Week 288 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 12
1 Samuel 12 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 12:12
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 12), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 12 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a seed
Hold a seed. Read 1 Samuel 12 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 12:12: ““When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us;’ when Yahweh your God was your king.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 12?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 12 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over 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, “Now therefore see the king whom you have chosen, and whom you have asked for. Behold, Yahweh has set a king over you.” 1 Samuel 12 opens with these words: “Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you.” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 12:12: ““When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us;’ when Yahweh your God was…” Carry the word “nahash” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 12:12: ““When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us;’ when Yahweh your God was your king.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 12? Then try this: Read ““When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a…” 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 12. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 12:12. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 12 and write 1 Samuel 12:12 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 12:12
““When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us;’ when Yahweh your God was your king.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 12. Help us remember 1 Samuel 12:12 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.