Week 310 · about 45 minutes
2 Samuel 4
2 Samuel 4 · Memory verse 2 Samuel 4:1
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (2 Samuel 4), the matching word search and answer key (2 Samuel 4 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a ribbon
Hold a ribbon. Read 2 Samuel 4 in about four minutes, stopping at 2 Samuel 4:1: “When Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 2 Samuel 4?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
2 Samuel 4 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “When Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.” 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, “Now when they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him, killed him, beheaded him, and took his head, and went by the way of the Arabah all night.” 2 Samuel 4 opens with these words: “When Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.” The line to keep is 2 Samuel 4:1: “When Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.” Carry the word “saul” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 2 Samuel 4:1: “When Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 2 Samuel 4? Then try this: Read “When Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were…” 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 4. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 2 Samuel 4:1. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 2 Samuel 4 and write 2 Samuel 4:1 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
2 Samuel 4:1
“When Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 2 Samuel 4. Help us remember 2 Samuel 4:1 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.