Joshua, Judges & Ruth
Bible Reading Challenge

Challenge yourself to achieve 1000 points by completing your choice of the following activities. Each activity has a certain number of points depending on how challenging it is. Some activites may be particularly suited for children and families, while others may be more suited for adults and teens. One of the best parts of a challenge is doing it together. Find another family to do it with, or involve your Sunday School or CYC.

Read - 400 Points

Read through all of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth for 400 points! Below you can find a printable tracker for each chapter so you can check them off as you go!

Bible Journal - 500 Points

Use a notebook or a Bible Reading Journal to take notes while you read. You can order a prepared reading journal on Amazon (link below) or use just a regular notebook. A page of suggested questions to ask is also available below.

Alternatively, choose a word i.e. COURAGE (Joshua), SUPPLICATION (Judges), PROVIDE (Ruth), and create a bible journaling page in a journal or creative bible or a blank piece of paper to show a quote that speaks of your chosen word and or what that word means to you OR choose a character that learns a valuable lesson and create a page about that character and the lesson learned.

Share your thoughts or favourite verses with your friends and family or on Social Media.

Bible Art - 500 Points

Choose one verse from the readings in Joshua, Judges, and or Ruth that speaks a promise to you from God – While you meditate on this promise, design and create a page in a journal or creative bible showing God’s promise from your verse. Alternatlively, print a colouring page off the internet with JOSHUA 1v9 (or another verse that stands out to you…) Colour it in and stick it into your prayer journal .

Share your art and your thoughts behind it here: Facebook Bible Journaling Group

Bible Marking - 100 Points

Mark the word “courage” in the book of Joshua in a strong, beautiful colour like purple. You will also find it once in the book of Ruth although worded differently. Mark the words “cried unto the LORD” in the book of Judges in a weak, helpless colour like light brown.

Literature - 200 Points

Read through any of the following books and share a quote or two with family and friends or on Social Media. Links to Booksellers below.

Joshua – His Life and Works by Maurice Beale.
Samson Revisited by Michael Storey

Drama - 200 Points

Keep a box for drama objects. For Joshua, Judges and Ruth item suggestions include: memorial stones, trumpets, box walls, red string (Jericho), garment, a block of “gold”, coins for shekels of silver (Achan), fleece (Gideon), lion stuffie, honey (Samson), parched corn, shoe (Ruth).

Timeline - 400 Points

Use the timeline or overview pages below to illustrate the events of Joshua, Judges and Ruth.

Dig Deeper - 400 Points

Investigate the archaeological evidence for the fall of Jericho: Biblical Sites: Three Discoveries at Jericho – Bible Archaeology Report

Food - 250 Points

What is parched grain? You can read about it here: Parched Grain. Perhaps you can try making your own with wheat grains or corn kernels. Or you could try a snack of already prepared corn nuts.

Quiz - 150 Points

Sometimes a question to find the answer to can be helpful to keep little ones engaged. Aquila N. Priscilla has done an excellent job preparing lots of questions to ask before or after reading – you can find their book for purchase here: Know Questions: Genesis to Job.

Alternatively you could try your hand at matching up characters in the Bible with the meanings of their names. Link to worksheet below.

Media - 300 Points

Search for this talk on Christadelphian Bible Talks and Exhortations:

Rahab’s Hope by Joni Mannell.
Watch The Book of Ruth: Journey of Faith.

Write a short review to share what you learn.

Memory Verse - 250 Points

Learn at least one of these selections by heart:

Joshua 1:8
Josh 10:25a
Judges 5:31
Ruth 1:16-17

Print out and colour the bookmarks (below) if you wish.

Language - 150 Points

“Virtuous” is an interesting word from the book of Ruth. The Hebrew word, however, is not always translated “virtuous.” Spend some time researching the word. Share what you learn! You can find a worksheet below that explains how to do a word study. Share what you learn with your friends and family or on Social Media.

Our World - 100 Points

Investigate the causes of famine. We may be inclined to think that famines have their origin only in natural causes such as weather or pestilence. But famines can also be caused by man’s injustice – war, greed, corrupt government. What causes famine today? Share what you discover.

Hymn Study - 100 Points

Hymn 372: Who is on the Lord’s side?

Sing this hymn. You can find a link below for the music. Write out the hymn (worksheet below), and see if you can find Bible passages that relate to this particular hymn.

The Heart - 300 Points

T H I N K ON T H I S :

Build strength of character.

“Becoming an investor in spiritual growth builds strength of character. It also requires strength of character. So it’s an upward spiral: the more you invest, the better the return, in a compound interest kind of way…. Daily life engaged in from the spiritual viewpoint presented in the Scriptures confirms what those Scriptures say. It’s fieldwork. You’re out there verifying what you’re studying in the classroom. It’s the only way to consolidate what you know and make it more meaningful.

If you want to develop strength of character, you have to take whatever level of spirituality you have right now into the ‘marketplace’ and put it on display — that men may see your good works (Matthew 5:16). The feedback you get will show you powerfully that God is right. You’ll taste and see that the Lord is good. And the rest of the verse says, ‘blessed is the man that trusteth in him.’ It’s an invitation to be blessed. And when you experience the blessing of tasting and seeing for yourself how good the Lord is, your character is strengthened. It will build you up spiritually, so that you can take more to the ‘marketplace’ and put that on display, which in turn will build you up for the future, and so on. You become more and more motivated to overcome the flesh, hanging onto good qualities, because you become more and more convinced of the reality and the rightness of God. This is the process of building strength of character. But it works only if you are doing the classwork, making yourself acquainted with the truths of God about how life works…”

From “Think on These Things” by Colin Attridge.