Week 287 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 11
1 Samuel 11 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 11:3
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 11), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 11 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a folded cloth
Hold a folded cloth. Read 1 Samuel 11 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 11:3: “The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 11?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 11 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh Gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.”” 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, “He counted them in Bezek; and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.” 1 Samuel 11 opens with these words: “Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh Gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us,…” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 11:3: “The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we…” Carry the word “elders” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 11:3: “The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 11? Then try this: Read “The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of…” 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 11. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 11:3. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 11 and write 1 Samuel 11:3 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 11:3
“The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 11. Help us remember 1 Samuel 11:3 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.