Intermediate Level, Block 8, Week 72: Response of the Children of Israel Led by Zerubbabel and Jeshua

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Intermediate Level, Block 8—Recovery

Week 72
Response of the Children of Israel Led by Zerubbabel and Jeshua

Point to Emphasize: We can be those who do things willingly.

Reference Reading: Ezra 1—2; 3:1-6

Memory Verse: Your people will offer themselves willingly… (Psalm 110:3a)

Story Sample

Many among the children of Israel were excited when they heard Cyrus’s proclamation. Now they would be free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of God. What excitement there was among those willing to return!

One time our teacher announced that there was going to be a contest in the school, and whichever class won the contest would go on a field trip! We were all so excited! Participating in the contest, though, meant that each one had to give up some free time each week. We were all so excited that we willingly gave our time for this contest. [Storyteller, insert an example of how you or someone willingly gave.]

The children of Israel were also excited and willing to return to Jerusalem to rebuild. They could not wait to return to their own country and to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of God. Forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty (42,360) among the children of Israel who were in the Persian Empire volunteered to return. That is a lot of people! This means that they would leave their jobs, friends, relatives, and houses. They would not have the same easy kind of living that they had in the Persian Empire. Everything in Jerusalem had been destroyed 70 years before, but they were still excited! These ones wanted to return!

King Cyrus had also declared that any one of God’s people who remained in Persia could support the work of rebuilding by willingly giving silver, gold, cattle, and other goods. Many of the Israelites responded willingly to give. The leaders of God’s people rose up, and all those around them gave vessels of silver, gold, cattle, precious things, and goods! Then King Cyrus brought out all the vessels of the house of Jehovah. Many of these vessels had been taken 70 years before by another king who destroyed God’s house in Jerusalem and took the people captive. There were five thousand and four hundred vessels of gold and silver. Cyrus gave them all back to those returning to build up God’s house. He returned them for worshipping God in the house of Jehovah.

Then in the seventh month, they all gathered in Jerusalem to build and began to serve and worship God.

This story makes me wish I could have been among those who left captivity in the Persian Empire and willingly returned to build the house of God! We may not be captives to the Persian Empire now, but there are many ways we can show our willingness today. Have you ever gone with your parents to clean the meeting hall or arrange the chairs? Many times children may not want to help with certain tasks or responsibilities, but these tasks are real opportunities to prove that we are willing. We can go and we should go with our parents and help. It would be great if all the families could rise up together and be willing to complete these responsibilities together. Then we would be like the children of Israel who willingly volunteered to rebuild the house of God!

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