Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual

Contents
Title Page
Introduction to the Teacher Manual
Lessons 1–2
Welcome to the Old Testament
- Lessons 1–2
  Welcome to the Old Testament
- Lessons 3–6
  Moses 1; Abraham 3
- Lessons 7–9
  Genesis 1–2; Moses 2–3; Abraham 4–5
- Lessons 10–12
  Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5
- Lessons 13–15
  Genesis 5; Moses 6
- Lessons 16–18
  Moses 7
- Lessons 19–21
  Genesis 6–11; Moses 8
- Lessons 22–24
  Genesis 12–17; Abraham 1–2
- Lessons 25–28
  Genesis 18–23
- Lessons 29–32
  Genesis 24–33
- Lessons 33–34
  Genesis 37–41
- Lessons 35–37
  Genesis 42–50
- Lessons 38–40
  Exodus 1–6
- Easter
- Lessons 41–44
  Exodus 7–13
- Lessons 45–47
  Exodus 14–18
- Lessons 48–51
  Exodus 19–20; 24; 31–34
- Lessons 52–55
  Exodus 35–40; Leviticus 1; 4; 16; 19
- Lessons 56–57
  Numbers 11–14; 20–24; 27
- Lessons 58–60
  Deuteronomy 6–8; 15; 18; 29–30; 34
- Lessons 61–64
  Joshua 1–8; 23–24
- Lessons 65–67
  Judges 2–4; 6–8; 13–16
- Lessons 68–70
  Ruth; 1 Samuel 1–7
- Lessons 71–73
  1 Samuel 8–10; 13; 15–16
- Lessons 74–76
  1 Samuel 17–18; 24–26; 2 Samuel 5–7
- Lessons 77–80
  2 Samuel 11–12; 1 Kings 3; 6–9; 11
- Lessons 81–82
  1 Kings 12–13; 17–22
- Lessons 83–85
  2 Kings 2–7
- Lessons 86–89
  2 Kings 16–25
- Lessons 90–91
  2 Chronicles 14–20; 26; 30
- Lessons 92–93
  Ezra 1, 3–7; Nehemiah 2; 4–6; 8
- Lessons 94–96
  Esther
- Lessons 97–99
  Job 1–3; 12–14; 19; 21–24; 38–40; 42
- Lessons 100–103
  Psalms 1–2; 8; 19–33; 40; 46
- Lessons 104–106
  Psalms 49–51; 61–66; 69–72; 77–78; 85–86
- Lessons 107–108
  Psalms 102–103; 110; 116–119; 127–128; 135–139; 146–150
- Lessons 109–112
  Proverbs 1–4; 15–16; 22; 31; Ecclesiastes 1–3; 11–12
- Lessons 113–116
  Isaiah 1–12
- Lessons 117–118
  Isaiah 13–14; 22; 24–30; 35
- Lessons 119–122
  Isaiah 40–49
- Lessons 123–125
  Isaiah 50–57
- Lessons 126–129
  Isaiah 58–66
- Lessons 130–133
  Jeremiah 1–3; 7; 16–18; 20
- Lessons 134–137
  Jeremiah 31–33; 36–38; Lamentations 1; 3
- Lessons 138–141
  Ezekiel 1–3; 33–34; 36–37; 47
- Lessons 142–145
  Daniel 1–7
- Lessons 146–148
  Hosea; Joel
- Lessons 149–151
  Amos; Obadiah; Jonah
- Lessons 152–154
  Micah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah
- Lessons 155–157
  Haggai 1–2; Zechariah 1–4; 7–14
- Lessons 158–160
  Malachi
Lessons 166–170
Life Preparation Lessons
- Doctrinal Mastery: Finding Answers to My Questions
- Lessons 166–170
  Scripture Study Skills
- Lessons 171–176
  For the Strength of Youth Guide
- Lessons 177–180
  Building Self–Reliance
- Lessons 181–187
  Physical and Emotional Health
- Lessons 188–191
  Preparing for Future Education and Employment
- Lessons 192–195
  Succeed in School
- Lessons 196–200
  Missionary Preparation
- Lessons 201–204
  Temple Preparation
- Lessons 205–208
  Teachings of Church Leaders
Appendix

Managing Financial Resources Wisely: Using the Lord’s Principles to Make Financial Decisions

“Managing Financial Resources Wisely: Using the Lord’s Principles to Make Financial Decisions,” Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual (2026)

“Managing Financial Resources Wisely: Using the Lord’s Principles to Make Financial Decisions,” Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual

Building Self-Reliance: Lesson 179

Managing Financial Resources Wisely

Using the Lord’s Principles to Make Financial Decisions

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “The Lord is in the small details of our lives” (“By Divine Design,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2017, 56). This includes our financial decisions. Learning how to involve the Lord in our decisions about money can help us become more self-reliant. This lesson can help students use inspired principles to manage financial decisions the Lord’s way.

Student preparation: Before teaching this lesson, consider displaying the “Financial Stewardship Success Map” on the board and inviting students to take a picture of it on their phones. You could also distribute paper copies of it to students.

Possible Learning Activities

Financial decisions

(Note: This lesson could be taught in conjunction with Lesson 158: “Malachi 3,” which contains learning activities to help students understand the Lord’s law of tithing.)

Before class begins, you could draw or display the following chart on the board.

Significant Financial Decisions	Concerns in Making These Decisions

Invite students to come to the board and fill out the chart as they consider the financial decisions they will make in the next 5 to 10 years. As students do so, you might walk around the class and encourage them to share their thoughts on the board or with you.

Decisions students may list include paying for education and mission, providing for a family, or buying or renting a place to live. Concerns could include lack of money, not knowing how to budget, leaving a job to serve a mission, or knowing whom to trust when making financial decisions.

Think about some of the significant financial decisions you face or will soon face as you ponder the following questions:

What questions do you have about how to receive the Lord’s help in these decisions?
What have you tried before that has been helpful? What wasn’t as helpful?

As we are receptive to the Holy Ghost, Heavenly Father can show us how to make wise financial decisions throughout our lives. Be open to these impressions as you study today.

Making financial decisions in the Lord’s way

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want to guide us in all aspects of our lives. This includes our financial decisions. They have given us direction in the scriptures that can help us make wise financial decisions.

Write the following at the top of a page in your study journal: I can make financial decisions in the Lord’s way by …

Read three of the following scripture references. Complete the truth in your study journal with what you learn from the scriptures.

Genesis 41:46–49, 53–57 (Pharaoh appointed Joseph to oversee the production of grain in Egypt during plentiful years of harvest to prepare for the prophesied years of famine.)
Deuteronomy 15:7–8
Psalm 24:1
Malachi 3:8–11
Jacob 2:18–19
Doctrine and Covenants 104:78

2026 Old Testament Seminary Teacher Materials

How can what you learn from the scriptures help you make financial decisions in the Lord’s way?

Prioritizing our expenses

Elizabeth, a woman in your branch, began working in a low-level job at a restaurant when she turned 16. Over the years, she worked her way up and became the manager of the restaurant. As she drew closer to retirement, she was able to buy and operate her own restaurant.

Number the “possible expenses” in the order you would recommend Elizabeth prioritize them.
Next to two different expenses, write a scripture reference you studied that helped guide how you prioritized the expenses.
Prepare to explain how the truths you learned in the scriptures helped you make decisions in how you prioritized the expenses.

Involving the Lord in my financial decisions

Give students time to consider ways they can involve the Lord in making financial decisions. One way to help them do this is to display the following statement before students answer the accompanying questions.

Bishop L. Todd Budge of the Presiding Bishopric shared:

What I’ve found in my own life is that I can pray over my temporal affairs as well. I can pray over my finances. I can pray over whether to buy this house or that house or whether to make this investment or that investment. We should involve the Lord in not only the spiritual part of our life but in the temporal things in our life as well. (“4 Principles We Can Learn from the Way the Presiding Bishopric Works,” Liahona, Feb. 2024, 14)

Think of the financial decisions you need to make now or in the near future. Invite the Holy Ghost to help you answer the following questions in your study journal:

What principles can help you make these financial decisions in the Lord’s way?
How can applying these financial principles prepare you to serve God and others?

Consider sharing a brief example from your life of how you used what students learned about today to make a financial decision. You could also share what that experience taught you about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Additional Resources

How should we spend our money?

President Brigham Young (1801–1877) taught:

What are riches for? For blessings, to do good. Then let us dispense that which the Lord gives us to the best possible use for the building up of his Kingdom, for the promotion of the truth on the earth, that we may see and enjoy the blessings of the Zion of God here upon this earth. (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe (1954), 307)

How can I manage my finances?

Bishop W. Christopher Waddell of the Presiding Bishopric explained:

Key principles to manage your finances include the payment of tithes and offerings, eliminating and avoiding debt, preparing and living within a budget, and saving for the future. (“There Was Bread,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2020, 44)

How can paying tithing bless my life?

President Russell M. Nelson shared:

19:15

When I was a young intern, my income was $15 a month. One night, my wife Dantzel asked if I was paying tithing on that meager stipend. I was not. I quickly repented and began paying the additional $1.50 in monthly tithing.

Was the Church any different because we increased our tithing? Of course not. However, becoming a full-tithe payer changed me. That is when I learned that paying tithing is all about faith, not money. As I became a full-tithe payer, the windows of heaven began to open for me. I attribute several subsequent professional opportunities to our faithful payment of tithes.

Paying tithing requires faith, and it also builds faith in God and His Beloved Son. (“Think Celestial,” Liahona, Nov. 2023, 119)

Supplemental Learning Activities

Using our money to do good

It may be helpful for students to view their finances from an eternal perspective and understand how that can guide them in determining how to do good with their money. One way you could do this is to display the quote by Brigham Young in Additional Resources. Invite students to share their thoughts about President Young’s statement.

You could then display several possible uses of money. Invite students to consider which of the uses they think is the best way to do good with it.

Some possible uses include:

Save for future education needs.
Spend on a recreational or entertainment activity.
Save for a mission.
Spend on taking someone out to eat at a restaurant.

Help students understand that these examples could all be appropriate uses of the Lord’s resources. Consider discussing when each example might be considered the best way. For example, the person they take out to a restaurant could be someone who is struggling spiritually or emotionally. The treat could be a blessing for them. Sometimes the best use of our finances could be recreation or entertainment that recharges us mentally and creates wholesome memories with those we love.

Financial self-reliance

You could use the following as an alternative activity in the last section of the lesson. To help students make a plan to involve the Lord in their financial decisions, consider giving them a copy of the Liahona article titled “7 Questions to Ask to Become More Financially Self-Reliant.” They could also access it in Gospel Library. Students could read through the article and select a few questions they would like to use in their efforts to be financially self-reliant. Students could also use the information in the article and the additional resources provided to write their own questions to consider.

Lessons learned from paying tithing

Elder Carl B. Pratt of the Seventy shared an account about how his grandparents were blessed by the Lord for prioritizing tithing. He then shared several conclusions he learned from their experience. Consider which conclusions to share based on what might be of greatest benefit to your students. A summary of Elder Pratt’s conclusions are included below with the accompanying time codes:

5:57 to 6:49 – Pay tithing first.

10:33

7:50 to 8:44 – The Lord blesses us with wisdom that enables us to live better with 90 percent of our income than with 100 percent.

10:33

8:44 to 9:17 – The Lord’s richest blessings from paying tithing are spiritual and have to do with family, friends, and the gospel.

10:33

9:25 to 10:12 – Paying tithing helps us develop a submissive, humble, grateful, generous, forgiving, and charitable heart.

10:33