Week 306 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 31
1 Samuel 31 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 31:1
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 31), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 31 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a cup of water
Hold a cup of water. Read 1 Samuel 31 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 31:1: “Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 31?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 31 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.” 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, “When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.” 1 Samuel 31 opens with these words: “Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 31:1: “Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.” Carry the word “philistine” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 31:1: “Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 31? Then try this: Read “Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell…” 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 31. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 31:1. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 31 and write 1 Samuel 31:1 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 31:1
“Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 31. Help us remember 1 Samuel 31:1 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.