Week 297 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 22
1 Samuel 22 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 22:3
Get the free weekly Sunday school and bedtime printable pack
For a parent or teacher. Children do not make accounts here. The pack is a week of printables, not a child profile.
Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 22), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 22 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 22 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 22:3: “David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come out with you, until I know what God will do for me.”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 22?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 22 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “David therefore departed from there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.” 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, “Saul said, “Hear now, you son of Ahitub.” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”” 1 Samuel 22 opens with these words: “David therefore departed from there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went…” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 22:3: “David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come out with you, until I know what God will do…” Carry the word “david” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 22:3: “David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come out with you, until I know what God will do for me.”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 22? Then try this: Read “David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my…” 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 22. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 22:3. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 22 and write 1 Samuel 22:3 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 22:3
“David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come out with you, until I know what God will do for me.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 22. Help us remember 1 Samuel 22:3 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.