David the Shepherd & Saul is Made King

We are finishing up with the judges today with Samuel and he leads us to David. We have a couple of lessons for David and his son Solomon to finish this 13-week quarter of the Old Testament Bible People. We will begin the next quarter with Elijah and Elisha.

Today we are going to talk about David. We can find this lesson in the Old Testament in 1 Samuel 16 and Psalm 23. What can anyone tell me about David? David was a shepherd for his father, Jesse. Shepherds take care of sheep. Shepherds were very careful to protect their sheep from dangers. David had fought a bear and a lion to protect his sheep! Next week we will study David when he fights Goliath!

We talked about Samuel last week and he was a judge. But, he has gotten older and his two sons are the judges now. The people start begging Samuel for a king. Samuel asks God to tell him what to do. God tells Samuel to remind the people about all the things that would happen and be required of them if they have a king. But, they demand a king. They wanted to be like everyone else all around them.

There was a man named Saul and he was very handsome. God told Samuel that He would send the chosen man to be king to Samuel. Samuel poured oil on Saul's head to anoint him.

When Samuel brought Saul before the people, Saul stood taller than anyone! Samuel told the people that God had chosen Saul to be the king and there wasn't anyone like him!

Eventually, King Saul turned away from God, and God was sorry He chose Saul to be the king. 

God told Samuel to go to Bethlehem to sacrifice to the Lord. God told Samuel to invite Jesse and his sons because God would show Samuel who would be the new king. 

God told Samuel that He looks at a person's heart, not how a person looks on the outside. God didn't want Samuel to judge God's decision on who God decided was the next king because of how they physically looked. (1 Samuel 16:7)

Jesse had eight sons and seven of the sons walked past Samuel for him to see. When they were not the chosen one, Samuel asked Jesse "Is this all of your sons?"

Jesse told Samuel that his youngest son was taking care of the sheep. Samuel said to bring him, and they wouldn't sit down until he came before Samuel. They brought David to Samuel and God told Samuel “He is the one.”

Samuel anointed David with the horn of oil while his brothers were there with them.

King Saul was feeling depressed, so his servants sent for David. The Bible tells us David could play the harp. David was strong and a good soldier, intelligent and good looking. And, God is with him.

When King Saul wasn’t feeling good, David would play the harp for him and make King Saul feel better. King Saul loved David greatly and David became his armor bearer.

I originally made this file folder game for this lesson. There are several choices for how to use it. Click on the picture to see the post. I used 12x12 grass scrapbook paper and the kids glue the scripture in order onto the paper.

This is the visual I set up for this lesson. David is off to the side protecting his sheep from the lion and the bear. I also use the sheep, rocks and bushes for The Parable of the Lost Sheep.

Click here to download the worksheet.

Click here to see the worksheets for this quarter.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.

Used by permission.

You can also see the updated David letters and Flap Book here.

And, thanks to Ashley at http://lifewithmoorebabies.blogspot.com/
for featuring this post at Mom's Library!! You can see it here: