Week 320 · about 45 minutes
2 Samuel 14
2 Samuel 14 · Memory verse 2 Samuel 14:20
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (2 Samuel 14), the matching word search and answer key (2 Samuel 14 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a ribbon
Hold a ribbon. Read 2 Samuel 14 in about four minutes, stopping at 2 Samuel 14:20: “to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 2 Samuel 14?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
2 Samuel 14 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom.” 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, “Then your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May Yahweh, your God, be with you.’”” 2 Samuel 14 opens with these words: “Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom.” The line to keep is 2 Samuel 14:20: “to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that…” Carry the word “change” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 2 Samuel 14:20: “to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 2 Samuel 14? Then try this: Read “to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing. My lord is wise, according to the…” 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 14. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 2 Samuel 14:20. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 2 Samuel 14 and write 2 Samuel 14:20 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
2 Samuel 14:20
“to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 2 Samuel 14. Help us remember 2 Samuel 14:20 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.