Grade 5 - Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States

Sunday School Curriculum Grade 5
Objective:
Week after Jonah’s Fast: God Judges Korah
To learn to respect the priesthood and the priests
To learn that God is the one who calls people to the service
To learn about the role of intercessions in the Old Testament
Memory Verse:
“No outsider, who is not a descendant of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before the
Lord” (Numbers 16:40)
References:
Numbers 16
―Explanation of the Book of Numbers‖ Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty
The Arabic life applied Bible
Introduction:
Review the previous lesson and verse.
Showing respect to the priests is a very old commandment that God required from His people.
God chose the Levites, one of the twelve tribes of Israel, to serve the tabernacle of God and take
care of its requirements and needs. He also chose Aaron, the brother of Moses, to be the priest.
Moses and Aaron represented the people of Israel in front of God. Thus, God has chosen certain
people in the Old Testament to serve as priests. Similarly, in the New Testament He chose the
twelve disciple and the apostles to lay the hands and be able to ordain priests and bishops (Acts
6:6, 13:3, 1Timothy 3:1-2, Titus 1:7). Thus, the priesthood is an order assigned and chosen by
God and He required us to respect the priests. Today‘s lesson is about the outcome of three men
who rebelled against Aaron‘s priesthood and Moses‘ representation of the people in front of
God.
Lesson Outlines:
The Israelites wandered in the desert of Sinai (Show the students a map) for 40 years after
they came out of Egypt. They rebelled against God many times during those 40 years. This time
the rebellion was led by three men called Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Korah was from the tribe
of Levi and Dathan and Abiram were from Reuben. They led 250 of the leaders of Israel in their
rebellion against Moses and Aaron. They gathered against Moses and Aaron. They thought that
the entire congregation is holy so Moses and Aaron need not to exalt themselves above the
people as leader and priest, respectively. Korah and his company felt that any of them could act
like a priest and raise incense to the Lord. So, Moses felt on his face and told Korah and his
company to raise incenses in their censors in the morning and let God choose who is His and
78 JONAH’S FAST