Writing on Rocks as a Bible Lesson for Children

The Bible inspires me every time I read it.

When I start seeing double digit chapters in Deuteronomy, it gives me all the Harvest feels. It’s the first thing that reminds me the Fall Feasts are soon beginning with Simchat Torah as its bookend.

It truly is my most favorite time of year, even more so than springtime.

All because we get to visit the Garden together again, hand in hand with our Creator as we roll back the scroll to Genesis 1.

Oh, what a glorious season it is to be alive; a reminder to inhale deep and let the breath of God fill our lungs.

Torah Portion Ki Tavo

Deuteronomy is my favorite book of the Torah because it’s a summary of all five books. In Torah portion, "Ki Tavo" (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8), it  talks about firstfruits and tithes, blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.

Although there are a handful of great lessons to teach children this week, like the difference between right and wrong, obedience and disobedience – what caught my attention was when Moses and the elders commanded the people to collect stones and coat them with plaster, and then to “write on them all the words of this Torah.” (Deu 27:2-4)

They were instructed to build an altar with the stones as soon as they entered the Promised Land; a place where they would make sacrifices to Adonai and gather together to eat, fellowship, and rejoice before their God.

Can you remember another time in Scripture when God commanded someone to write an entire copy of the Torah for themselves? In Deu 17:14, God tells the nation of Israel that when they cross over into the Promised Land, they’ll want to set a King over them like the surrounding nations. And when a King is chosen to rule Israel, he is to write an entire copy of the Torah for himself.

In both stories, they were commanded to write; to remember, to absorb, to gather around, to worship with, to take hold of – all the Words of God – before entering new land.

Basically, God is saying, “Let the very foundation of your new life on new ground be built upon my Words alone.”

So this week, we gathered stones.

We “coated them with plaster” by painting them.

And we wrote the Words of God on them. Together, we set them in our garden to be reminded that we are building our life on the Words of God.

And one day those Words will lead us back to the Garden to spend eternity with our Creator.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Redemption draws near.

(Note: After painting rocks, add a coat of Mod Podge if they are staying outside so they don't fade from the rain.)