The document provides summaries and discussion questions for Old Testament Sunday School lessons on Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Samson. It discusses key themes like remembering God's commandments and blessings, being strong and courageous like Joshua, and stories of faith like Deborah and Barak defeating Sisera, and Gideon's small army defeating the Midianites through God's strength. It also examines Samson's strengths and weaknesses.

1. Old Testament
May 15 – June 5

2. Deuteronomy in the New Testament
• Over 80 references by Christ and his apostles to Deuteronomy
in the teachings of the New Testament
• Deuteronomy means “second telling of the law”

3. “Teach [the Lord’s words] diligently unto thy
children.”
Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 20–25
• What do we do to teach and “talk of” (verse 7) the word of God
as these verses describe?
• What experiences can we share in which the Lord guided us in
our efforts?

4. A Key Theme in Deuteronomy is
Remember!
• Elder Spencer W. Kimball, when he was a member of the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles, said: “When you look in the dictionary for the
most important word, do you know what it is? It could be ‘remember.’
Because all of you have made covenants … our greatest need is to
remember” (Circles of Exaltation [address to religious educators,
28 June 1968], 8). Deuteronomy 8 recounts what Moses told the
covenant people of Israel about things they needed to remember
and why. He also told them what would happen if they forgot those
things.

5. Deuteronomy 8
2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God
led thee these forty years in the wilderness,
to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine
heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
In this chapter, the Lord reviews the same lessons with the
children of Israel that he wants us to remember TODAY.

6. What are we to remember ?
• Man does not live by bread (manna) alone, but by the word of God
(see John 6:35, 41, 43, 51, 56)
• The Lord thy God chasteneth thee (Deuteronomy 8:5)
• The Lord will bless us for our faith and obedience (Deuteronomy
8:7-9)
• Forget not from whence all blessings come (gratitude);
(Deuteronomy 8: 11, 13, 14, 17) ; Jacob 2:18-19
• He is the source of all we have (Mosiah 4: 11)

7. Helping the needy involves generous hands and
willing hearts.
Deuteronomy 15:1–15
• We haven’t yet arrived at the day “when there shall be no poor
among you” (Deuteronomy 15:4), so the principles about
helping the poor in Deuteronomy 15 are still valuable
• What does it mean to “open thine hand wide” to those in need?
(verses 8, 11).
• What role does our heart play in helping others? (see verses 7,
9–10). What can we learn about helping the needy from the
Lord’s example? (see verse 15).

8. King Benjamin shared a set of principles which we can apply to
helping the needy
• We need to take care of our families, providing food and clothing and teaching our children to love
and serve one another (Mosiah 4:14-15).
• We should help people who are in need (Mosiah 4:16).
• We shouldn’t judge people who request our help or withhold assistance from them on the grounds
that they brought this on themselves. We have all made poor decisions and needed help dealing
with the consequences (Mosiah 4:17-23).
• If you’re unable to help someone, you ought to wish you could. King Benjamin tells us to think, “I
give not because I have not, but if I had I would give” (Mosiah 4:24-25).
• Giving to the needy is more than handing out money. It’s “feeding the hungry, clothing the naked,
visiting the sick,” and meeting other temporal and spiritual needs (Mosiah 4:26).
• We need to pace ourselves. Don’t try to do more than you can, but do what you can (Mosiah 4:27).

9. “Be strong and of a good courage.”
Joshua 1:1–9
• Joshua was told, “Be strong and of a good courage” several
times (see Deuteronomy 31:7, 23; Joshua 1:6–7, 9).
• search Joshua 1:1–9 for counsel the Lord gave Joshua to help him be
strong and courageous.
• How did Joshua show strength and courage in the accounts found in
the book of Joshua? (see chapters 3, 6, and 8).

12. The word of God can make our way prosperous.
Joshua 1:8
• What do we learn from this verse about how to study the
scriptures?
• What other scriptures provide us with guidance on the value of
scriptures for us?
• 1 Nephi 15: 24; And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and
whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto
it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery
darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them
away to destruction.

13. We can experience God’s “wonders.”
Joshua 3–4
• Israelites cross the Jordan River Joshua 3 [acting in faith]
• How is the crossing of the Jordan different from the Red Sea?
• Sometimes we are required to act in faith even if the Lord has not confirmed
the decision – he will in his time (Elder Richard G. Scott)
• What do we learn from this story that can help us experience the
“wonders” of the Lord in our lives? (verse 5).
• What “wonders” has He done for us? Why is it important that each
generation have spiritual experiences that teach them that “the Lord
… is mighty”? (Joshua 4:24).

14. Ark of the Covenant
• Known as the Ark of Jehovah and
the Ark of the Testimony,
• The Ark of the Covenant was an
oblong chest or box made of wood
overlaid with gold.
• Oldest and most sacred of the
religious symbols of the Israelites.
• The Mercy Seat which formed its
covering was regarded as the
earthly dwelling place of Jehovah
(Ex. 25:22).

15. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”
(Joshua’s farewell speech)
Joshua 23–24
• How have you personally made the decision about “whom [you] will
serve” (Joshua 24:15).

19. Faith in the
Lord: Deborah
and Barak
deliver Israel
from the
Canaanites

20. Judges 4
• 1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the
Lord, when Ehud was dead.
• 2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of
Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was
Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
• 3 And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord: for he had nine
hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily
oppressed the children of Israel.

21. • 6 And she sent and called aBarak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-
naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel
commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take
with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the
children of Zebulun?
• 7 And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of
Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver
him into thine hand.
• 8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if
thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
• 9 And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey
that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the Lord shall sell
Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with
Barak to Kedesh.

22. • 15 And the Lord adiscomfited bSisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the
sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
• 16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and
all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.
• 17 Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there
was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
• 21 Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went
softly unto him, and smote the anail into his btemples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was
fast asleep and weary. So he died.
• 22 And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come,
and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent,behold, Sisera
lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
• 23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
• 24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of
Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

24. The Lord works miracles through Gideon
Judges 6-7
• Israel is in bondage to the Midianites
• An angel appears to Gideon and calls him to deliver Israel
12 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty
man of valour.
13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and
where be all his amiracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?
but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
14 And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy amight, and thou shalt save Israel from the
hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in
Manasseh, and I am the aleast in my father’s house.
16 And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be awith thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one
man.
• Gideon’ s army reduced to 300 – with the strength of the Lord, they defeat Midianite army of
+100,000

25. Strength comes from faithfulness to our covenants with God
(Judges 13)
• Israel is in Philistine bondage for forty years
• An angel comes to Manoah’s wife and promises a son who will begin
to deliver Israel
• 3 And the aangel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now,
thou art bbarren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
• 4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and adrink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not
any bunclean thing:
• 5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no arazorshall come on his head: for the child
shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to bdeliver Israel out of the hand of
the Philistines.
Nazarite vow: abstain from strong drink, refrain from cutting their hair, avoid contact with dead bodies

26. So, what happens?
• He married a Philistine woman
• Engaged in questionable practices
• Through all his adventures, he was sustained by his strength
• His arrogance led to his downfall
• Delilah exposed his weakness by shaving him of his hair
• With his strength gone, the Philistines captured him and tortured him
• They chained him to the pillars of their temple – final moment of
humility

27. A lesson from Samson’s life
Sister Ann M. Dibb taught: “Samson was born with great potential. His
mother was promised, ‘He shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand
of the Philistines’ [Judges 13:5]. But as Samson grew, he looked more
to the world’s temptations than to God’s direction. He made choices
because they ‘pleaseth [him] well’ [Judges 14:3] rather than because
those choices were right. Repeatedly, the scriptures use the phrase
‘and he went down’ [Judges 14:7] as they tell of Samson’s journeys,
actions, and choices. Instead of arising and shining forth to fulfill his
great potential, Samson was overcome by the world, lost his God-
given power, and died a tragic, early death” (“Arise and Shine
Forth,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2012, 118).