CMP Review 2024-03-21

March 21, 2024

The first step in a Bible lesson is what I call “connection.” House of Education graduate Miss Bruce-Low describes it this way: “First of all the previous lesson is recapitulated by the children, and then the teacher connects it with the present lesson.” This step is essential to form what Mason calls a “chain of association,” and “where there is no chain of association to draw the bucket out of the well, it is all the same as if there were no water there.”

So my habit is to begin each Bible lesson by asking my son what we covered last time in this book (Old Testament or New). He recalled our study of 2 Samuel 19 and expressed with some emotion that David had appointed Amasa over the army, replacing Joab. I picked up on the emotion and reminded him what the commentary had said: “This move would be as if President Lincoln had invited Robert E. Lee to replace Ulysses S. Grant at the conclusion of the American Civil War.”

“It’s not just that,” my son insisted. “It’s that the general being replaced was *Joab*. I would not want to replace Joab! I bet in the next chapter Joab kills Amasa.”

In my 2022 Bible Lessons FAQ I wrote, “The other aspect of the connection is the look forward. Obviously, this can’t be done by the students since they don’t yet know what the next lesson is about. Only the teacher knows.”

I see now that is only partially true. Never underestimate the Holy Spirit who is teaching a person. Sometimes it’s not only the teacher who knows what’s coming next.

@artmiddlekauff