A long time ago, Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and had destroyed the city and its walls. The Samaritans and the opposing gentiles found destroying the walls an opportunity to enter without resistance from its inhabitants. God has allowed that to chastise His people for a time.
Also, God ordered Cyrus, the king of Persia, to return the Jews from captivity and build the temple. So He sent Zerubbabel and all the Jews who wanted to return, and they started putting the foundation of the temple; however, the enemies opposed them, but finally, it was built.
After that, King Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, allowed Ezra, the priest and the scribe, to lead the second group, teach the Law to the people in Jerusalem, and start a spiritual reform for them.
After approximately thirteen years, the same king allowed Nehemiah to lead the third group from the returning Jews to build the walls of Jerusalem.
In His great love, God permits that His people go through tribulations, but then He grants them success when they repent and return to Him. Didn’t you hear about Nehemiah how he cared to build the walls of Jerusalem, the city of God? My heart does not stop to cry to the Lord, saying: “The walls! The walls! Who can build it and sanctify it except You!”
Tonight, I will tell you a lovely story about Nehemiah.”

To our Beloved sons and daughters
What do you know about the book of First Samuel?
The subject: Appointing a king over Israel. In the beginning, God was the king. God sent them judges when they went astray, but the people asked for a king like the other nations.
The topic of this book: Samuel was the fruit of his mother’s prayers, and Saul was the fruit of the persistence of the people, not the fruit of prayer. King David was the fruit of the prayers of Samuel the prophet.
+ This is considered a topic about the fruit of prayers.
+ The beginning of choosing a king, that is why we find for the first time the expression “The Lord of hosts.” (1:3). After the king was anointed, we hear “the horn of His anointed”. (2:10)
+ Pointed out the work of the Holy Spirit: the giver of the prophecy. (10: 6), and the One who grants a new heart (10: 9), the holy zeal (11: 6), and the keeper of man from evil spirits. (1:14)
The Parts of the book:

1. Samuel: chapter 1 - 7

2. Saul: chapter 8 – 15

3. David: chapter 16 - 31

Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty

To our Beloved Children: What do you know about historical books?
To know the Judges' era in the Old Testament, we have to know the various historical stages from the standpoint of the salvation of mankind.
1. The creation stage
2. The renewal stage
3. The patriarchs' stage
4. In the land of slavery
5. In the promised land
6. There was no king to rule the people in all the previous stages, but God was the One who plans for the righteous people. When Joshua died, the people were exposed to slavery because of their sins. So from time to time, God sent them judges to arrange the matters of some of the tribes or all of them. God remained to be the King, and the leaders were the judges.
7. The people insisted on having a king like the other nations, so they chose Saul, handsome and full of physical strength. However, God chose for them a righteous king, who was David the prophet and the King.

The fruit of keeping God's commandment, with all the heart and soul faithfully and abiding by the divine covenant, is that the believers become a special people and that God elevates His people and sanctifies them: "And that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken." (Deut. 26: 19). God elevates their names, so they are attached to His great name. Heaven and earth are astonished for the honor and the splendor they have in the Lord, and He sanctifies them to become holy as He is holy. It is written, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to our people." (Prov. 14: 34).

To our Beloved Children:
What do you know about the Book of Deuteronomy?
The Purpose of the Book?
The Contents of the Book?

To our Beloved sons and daughters: What do you know about the Book of Second Samuel?
The book of Second Samuel recorded the history of the kingdom of King David since he was enthroned and for the period of 40 years.
This book concentrated on “The presence before the Lord”, so David does not move unless he asks the Lord (2:1 & 5:19, 23 & 21: 1)
He became ruler over Israel “before the Lord” (5:3)
He danced “before the Lord” with all his might. (6:14)
When Michal rebuked him, he did not retreat but ascertained to her that he is so small in his eyes “before the Lord” who appointed him to be king over His people.
When David sinned, he said “I have sinned against the Lord.” (12: 13)
In every victory, he sang to the Lord being his rock, fortress, and deliverer. (22: 2).

The Book is illustrated with Coptic Icons

The strory of Ruth for kids with Coptic Icons illustrations.
The book of Ruth:
1. The book was related to the Feast of Harvest (Feast of Pentecost) which was read on that feast. Probably because Ruth appeared to glean the sheaves after the reapers so she can eat and give her mother-in-law. It is the book of harvest: that is the entry of the gentiles to the faith in the person of Ruth, as a new harvest offering the grain of the true life and satisfaction to her mother-in-law.
2. It is the only book after the name of a gentile woman in the whole Bible. Ruth has superseded many women. The genealogy of Christ mentioned her name in Matthew 1: 5 and revealed that her blood, as a gentile, ran in the veins of the Savior of the world.
3. In the era of the Judges, the Jews deviated exceedingly toward the pagan worship, however, this book declared that there was a minority even among the gentiles who held the faith in Him without any earthly greediness or lustful desire.
4. This book offers “The secret of the true satisfaction” for the human soul by uniting her with the bridegroom, the true Boaz. The words “relative, close relative”, were repeated several times, for this book is the book of the genealogy of the Lord Christ to all humanity, whether Jews or gentiles.
5. It correlates between the life of faith and the behavior, for it records the etiquette of conversation as it was between Naomi and Ruth, between Ruth and Boaz, and between Boaz and the reapers.

This book is Illustrative stories with Coptic icons for the children on the Book of Judges. The interaction between two young children not only effectively teaches the story of all of the judges, but allows to imagine themselves in the shoes of Sarah and Jack, and want to talk about the saints with their friends.

On one of the Jewish Feasts, Aaron, the first high priest of the Jews, noticed that many of the Jewish children gathered together were wearing beautiful and elaborate clothes specifically for the holiday. These children met in a large tent very close to the Tabernacle of meeting and got to know each other. They came from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Syria, and so on. They were all foreigners born of Jewish families and they were very proud to title themselves as children of God.
Aaron decided attending one of these meetings would be a great opportunity for him to meet and talk with the children to try and establish a good relationship with them. As Aaron walked in to meet with the children, all those who were playing turned around to notice the high priest and smiled with a look of confusion on their faces. They were thinking, “Why the first high priest is walking towards us, and what does he want from us?”
Most of them felt a sense of respect and admiration towards Aaron. To Aaron’s surprise, some of the children ran towards him and hugged him tight. He embraced them one by one and kissed them. They probably met with him before, and felt his caring paternity, his love, his simplicity, and yearning towards talking with them for their benefit.
The shy kids did not move towards Aaron, but he encouraged them to talk with him and started asking them their names and told them that he was glad that children from all over the world came to celebrate the yearly Feasts; Passover, Tabernacles, and Pentecost.
After they greeted the high priest, a child asked him: «Father, can I ask you some questions about the Tabernacle of meeting, the sacrifices, priests, Levites, and many of the cleansing rituals, because many of the non-Jewish kids ask me why we cherish the sacrifices, honor the priests and the Levites, and practice the ritual of cleansing to prevent worshiping idols, nor eat meat offered to idols?»
Aaron smiled and told the kids that he would meet with them every day until all of their questions were answered fully.
This illustrated book answers many questions: “Why do we offer so many animal sacrifices like the pagans do?”, “How are sacrifices symbols of the sacrifice of the coming Messiah?”, Why did God assign the tribe of Levites to serve Him?, Why did God choose the Levites to be his servants, if God loves everyone? “Why does God give us so many rules to live by throughout life? Like when a baby is born, or someone dies, or when a believer touches something impure, or when someone catches a disease of leprosy, or when a house gets infected with the disease of leprosy on the walls etc. Are these things specific acts of God?”, “Why did the Lord talk about the Feasts and Holidays at the end of the book instead of in the beginning?”

Young children as well as grown ups can gain much happiness from listening to the beautiful stories which are told in the book of Exodus, despite the fact that these stories took place more than thirty centuries ago.
Now I want you to close your eyes and imagine Miriam, the prophetess and sister of Aaron and Moses, imagine that you are sitting by her side along with the other children gathered around. Miriam loved to tell stories, and the children loved to hear them. She would tell them about things she herself had seen and had heard. Miriam kept many of these stories in her heart and mind, but loved to share them with the children.
I bet you are now curious to know what Miriam tells her children, who by the way are really the grandchildren of her grandchildren! Well, if you are curious, just like me, keep on reading!
This is an illustrated book

This illustrated book is dialogue between a child and his Lord the heavenly Father about the Book of Genesis:
1. A WONDERFUL WORLD - Genesis 1
2. A KING AND QUEEN IN THE ROYAL PALACE - Genesis 1-2
3. YOUR PROMISES ARE SWEET - Genesis 3
4. LOVE ALL AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF - Genesis 4
5. WHO BUILT THE ARK? - Genesis 6-9
6. MY SON ABRAHAM - Genesis 12-25
7. WHY DID ISAAC ACCEPT TO BE SACRIFICED? - Genesis 22
8. SUPPORT ME AS YOU SUPPORTED JACOB - Genesis 28
9. I WANT TO MEET JOSEPH - Genesis 37-50
Song for Genesis - “Indescribable”

The grandchildren gathered around Grandma Monica on the first day of the family’s summer vacation. Young Mina said: “Grandma, we are so happy that you have decided to spend this vacation with us. We want to hear a bedtime story each evening throughout this week of your vacation!”
Grandma Monica answered: “I would be glad to get together with you each evening and tell you the story of the most splendid journey in ancient history; it happened more than forty centuries ago. Can you guess which story I am talking about?”
John said: “Oh! Oh! I know, you are probably referring to the journey that the children of Israel made from Egypt to the land of Canaan under the leadership of the great prophet Moses.”
Grandma smiled and said: “You are such a bright child John, but the real leader was God, although He was invisible. He is the One who sent Moses the prophet to lead the people from Egypt to mount Moab, and then his disciple took over the leadership.”
This was a journey that God had planned for them and which He led Himself. It was a symbol of the journey that the Lord Jesus Christ takes us along, as we travel through this world and until we enter into heaven through His Cross. That is what results in our salvation.
In my gathering with you last week, I told you about the story of Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Moses and Aaron. This time, I will be telling you about this extraordinary journey in the wilderness. I will be talking to you about Moses from the time of his birth to the time when he left Egypt with Aaron and all the people of Israel and went into the wilderness.