Esther

Video Workshop

for Grades 2-5

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Video: #7 "Exile and Return" Part II from the What's in the Bible? DVD series

Part II on the DVD has 27 minutes all about Esther. It is a GREAT Sunday School overview and understanding of how Esther fits into the Bible's timeline and Jewish history. "Chester Wigget's Popsicle Stick Theater" retelling of the story of Esther is a hoot. (My co-teacher and I laughed more than the kids).

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Scripture Reference:

The book of Esther.

Leader Preparation:

• Read the scripture ahead of time.
• Preview the video.
• Gather the materials 

Supplies List:

• Video: #7 "Exile and Return" Part II from the What's in the Bible? DVD series

• Popcorn

Presentation

Opening- Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Greet the children and introduce yourself.

Open with a prayer.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

You will NOT need to do much set-up to the video, as the characters and segments do a lot of background on the story, including, some MAP work, helping the kids understand how Esther's story is connected to the Exile and the land of Israel.  It might be helpful afterwards to show a map of the Middle East to recap where Esther's story took place, and the bit about the Exile.

Recommendation for 2nd and 3rd graders:  Take a brief PAUSE in Part II AFTER the retelling of the story, BEFORE you get into the last section on the review of the "History" books and how this story fits into God's Rescue Plan. It's good stuff, don't get me wrong, but younger kids will need a pause and discussion before you get into it.

Part 2's sections on "who were the Jews" and how is Esther's story about "God's Rescue Plan" is great stuff. 

To begin, I wrote out Mordecai's famous line,  "Perhaps you have been put here for just such as time as this" and told the kids to watch the video to figure out why Mordecai told Esther this. 

Then we watched the video with some popcorn. (We also "boo-ed" Haman each time his name was mentioned. This practice is also explained in the video. TIP: Keep the boo's extremely short so as not to drown out the dialog!

After the video was over, we focused for about 10 minutes on these points and questions, all of which were explained in the video:

1. When Mordecai first came to ask for Esther's help, she refused. Why was she scared to help?  Why are some people scared to help others?  Who helped her get past her fears? (Mordecai).
2. How did Esther rescue her people?  Was it easy or hard? What could have gone wrong?
3. At this point I asked the kids to explain the verse I had written on the board: "Perhaps you have been put here for just such as time as this."    What time was it? Who put Esther in a position to do the right thing?
4. What have YOU been put here to do?  What things have "gone wrong" in your school, community, life, --and need you to be like Esther --to stand up and do the right thing?
5. As the video narrator points out, the Jews tried to obey God, but kept failing. So God kept sending a series of people to rescue them: Moses, David, Elijah, and now Esther.  Who is THE "Rescuer" we worship?  (Jesus).  
6. The video narrator makes a point of talking about God's rescue plan which will send a MESSIAH, a SAVIOR to the people. In our class, we discussed the fact that those words, along with the word, "Christ" mean the same thing in three different languages (Hebrew=Messiah, Greek=Christ, Savoir=Roman/Latin).  We asked the kids to come up with an "English" equivalent for someone who saves others from trouble. We came up with "Rescuer"  as in "Jesus the Rescuer" who rescues us from our sins. 

We ended with the point that if we follow and believe in "The Rescuer," we are supposed to be rescuers too, just like Esther was.

Note about this Video's Age Range:

I would not have used the video with JK to 1st. It's a little fast-paced and the content would be over their heads. Instead, pick a video, like the Esther video from Nest.

6th and 7th would enjoy this particular segment in this particular DVD because it has A LOT of humor.

A lesson written by Neil MacQueen
Venice, FL

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