Scripture:
for
teacher background: 1 Samuel 8-10,15,16
Making
contact:
Have
a crown made of cardboard on display. Ask the children who wears a crown and
why.
Talk about what a king is and what the difference is between a king and a
president. Talk about how the king often has supreme power.
You get good kings and
bad kings. They might know the story of Robin Hood and the good and bad kings.
Keep
this short and don’t go into details. Just get them thinking about kings.
Exploration:
Remind
the children of the last few lessons and ask them who the leaders had been –
Moses, Joshua, and various Judges like Gideon, Samson and Samuel.
Samuel was a
good leader. He was a prophet and a priest.
His sons became judges over Israel
Samuel
was very sad at this, because really God was their king.
He prayed about this
and God said that the people were rejecting Him as their king, but to let them
have their own way.
He must warn them about kings and what happens. Samuel
explained to the people how a king would take all the boys and men to make a
big army, and he would make lots of people work for him and charge huge taxes
and want a palace.
This
didn’t worry them, they were adamant they wanted a king.
So God showed Samuel
whom to choose. There was a man looking for his father’s donkeys. His name was
Saul.
He and his servants had walked a long way looking for them and were
about to go home. The servant suggested they ask a prophet to help them.
As
they went into the city they saw Samuel. God had told Samuel that this man
looking for the donkeys was the future king and that the donkeys had found
their own way home.
They
had a feast together. The next day, as they were walking, Samuel spoke to Saul
alone and told him that God had chosen him to be king over Israel
He
poured oil over his head. When the people had a big meeting to choose their
king and all the tribes came forward one by one, they eventually called Saul
and Samuel told the people that this was the man God chose.
Unfortunately
Saul was not a good king and the main reason for this is that he did not obey
God.
He once did a sacrifice that only the priest was allowed to do and another
time he kept some cattle and sheep after a battle when God told him not to and
then lied that he had, meanwhile Samuel could hear cows mooing and sheep
bleating.
He then tried to cover up and say these animals were a sacrifice to
God.
God rejected Saul as king and chose a new king. When Samuel went to see King Saul and warn him that he had displeased God and would not be king anymore, Saul held onto Samuel's robe and it tore.
Samuel told him that in the same way God would rip the kingdom from Saul.
After looking at all the 7
sons of Jesse and thinking these were suitable, God said no. Were there any
more? - just the youngest son who was looking after the sheep.
They fetched him
and this was the one- David.
Samuel anointed him with oil and told him that one day he
would be the next king.
King Saul was a very jealous man and things were very tense for a long time while he was still king and David was around. Saul even tried to kill David.
But wait for the next part of this story of the kings of Israel!
Application
This
Bible buddy, Saul, was not a good example to us, because he did not obey God. He had a powerful position and did not honour God or the people.
If we are
given work to do or a position of leadership at school or church, we should do
our work well and with responsibility and honesty.
We should bring honour to God by doing the job
well. The lies we tell always get found out, they can’t keep quiet, like a herd
of cattle or flock of sheep – the truth will be heard eventually.
Consolidation
There
are pictures to colour and the children can make a miniature crown and write
Jesus on it. Songs can be sung about Jesus being the king of kings.
Memory Verse
"Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle." Psalm 24:8
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