Isaac the peacemaker
key words
biblical reference
Genesis 26:1-33
lesson objective
To help the children learn that God wants them to be peacemakers.
memory verse
“And the people said to Joshua, ‘We will serve the Lord our God and obey him’” (Joshua 24:24, NIV*).
prepare yourself to teach
When we look at the news media we see the opportunity for a peaceful life is limited. Hearing of murders, fights and violence are common for elementary children. However, that is not the way of life that God wants for them. Today’s lesson gives us an example of the kind of behavior that God wants us to adopt.
Isaac showed that there is a different way to resolve conflicts. Instead of seeking strife and enmity, he turned away and let God take control of the situation. God blessed Isaac, who tried to maintain a peaceful relationship with his discourteous neighbors.
In a society as conflictive as ours, children need the example of peacemakers.
biblical commentary
Read Genesis 26:1-33. Because of the famine in the land where Isaac lived, the Lord told him to go away for a while to Gerar, land of the Philistines. There people began to feel jealous of him for several reasons: because his wife Rebecca was beautiful; because Isaac prospered; because when Isaac sowed the land God blessed him with an abundant harvest, and his cattle multiplied rapidly.
The Philistines increasingly felt more jealous of Isaac and looked for reasons to fight with him.
When Isaac decided to use the wells that his father Abraham had dug long ago, the Philistines filled them with dirt. So Isaac left Gerar and went to live in a nearby valley. There he found other wells that his father had dug and which the Philistines no longer used, so he reopened them. But, when the Philistines realized what he had done, they went to claim the ownership of those wells immediately. Instead of fighting, Isaac decided to leave the place and keep looking.
This happened on numerous occasions, but Isaac remained firm in his desire not to fight,
and continued to look for water elsewhere.
After a while, Isaac returned to his land. When he arrived in Beersheba, God spoke to him, reaffirming that he would bless him. When his servants opened a well, they gave him the good news that they had found water. After a few days, the Philistines who had caused him trouble went to look for him. They wanted to make peace because they knew that the almighty Lord was with him.
introduce the lesson
Peaceful work
For this activity, you will need different colors of Play-Doh or modeling clay, and plastic bags or newspapers to cover the work area.
Depending on the number of children, divide into groups equal to the number of colors of clay. Give each group a different color of clay. Then, ask them to create a figure in which they use all the colors. This means that they will have to share the different colors with each other.
Watch the children’s behavior closely as they interact, and encourage them to be friendly while they work.
When they finish, gather them and ask them: “What would have happened if one of the groups had refused to share their clay? Do you think you could have finished your project?” Listen to their responses and tell them: When everyone works together, there is peace and harmony. However, when someone decides to fight the environment is different. In today’s Bible story, we will study about a man who decided to seek peace, even though his neighbors wanted to fight him.
teach the lesson
Isaac decides not to fight
Isaac was going through a difficult time. There was a great famine in the land where he and his family lived. Soon they would be without any food. For that reason, he decided to move to Gerar, the land of the Philistines.
Isaac was sure he was doing the right thing because God had told him that he would always be with him.
From the beginning, the Philistines felt a lot of jealousy toward Isaac. First, because his wife Rebecca was a very beautiful woman; and second, because God had prospered him a lot in a short time. When he planted crops, his harvest was so abundant that he earned a lot of money and became rich. He also had many sheep, cows and other types of animals.
The Philistines were so jealous that they prepared a plan to upset Isaac. They knew that Isaac’s animals needed water and that he used the wells that his father Abraham had dug. So, when no one was watching, they filled all the wells with dirt.
Abimelech, the king of the region, asked Isaac to leave Gerar, because he was more powerful than they were.
Then Isaac went to another valley with his family, his servants and his animals. There, Isaac’s servants found other ancient wells and opened them. However, the Philistine shepherds soon arrived to tell them, “The water is ours!”
Isaac did not want to fight, so he went to another place and dug another well, but the Philistines did not stay calm. Again, they went to fight over the water.
However, Isaac decided to leave without fighting and reopened another well, but this time Philistines did not bother him.
After a while, Isaac went to live in Beersheba. One night, God spoke to him saying, “I am the God of your father Abraham, and through him I will bless you and increase your descendants. Do not be afraid because I am with you.”
Then Isaac made an altar to worship God and there he put his tent. Then, his servants dug and found another well with fresh and clear water. When King Abimelech heard this, he went to Beersheba to talk to Isaac.
“Why do you come to see me since you treated me very badly and threw me out of your country?” asked Isaac.
“We have seen that God is with you. That’s why we want to be your friends and make a deal so you do not hurt us,” said King Abimelech.
Isaac was a peaceful man, so he decided to make the deal with the Philistines and prepared a big banquet for them. The next morning they got up very early, and the king and Isaac promised not to hurt each other. After this, the visitors went in peace to their land and God continued to bless and prosper Isaac, the peacemaker.
connect the lesson
Who is who?
In this unit, your children learned about different characters, and this activity will serve as review.
Hand out Student Activity Sheet #206-A. Ask the children to connect the figures with the appropriate description.
Some figures will be related to more than one phrase. Emphasize God’s faithfulness to this family. Use this activity to review each lesson in the unit. Point to a character, and ask the children to say what they did and how they showed their obedience to God.
Now give the group Student Activity Sheet #206-B, ask them to fold the page along the dotted line and emphasize the word “Happy.” Discuss how they feel when they get along with others. Listen to their comments and encourage them to put their biblical learning into practice. It is good to avoid fights and be peacemakers.
practice the memory verse
Ask volunteers to come forward and quote the memory verse. If possible prepare simple prizes to recognize the effort of your children.
You might also wish to prepare a demonstration of what the children studied during these five lessons, and invite their parents to visit the session.
wrap-up
Pray
Form a circle, and ask the Lord in prayer to help you all be peacemakers and obey his will, as Abraham and Isaac did.
Encourage
Briefly review the biblical stories they studied. Then make sure everyone takes home the work they did during these five sessions.
Invite
Invite them to the next session when we will begin a new unit of study. Remind them that this is a good time to invite friends to join the group.
* Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™