CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
Object Lessons
By Elmer L. Wilder, Th.D.
Illustrated by Gladys Bowman
A K ing and a S pring OBJECTS: A spring from an old win dow shade, a round stick about two feet long, a small gilt cardboard crown and five pegs. (Stretch the spring until it is an inch longer than the round stick. The stick should be small enough to fit inside the spring. Paint the stick with gilt and fasten one end to a small base, causing it to stand upright. Place the gilt crown at the top of the stick. Compress the spring, drill a hole in the stick and insert a peg to which is attached a cardboard question mark. Drill four other holes between the end of the spring and the crown and place the remaining pegs in them.) LESSON: Boys and girls, did you know that a spring could be like a king? This spring is very much like King Jeroboam. Who can tell me in what way it is like him? “It is not far from a crown.” What is holding the spring back from reaching the crown? “A peg with a question mark at tached to it.” We must not let this question mark hold the spring down. Jeroboam did not let doubt and unbelief keep him from receiving the crown. He could have doubted the prophet Ahijah’s word and refused to take the ten pieces of the cloak when they were offered to him.
Often people are hindered by envy from getting the reward they might otherwise receive. The next peg is purple which sug gests pride, a common cause for fail ure. This black peg reminds us of other sins; they too can keep the spring from reaching the crowd, even though all the other pegs have been removed. Now that they are all removed, the sprjng reaches the crown. God has a reward for all who will allow the things that hinder to be removed. We wish that the story of Jeroboam could stop here. But because King Jeroboam later brought the sin of terrible idolatry into his kingdom, the crown was taken away from his son. And for many years afterwards, other wicked kings of Israel were spoken of as those who “did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin where with he made Israel to sin.” We must let God keep out of our lives the sins that spoil them. A “ S mart ” C art OBJECT: A little cart made from a small cardboard box with cardboard wheels. LESSON: Did you know that a cart was mentioned in the Bible? When David became the king of Israel he remembered that the ark, a very sacred article of furniture from the temple, had been lost in battle to the Philistines. The Philistines, not want ing the ark, had sent it part way home on a cart. David said to the people, “And let us bring again the ark of our God to us . . .” (1 Chron. 13:3). “And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people” (1 Chron. 13:4). It was a good thing to do, but the people made a mistake in using a new cart, perhaps like the Philistines had used, to carry the ark. In verse 7 we read, “And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio
drave the cart.” We will let this little cart remind us of the one they used. It seemed quite the proper thing for them to use a cart, inasmuch as the Philistines had, but it was not pleas ing to the Lord, because He had said that none but the Levites should carry the ark. Uzza, one of the men who was driving the cart, lost his life. David didn’t seem to know what was wrong and he said, “ . . . How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” (1 Chron. 13:12). For three months the ark was left at the house of a man named Obed-edom. We are told that the Lord blessed this man and all that he had, because the ark was there. The time came when David again wanted to bring the ark to Jerusalem.
This time he did the right thing in the right way. “Then David said. None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the L ord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever” (1 Chron. 15:2). This time the ark was brought safely to Jerusalem and was a blessing to Israel. There was no excuse for their mak ing the mistake they did the first time, for in Deuteronomy 10:8 wé read, “ At that time the L ord sepa rated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the L ord . . . .” There is no excuse for many of the mistakes God’s people make today when the Bible has given plain in structions. OBJECT: A cookbook. LESSON: Do you boys and girls like taffy candy? I brought a cookbook R eading a R ecipe
The next peg which holds the spring back from reaching the crown is yellow, reminding us of fear. Jero boam did not allow fear to hinder him and neither should we. The spring moves up the stick, represent ing golden opportunity, until the green stops it. Green speaks of envy.
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