Who Am I?

Exodus 12:1-14 and Psalm 149

Note to the Teacher

Using the idea of an oxymoron, students will connect apparently contradictory ideas that come together in Psalm 149. What do praising swords have to do with how we walk in hard times? Student will explore ways to use praise as spiritual warfare.

Ice Breaker (5 minutes)

• Does anyone know when Labor Day was implemented as a holiday? (See below for information.)
• Does anyone what to take a guess what the day is supposed to celebrate?
• For many, Labor Day marks the beginning of the school year. What are you most looking forward to about school?

Activity (15 minutes)

Labor Day and holiday are two things that might not seem to go together, yet they do.

Have a student Google the definition of “oxymoron.” After sharing the definition, share these examples:

• That new car is pretty ugly.
• We’ll use plastic glasses at the picnic.
• Good grief, we’re really late.
• This is a genuine imitation Rolex watch.
• The comedian was seriously funny.

Help students see the contradictions in the words. Ask students to think up their own; have some fun with it!

Say something like: Many of our questions to God come from oxymorons. Sometimes in the Bible, it feels like there are oxymorons (two ideas that don’t seem to go together). It can be confusing unless we dive in and discover more.

For example, why do bad things happen to good people? We know this happens, but it doesn’t make sense to us. Or, why does Jesus’ blood make us whiter than snow? Blood isn’t white.

The scripture for today has a big oxymoron in it. As we read it, see if you can find it.

Scripture (10 minutes)

Read Psalm 149 together.

Ask students to find any oxymorons/contradictions in the passage.

Psalm 149 (NIV)[1]

¹ Praise the Lord.
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
² Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
³ Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
⁴ For the Lord takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with victory.
⁵ Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
and sing for joy on their beds.
⁶ May the praise of God be in their mouths
and a double-edged sword in their hands,
⁷ to inflict vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
⁸ to bind their kings with fetters,
their nobles with shackles of iron,
⁹ to carry out the sentence written against them—
this is the glory of all his faithful people.

Praise the Lord.

Discussion (15 minutes)

• What contradictions do you see in this Psalm?
• How can someone praise God with their mouths and have a double-edged sword in their hand? (ideas)

Just as we need to dive deeper into the meaning to understand oxymorons, we need to dive deeper to understand what the psalmist is saying.

Read Hebrews 4:12 and Ephesians 6:17.

• According to these verses, what is the sword?
• How does knowing this definition of the Sword change what Psalm 149:6 says?

Using the Bible App, have students look up Psalm 149:6 using The Passion Translation:

God’s high and holy praises fill their mouths,
for their shouted praises are their weapons of war! (TPT[2])

• How does this version change how we understand this verse?
• How can praises be weapons?
• What are we really fighting against?
• How might we come against our current situation with praise?
• How do we praise God when things are hard?

Resources

To help answer the Ice Breaker:

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday a year later, on September 5, 1883.

By 1894, twenty-three more states had adopted the holiday, On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday.

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and wellbeing of our country. (Source: https://www.dol.gov/general/laborday/history.)

For the Activity:

Oxymoron - a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g., faith unfaithful kept him falsely true).

[1] Verses marked the NIV are from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[2] The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017 by BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC. Used by permission. All rights reserved.