Week 281 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 5
1 Samuel 5 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 5:1
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 5), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 5 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a wooden spoon
Hold a wooden spoon. Read 1 Samuel 5 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 5:1: “Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 5?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 5 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.” 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, “When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us; for his hand is severe on us, and on Dagon our god.”” 1 Samuel 5 opens with these words: “Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 5:1: “Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.” Carry the word “philistine” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 5:1: “Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 5? Then try this: Read “Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.” 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 5. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 5:1. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 5 and write 1 Samuel 5:1 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 5:1
“Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 5. Help us remember 1 Samuel 5:1 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.