Life of David: 14. Saul Keeps Pursuing David

This is week 14 of the Life of David series. The lesson is found in 1 Samuel 23. David fights the Philistines again, Saul is after David again, God is with David still, and David talks to Jonathan again.

David has been on the run because Saul wanted to kill him. In the last lesson, David was with the priests at Nod. He asked for a weapon, and they gave him Goliath’s sword. Men joined up with David and he became captain of over 400 men. The people and priests thought David was honorable and faithful.

David was told that the Philistines were fighting and robbing the threshing floors. David asked God if he should go and attack the Philistines. God told David “Yes, attack the Philistines, but keep the people of Keilah alive.” David’s men said they were afraid being in Judah, and it would be even more scary if they go fight the Philistines. David asked God one more time and He told David that He would have them win the battle against the Philistines.

David went to Keilah and fought the Philistines. David’s men put up a good fight and they kept all the livestock. They also saved the people of Keilah like God told them to.

Someone told Saul that David had gone to Keilah. Saul said that David was closed in the city because it had gates and bars. Saul announced war and gathered his people together to go to Keilah. He planned to surround David and his men.

When David found out that Saul planned to fight him in Keilah, he told Abiathar the priest to bring him the ephod. Then, David talked to God. David said that he has heard that Saul was coming to Keilah to destroy the city because of him. He wondered if the men of Keilah would give him to Saul. He asked God to tell him what would happen.\

God told David that Saul would come. The men of Keilah would deliver David to Saul. Now David has about 600 men. They left the city of Keilah and wandered around where they could. Someone told Saul that David had left, so Saul stopped the mission.

David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness and mountains. Saul looked for him every day but didn’t find him. God was keeping David safe. David went to a forest in the Wilderness of Ziph.

Jonathan went to David in the woods so they could talk. Jonathan told David not to worry because his father wouldn’t find him. Jonathan said that David would be king over Israel and even King Saul knows that. Jonathan would be beside him, but not as the king. They made a covenant before God and Jonathan returned to his house.

David stayed in the woods and managed to stay just ahead of Saul. Saul would find out where he was, and David would be gone by the time Saul got there. As Saul was chasing David, he was on one side of the mountain and David was on the other. A messenger found Saul and told him that the Philistines had invaded the land! So, Saul stopped chasing David and went to fight the Philistines. That kept David safe, and he stayed in the strongholds at En Gedi.

The printables for David in this series are for an older age group than I usually post. Although this is, most of these lessons about David are not appropriate for early elementary. But David is a great study. So, as you can see from the above picture, there is a Q&A. This could be used with younger groups by using the answer sheet and just asking the questions for discussion. Each post in this series will have a maze and some type of puzzle. The additional application has thought questions about how the students can apply the lesson to their daily life. There are answer sheets for all worksheets except for the last application. Everyone will have a different set of answers. Click here to download.