Week 292 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 16
1 Samuel 16 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 16:4
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 16), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 16 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a paper crown
Hold a paper crown. Read 1 Samuel 16 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 16:4: “Samuel did that which Yahweh spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 16?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 16 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided a king for myself among his sons.”” 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 sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with a handsome face and good appearance. Yahweh said, “Arise! Anoint him, for this is he.”” 1 Samuel 16 opens with these words: “Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil,…” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 16:4: “Samuel did that which Yahweh spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”” Carry the word “samuel” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 16:4: “Samuel did that which Yahweh spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 16? Then try this: Read “Samuel did that which Yahweh spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him…” 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 16. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 16:4. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 16 and write 1 Samuel 16:4 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 16:4
“Samuel did that which Yahweh spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 16. Help us remember 1 Samuel 16:4 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.