Week 298 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 23
1 Samuel 23 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 23:2
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 23), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 23 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a seed
Hold a seed. Read 1 Samuel 23 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 23:2: “Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?” Yahweh said to David, “Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 23?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 23 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “David was told, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.”” 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, “David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood.” 1 Samuel 23 opens with these words: “David was told, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.”” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 23:2: “Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?” Yahweh said to David, “Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.”” Carry the word “david” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 23:2: “Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?” Yahweh said to David, “Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 23? Then try this: Read “Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?” Yahweh said to David,…” 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 23. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 23:2. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 23 and write 1 Samuel 23:2 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 23:2
“Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?” Yahweh said to David, “Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 23. Help us remember 1 Samuel 23:2 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.