Teaching the Divisions of the Bible: Law | Sunday School Solutions

By Aubrey Kyle

Teaching children the Pentateuch, also known as the Law, can easily seem like an overwhelming task. Maybe you don’t even want to teach the kids in your children’s church about books like Leviticus and Numbers. Thankfully, there’s a way you can teach these books to children that is interesting, understandable, and fun!

Thankfully, there’s a way you can teach these books to children that is interesting, understandable, and fun!

The Law is made up of the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Have the children in your Sunday school class open up their Bibles to find these books in the Table of Contents. Have them turn to each book in their Bible as you talk about it with them. This will not only help them learn where these Bible books are located, but it will also help them begin to feel more comfortable with their Bibles. The first book you will start with is Genesis.

Genesis means “beginnings.” This book tells us the beginning of many things! Not only does Genesis tell us about Creation, but it also tells us the “firsts” of the first man and woman, the first sin, the first promise of a coming Savior. This book also teaches about God’s chosen people, the Israelites, and it ends with them living in Egypt under Pharaoh.

Exodus tells the story of Moses and how God used him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Children can remember what this book is about by thinking of the word exit. Exodus is also where the Ten Commandments and instructions for the Tabernacle are given. 

Leviticus includes the laws that God’s people were to follow, but it is more than just a “rulebook.” In Leviticus, we learn about Aaron and his sons being high priests, how offerings were to be made, and the festivals the Israelites were to celebrate as a way to worship God. Aaron was from the tribe of Levi, the tribe God chose to be the priests. That’s where the name of this book comes.

Children can remember what this book is about by thinking of the word exit.

While Numbers is a census of the Israelites, it’s more than that. It also tells the story of how God’s people traveled to the Promised Land, and that because of their lack of faith, they had to spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness instead of entering Canaan, the Promised Land.

Finally, Deuteronomy is where God reviews the history of Israel and gives the Ten Commandments to the Israelites for the second time. Through Moses, God tells His people how to live in the Promised Land, warning them about what will happen if they disobey Him and His laws and how they will be blessed if they obey and keep His laws.

As you teach about these books, you can have the children repeat the five books of the Law, and they will be on their way to memorizing the order of the books of the Bible. You can also make a game for the children in your class to play that will make memorizing the order of these books even more fun!

“Mini-Books”

You can make this simple game using small food boxes, like gelatin or rice mix boxes. Take five of these boxes (one for each book of the Pentateuch), turn them inside out, and seal them shut. Then, write the name of a book from the Pentateuch on each book’s spine, until you have the five “books” of the Law made with your cardboard boxes. By making multiple sets of these “books,” you can divide the children in your Sunday school class into teams to see who can arrange them correctly the fastest! You could add more boxes as you teach about more books of the Bible in future weeks.

For lessons you can use to teach stories found in the Pentateuch, visit CEF Press®, where you can find these lessons on Creation, the Exodus, and more!

Be sure to check in with us next time as we look at History—the next division of books in the Old Testament.