Week 283 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 7
1 Samuel 7 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 7:8
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 7), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 7 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a small lamp
Hold a small lamp. Read 1 Samuel 7 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 7:8: “The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 7?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 7 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “The men of Kiriath Jearim came, and took Yahweh’s ark, and brought it into Abinadab’s house on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep Yahweh’s ark.” 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, “Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering to Yahweh. Samuel cried to Yahweh for Israel; and Yahweh answered him.” 1 Samuel 7 opens with these words: “The men of Kiriath Jearim came, and took Yahweh’s ark, and brought it into Abinadab’s house on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son…” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 7:8: “The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.”” Carry the word “children” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 7:8: “The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 7? Then try this: Read “The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out…” 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 7. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 7:8. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 7 and write 1 Samuel 7:8 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 7:8
“The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 7. Help us remember 1 Samuel 7:8 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.