Week 285 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 9
1 Samuel 9 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 9:8
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 9), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 9 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a piece of bread
Hold a piece of bread. Read 1 Samuel 9 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 9:8: “The servant answered Saul again, and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 9?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 9 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor.” 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, “They went up to the city. As they came within the city, behold, Samuel came out toward them, to go up to the high place.” 1 Samuel 9 opens with these words: “Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son…” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 9:8: “The servant answered Saul again, and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us…” Carry the word “servant” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 9:8: “The servant answered Saul again, and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 9? Then try this: Read “The servant answered Saul again, and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver.…” 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 9. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 9:8. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 9 and write 1 Samuel 9:8 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 9:8
“The servant answered Saul again, and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 9. Help us remember 1 Samuel 9:8 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.