Week 280 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 4
1 Samuel 4 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 4:8
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 4), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 4 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a ribbon
Hold a ribbon. Read 1 Samuel 4 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 4:8: “Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 4?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 4 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek.” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, “A man of Benjamin ran out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn, and with dirt on his head.” 1 Samuel 4 opens with these words: “The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the…” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 4:8: “Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.” Carry the word “deliver” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 4:8: “Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 4? Then try this: Read “Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the…” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through 1 Samuel 4. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 4:8. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 4 and write 1 Samuel 4:8 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 4:8
“Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 4. Help us remember 1 Samuel 4:8 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.