Week 309 · about 45 minutes
2 Samuel 3
2 Samuel 3 · Memory verse 2 Samuel 3:9
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (2 Samuel 3), the matching word search and answer key (2 Samuel 3 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a key
Hold a key. Read 2 Samuel 3 in about four minutes, stopping at 2 Samuel 3:9: “God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Yahweh has sworn to David, I don’t do even so to him;” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 2 Samuel 3?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
2 Samuel 3 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Now there was long war between Saul’s house and David’s house. David grew stronger and stronger, but Saul’s house grew weaker and weaker.” 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, “So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. David made Abner and the men who were with him a feast.” 2 Samuel 3 opens with these words: “Now there was long war between Saul’s house and David’s house. David grew stronger and stronger, but Saul’s house grew weaker and weaker.” The line to keep is 2 Samuel 3:9: “God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Yahweh has sworn to David, I don’t do even so to him;” Carry the word “abner” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 2 Samuel 3:9: “God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Yahweh has sworn to David, I don’t do even so to him;” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 2 Samuel 3? Then try this: Read “God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Yahweh has sworn to David, I don’t do even so to 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 2 Samuel 3. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 2 Samuel 3:9. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 2 Samuel 3 and write 2 Samuel 3:9 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
2 Samuel 3:9
“God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Yahweh has sworn to David, I don’t do even so to him;”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 2 Samuel 3. Help us remember 2 Samuel 3:9 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.