Exodus, Passover, & Holy Week

Key Scripture:
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 (NNAS) Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

A couple of months prior to Easter, Claire expressed the desire to learn more about the plagues that had occurred in Egypt. We decided that we would incorporate this interest into an introductory study of the Exodus and Passover and how these relate to our own celebration of Easter and the events leading up to the Resurrection Celebration. There was a wealth of resources available that enabled us to do geography, language arts, math, and science that related to these topics.

We began with the story of Moses' family and his birth, how Jocabed hid him in the Nile, and how he was adopted into Pharoah's household. We then looked at Moses' flight from Egypt and his encounter with God in the burning bush in Midian. We then moved into Moses' return to Egypt and his encounters (together with Aaron) with Pharoah. We discussed the various plauges and how they were designed to show Pharoah and the Egyptians that their gods were false. We learned a bit about the first Passover and how it related to the 10th plague. We discussed how the Israelites were able to plunder Egypt when they left and the miracle of the Red Sea crossing.

Our study of the various plagues the Lord sent upon Egypt gave us lots of opportunities to learn a lot of science basics related to the various plagues. We used supplemental books as well as the dictionary and some computer encyclopedia information that we have as well as relating some of the plagues with much milder encounters that we have had with similar conditions. These are some of the highlights:
1. Blood - Read the book "A Drop of Blood" which is an excellent introductory level book on our blood and its components and how it is used in our bodies.
2. Frogs
3. Lice (Gnats)
4. Flies
5. Cattle Disease
6. Boils - related this to a skin infection that Justin had experience a few weeks before.
7. Hail - related this to the hailstorm that we'd been in the previous month.
8. Locusts (Grasshoppers) - this has been a big year for grasshoppers in TX, so this has really been meaningful for them.
9. Darkness
10. Death of the firstborn

After this, we moved on to look at some of the events of Holy Week:
· The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
· Cleansing of the Temple
· The Anointing at Bethany
· The Last Supper
· Gethsemane
· The Crucifixion
· The Resurrection

On Maundy Thursday, we had a simplified Seder meal with some of the traditional foods and a very simplified version of some of the ritual involved. We related the elements of the Passover meal to The Last Supper. One things we did in relation to this was to use a toy lamb that had recently been given to Claire for her birthday. This was to represent the lamb that was taken into the family home for the days prior to Passover. We used the lamb as a centerpiece for the table and then used pieces of red ribbon to represent the blood placed on the doorposts and lintels. We then hid the lamb away in a cabinet (to represent the tomb) and gave it back to Claire on Easter Sunday (when the Lamb of God arose). We made Resurrection Rolls to go along with our Resurrection celebration.