Week 302 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 27
1 Samuel 27 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 27:9
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 27), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 27 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 27 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 27:9: “David struck the land, and saved no man or woman alive, and took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned, and came to Achish.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 27?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 27 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “David said in his heart, “I will now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand.”” 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, “The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.” 1 Samuel 27 opens with these words: “David said in his heart, “I will now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the…” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 27:9: “David struck the land, and saved no man or woman alive, and took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned, and…” Carry the word “david” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 27:9: “David struck the land, and saved no man or woman alive, and took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned, and came to Achish.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 27? Then try this: Read “David struck the land, and saved no man or woman alive, and took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys,…” 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 27. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 27:9. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 27 and write 1 Samuel 27:9 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 27:9
“David struck the land, and saved no man or woman alive, and took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned, and came to Achish.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 27. Help us remember 1 Samuel 27:9 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.