Feasts of the LORD

In the fall of 2004, I taught a Sunday school class for students in 6th-9th grades. My primary objective was to build students' confidence in the authority of Scripture by showing how the Feasts of the LORD, given to Moses on Mt. Sinai in approximately 1446 B.C., foretold God's entire plan of salvation. The feasts are strong evidence (some would say proof) that Scripture could not possibly have originated with human beings, who cannot foretell events tomorrow, let alone thousands of years in the future. These feasts were celebrated by thousands of people for some 1500 years before the prophecies of the spring feasts were fulfilled. The prophecies of the fall feasts remain to be fulfilled.

When we KNOW God is the source of Scripture, it becomes easier to submit ourselves to what He says, whether or not we agree with it or like it. It gives strength of faith in times of trouble, and deep confidence in God's promises for the future, because His promises of the past have been kept. Believing in God means believing in His perfect integrity, believing the promises.

This series of lessons 14-15 lessons (great for September - December) teaches the historical background of the feasts and what God said about each of them. These are the oldest holidays in the world and are still being celebrated, 3,450 years later. To complete the 2005 calendar, two feasts of the Jews, Purim and Hanukkah, were also covered. These are both mentioned in the Bible, but were not ordained by God and are not of supernatural origin.

By the beginning of 2005, we compiled a 2005 Gregorian/Jewish calendar for use in the upcoming year. The calendar here does not include art. If you are interested in masters with art to use with your students, please contact me.

A summary of the feasts was available as an informational handout for anyone at church.

Classroom Set-Up and Preparation

1. Time Line. Prior to the first lesson, I placed a large timeline up near the ceiling that showed Ancient Egypt (3000 to 715 B.C.), Ancient Greece (800 to 300 B.C.), Ancient Rome (500 B.C. to 455 A.D.), Birth of Christ (4 B.C.), Middle Ages (476 to 1450 A.D.), Columbus (1492) and USA began (1776). Although C.E. and B.C.E. are now more common than A.D. and B.C., I taught children the meaning of all the abbreviations. B.C. means "before Christ", A.D. is anno Domini, Latin for "in the year of our Lord", B.C.E. is "before the common era" and C.E. is "common era." The old abbreviations have fallen from favor as the effort to cleanse Christian references from history has progressed. I later attached cards to the time line saying: Moses and Mt Sinai (1446 B.C.), George Washington (born 1732), Abraham Lincoln (born 1809), Pastor Steve (born 1953) and YOU (my students were born in the early 90s). This emphasizes how ancient these feasts are. Ancient Rome is a little more than halfway back to Sinai.
2. List of Feasts. I also posted a large-print list of the feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits in light green (spring feasts), Weeks in yellow (summer), and Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles in orange (fall feasts).
3. Posters. I had a poster of the Temple and would recommend a picture or drawing of the seven branched menorah, as the feasts are in a menorah pattern. There was a computer-generated poster with squiggly lines where 3D airplanes appeared if you looked beyond the surface of the picture. (If anyone reading this knows where I can order more of those posters or pictures, please let me know.) I also had a world map on the wall.
4. Calendars. I had a blank Jewish religious calendar (beginning with Nissan) posted in a row above a blank Gregorian calendar, aligned approximately as the calendars match in time. (Nissan begins in March.) We added the holidays to these blank calendars in the first lesson.
5. Booklets. I copied enough Feasts of the Lord booklets for each student to have one. I also had a class set of identical Bibles.
6. File System. I set up a box with hanging folders, one for each lesson and one for each student. I copied enough calendar pages for each student on heavy colored paper and filed them in the lesson folders.
7. Art Supplies. I put out several baskets with gel and glitter pens, colored pencils, crayons, paint pens, etc. for students to use when coloring their calendar pages during the last 10-15 minutes of class.
8. Memory Work. The feasts were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, as were the ten commandments. The students were asked to memorize one commandment a week, writing all learned to date each week. On the reverse side of this were the review quizzes.

Lesson Plans

1. Measuring Time (Calendars in the Jewish tradition and in America)
2. Sabbath (Shabat). Review quiz. Recipes: Challah, Bessamen.
3. Feasts of the Lord overview. Review quiz.
4. Passover (Pesach). We did a seder based on the Messianic Passover Hagaddah for Children reproduced from Celebrations of the Bible: A Messianic Children's Curriculum. Baltimore, MD, Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2004. Recipe: Charoseth
5. Unleavened Bread (Hag-Matzot) Review quiz. Leaven experiment.
6. Firstfruits (Bikkurim)
7. Feast of Weeks (Harvest, Shavuot, Pentecost)
8. Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) Review quiz. Unetane Tokef.
9. Atonement (Yom Kippur) Review quiz.
10. Tabernacles (Sukkot) Final quiz.
11. Shadow and Reality (review of Feasts of the Lord)
12. Purim (Feast of Lots from the Book of Esther). Zola Levitt tape and reading of Esther with groggers.
13. Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication). History, lighting of menorah with song, playing dreydel, potato pancakes.
14. Review and completion of calendars.
15. Play

I am not Jewish and had to rely on books and sources written by others. Some of the sources I used in putting these lessons together include:

1. Trepp, Leo. The Complete Book of Jewish Observance: A Practical Manual for the Modern Jew. New York, Behrman House, Inc., 1980.
2. Celebrations of the Bible: A Messianic Children's Curriculum. Baltimore, MD, Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2004.
3. Zimmerman, Martha. Celebrate the Feasts of the Old Testament in Your Own Home or Church. Minneapolis, MN, Bethany House Publishers, 1981.
4. Conner, Kevin J. The Feasts of Israel. Portland, OR, City Bible Publishing, 1980.
5. Birnbaum, Philip. High HolyDay Prayer Book. New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1951.
6. Jewish Calendar. http://www.jewfaq.org/
7. Feasts of the Lord. http://members.tripod.com/jackie576/feasts1.htm/ (and subsequent)
8. Jewish Feasts and Festivals. http://www.hadid.org/ff.htm

If I have misrepresented anything, it was not intentional. I welcome constructive feedback and dialog!