Hi Sharon. Sounds fascinating. What’s your scripture?

Good evening, Neil,

The main scripture is Isaiah 37:16

Also, Isa. 36:1; Isa. 36:2-20; Isa. 36:21-37:20; Isa. 37:21-38; Isaiah 38, 39.

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Hi, Sharon!
You have picked passages with lots of drama and action as well as possibilities for a variety of emotions from the student actors responding to the action.

Here isa good example of a news drama lesson and script from our Writing Team: https://www.rotation.org/topic...-news-drama-workshop.  It is for the Christmas story, but you can use some of the techniques for the drama script you are writing, in particular the newsroom desk/anchors and also the news chopper technique.  Notice also how the lesson and the script are designed to help the students think about the passage and then write their own lines showing how different people (and animals) respond to the events in the passage being studied.

It sounds like you have thought through your lesson and know what you want the children to take away at the end.  The goal would be to write a script that helps the children “see” and understand the God is omnipotent and shows mercy.

Does that help you get started?

Good morning, Amy,

Just what I needed, many thanks.

Regards

Sharon

Hey Sharon. I honestly have never heard of a Sunday School teaching the story of the Assyrian Seige of Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah. So I applaud you for tackling this vivid and challenging story.

I think your choice of "Newsroom" to create a "You Are There" drama with reporters and newcasters is a great idea.  There's a lot of back and forth confusing dialog in those Isaiah verses, so the more you can simplify them, the better. To do so, I highly recommend a version of scripture known as THE MESSAGE (by Eugene Petersen), his close paraphrase really gets to the heart and humor of that passage. You can read and copy it from https://www.biblegateway.com/p...h+36&version=MSG  Here's a snippet of his dialog:

Rabshekah said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that the Great King, the king of Assyria, says this: ‘What kind of backing do you think you have against me? You’re bluffing and I’m calling your bluff. Your words are no match for my weapons. What kind of backup do you have now that you’ve rebelled against me? Egypt? Don’t make me laugh. Egypt is a rubber crutch. Lean on Egypt and you’ll end up flat on your face. 

That line about the "rubber crutch' would make a great prop and "pratfall" in your skit. (The actual Hebrew phrase is "broken reed.")  More importantly, it's a GREAT METAPHOR for the teaching you suggested:  LEAN ON ME and no one else.

BTW:  One of the BIG REASONS Hezekiah was able to negotiate with the Assyrians and hold out was because he constructed a now-famous WATER TUNNEL known as "Hezekiah's Tunnel" that brought water from the Gihon Spring under Mount Moriah (under Jerusalem) to the Pool of Siloam inside Jerusalem's defensive walls. You can still walk through that tunnel today and it STILL has water in it! (I know, because I've done it.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siloam_tunnel

What does the tunnel mean?  "Trust God, but don't sit around. PREPARE YOURSELF to meet the coming challenges."

Hello Sharon,

Are you using the "Isaiah" DVD from SuperBook series for your Isaiah/Hezekiah rotation?  If not, it's a good DVD that ties in with the story well.  This DVD made me think about writing a lesson set for this story as well.

Also, the recent biblical archeological finds of King Hezekiah and Isaiah's seal impressions, could lead to an interesting discussion on archeology and the Bible and maybe even an art project where kids could make their own seals to send letters between the prophet and king.  I got a chance to see both seal impressions in person at a display in Oklahoma a couple of years ago.  Here are YouTube links to these archeological finds.

Here is a fascinating YouTube video on Hezekiah's tunnel that Neil mentioned above.  I saw a replica of it in Oklahoma two years ago.  The attached video is the video they used at that display.

Hi Ron,

Fantastic, can't thank you enough!

This find gives so much life to the story.

Many thanks & much appreciated.

Regards,

Sharon