hung in a special place inside the church.
When the church was finished, King Solomon and the people celebrated. Some of the people played music on trumpets and cymbals. Other people sang thank-you songs to God. They sang, "God is good, God will always love us." They thanked God for their new church.
Parents:
-Think with your child of a song about God, such as the course "God is so good." Clap or keep time with toy rhythm instruments as you sing it. (Young children can keep time while you sing to them.)
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