VERSES: 1 Samuel 18:1-30
MEMORY VERSE: 1 Samuel 18:14 "And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Review all 66 books of the Bible
PRAYER: May we, like David, behave ourselves in every way, showing others of the world that God is with us.
SPECIAL SONG: Be Careful Little Eyes (see March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog)
VISUAL AID: Draw a large picture on the whiteboard or chalkboard of the Activity below.
LESSON POINTS:
- Have you ever had a best friend? David did. His name was Jonathan and he was King Saul's son, but the best part was that Jonathan was his closest friend. Jonathan and David made promises to each other that they would always be friends. Jonathan gave presents to David. He gave him his robe or coat, some clothes, his sword, his bow and his girdle or belt. Jonathan loved David as much as he loved himself. It is nice to have close friends.
- King Saul would not let David go home anymore to Bethlehem, but wanted him to stay where he and Jonathan lived. The Bible says that David behaved himself wisely and did everything that King Saul wanted him to do. Saul made David in charge over the soldiers and all the people accepted David, even Saul's servants also accepted David. David was loved by everyone.
- One day, David was returning from a great battle with the Philistines in which he had won, and all the women came out of the cities to meet King Saul and were happily dancing and singing and had instruments of music. The women were saying, "King Saul has slain (or killed) his thousands, but David his ten thousands." This made King Saul very angry and jealous of David. He didn't understand why they credited David with killing 10, 000 and he only 1,000. From that day on, King Saul was suspicious of David. The Bible says King Saul 'eyed' David.
- The next day, King Saul had a bad day. He had an evil spirit come upon him and he was talking in his house. David was playing the harp to soothe King Saul and Saul had a javelin or spear in his hand. Saul threw the javelin at David and did this twice to David! Saul was afraid of David because he knew that the LORD was with David and the spirit of the LORD had left King Saul, but still Saul made David a captain over a thousand men. David behaved himself very wisely and the LORD was with him. Saul was afraid of David when he saw that David was behaving well, but all the people loved David.
- Because David had done a good job in the battle of the Philistines, King Saul gave Michal, his daughter, to David as a wife. They chose wives different ways than we do now. The Bible says that Michal loved David, but King Saul was still watching David because he was afraid of him and he soon became David's enemy. The people knew that David was a good man because of the way he treated people and behaved himself and everyone said how good he was. This did not make King Saul any happier. Things were more and more tense on King Saul's part.
- Discuss the difference in choosing a wife now and choosing a wife back in Old Testament times. Is there a difference?
- Talk about how King Saul felt about David. Did this change the way David respect the king? No. David still considered Saul as God's appointed and would never disrespect the King of Israel. Had David done anything bad to King Saul? No. Saul's jealousy and fear is destroying the good relationship that King Saul had with David.
Materials needed: 9" x 12" yellow piece of construction paper, 3" x 12" black construction paper, 6" x 12" red construction paper, scraps of colored paper, gold fastener, scraps of shiny paper, glue, scissors, marker, crayons.
- Hand out yellow paper.
- Hand out black paper.
- Glue black paper to bottom of yellow paper.
- Cut out a thick 'L' out of half of the red paper. Set aside. This is King Saul's arm.
- Cut leftover red paper into King Saul's body.
- Glue Saul's body on left side of the yellow paper.
- Push a gold fastener through Saul's arm, body, and yellow paper. Arm should go all the way around in a circle when Saul's 'throws' javelin.DO NOT GLUE SAUL'S ARM ON HIS BODY. IT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO 'THROW' JAVELIN.
- Cut a 'spear' out of brown scraps.
- Glue spear to King Saul's hand. (see picture)
- Cut King Saul's head out of tan scrap of paper. Circles work!
- Cut King Saul's hair out of scrap of brown paper.
- Glue hair to head.
- Cut orange crown.
- Cut shiny circles for crown. These are the jewels on the crown.
- Glue jewels to crown.
- Cut a thick lower-case 'h' out of brown paper. This is David's chair.
- Glue chair to yellow paper.
- Cut thick a loose 's' out of blue scrap paper for David's body.
- Glue David's bosy to chair.
- Cut a thick 'c' out of orange paper. This is the harp.
- Glue harp under David's arm.
- Cut circle for David's head.
- Glue David's head to top of blue 's'.
- Color and decorate.
- Write "...and there was a javelin in Saul's hand." and "1 Samuel 18:10" at top of yellow paper.
- Write "...and David escaped out of his presence twice." and "1 Samuel 18:11" at the bottom of the black paper.
- Practice turning King Saul's arm around, "throwing javelin" at David.