Ezekiel

EZEKIEL

Objectives:

1. Students should identify Ezekiel as a prophet during the Babylonian captivity.
2. Students should identify Ezekiel as the author of the book of Ezekiel.
3. Students should know at least one of his major visions – the bones.

Possible Lesson Plan:

1. Open with prayer.
2. The story of Ezekiel is not in any of our storybooks Tell the children the story as follows:

Ezekiel was a prophet of the Lord. He saw many visions and the Lord told him their meaning. One of his visions was about wheels; another was about huge beings with four wings and four faces. He talked to God’s people about building walls and vines and sheep. He saw visions of eagles and cherubim. But one of his most famous visions was of a valley of bones!

            One day the Spirit of the Lord took Ezekiel to a valley. The valley was full of dried up bones – all kinds of bones. The whole valley seemed to be full of bones. And God asked Ezekiel if these bones could ever be alive again; Ezekiel answered that God was the only one who knew the answer.

            So God told Ezekiel to speak to the bones. Ezekiel told the bones that God was going to make them alive again. This would surely show the power of the Lord. And as Ezekiel spoke, there was a great rattling and the bones all came together! They joined into bodies – head to back to arms to legs to hands and feet. Soon they had muscles and skin. But there were still not alive.

            And God told Ezekiel to tell the bones that God was commanding the breath of life to come into their bodies. And suddenly the breath came into the bodies and they were alive! They stood up on their feet – a great army for God.

            Ezekiel told God’s people that the vision of the bones was a message from God for them. When there seems to be no hope, God can make life again through His Spirit. We can trust our Lord no matter how terrible the things that happen!

Add Ezekiel to your timeline.

3. True/False questions:

                           True                                                   False

Ezekiel was a prophet of God.                 Ezekiel was a bone.

Ezekiel saw a valley full of bones.            Ezekiel saw a valley full of trees.

The bones came alive again                       The bones blew away in the wind.

4. Review with the children the bones in their bodies and their arrangement.
5. When do we hear this story in Church? Every year during Holy Week!
6. Make an Ezekiel’s Bones Puzzle: Before class, cut the skeleton on the next page out of white paper. Give each child a set of bones in an envelope and a piece of black construction paper. Have him glue the bones into a coherent skeleton on his construction paper. Then cut the entire piece of paper into puzzle pieces. Put the pieces back in the envelope. Have fun!
7. Close with prayer.