Week 350 · about 45 minutes
1 Kings 22
1 Kings 22 · Memory verse 1 Kings 22:17
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Kings 22), the matching word search and answer key (1 Kings 22 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a ribbon
Hold a ribbon. Read 1 Kings 22 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Kings 22:17: “He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Kings 22?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Kings 22 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “They continued three years without war between Syria and Israel.” 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, “Say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.”’”” 1 Kings 22 opens with these words: “They continued three years without war between Syria and Israel.” The line to keep is 1 Kings 22:17: “He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house…” Carry the word “israel” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Kings 22:17: “He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Kings 22? Then try this: Read “He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These…” 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 Kings 22. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Kings 22:17. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Kings 22 and write 1 Kings 22:17 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Kings 22:17
“He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Kings 22. Help us remember 1 Kings 22:17 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.