Life of David: 17. King Saul & the Medium of En Dor

This is lesson 17 in the Life of David series. It is such an interesting study. The application pack for this lesson includes a map too.

David took his 600 men and went to King Achish, the king of Gath. David and his men stayed with King Achish. David had his two wives Ahinoam and Abigail with him. When Saul learned that David was staying in Gath, he stopped searching for him and left David alone. David has been fighting battles all over the area and bringing back the animals with him.

The Philistines were getting ready to fight with Israel and Achish told David that he wanted him to go into battle with him. David agreed and King Achish said that David would be one of his chief guardians.

Remember, Samuel the prophet has died and was buried in his city of Ramah. Saul had removed all the mediums (fortune tellers and witches) from the land. The Philistines gathered their army at Shunem, so Saul gathered the men of Israel and they camped at Gilboa. Saul was very afraid when he saw the Philistine army. When he asked God for answers, God didn’t give Saul any. He didn’t have any dreams to tell him, and the prophets didn’t help him.

Saul told his servants to find a woman that was a medium so he could ask her his questions.  Saul’s servant told him that there was a woman at En Dor that was a medium.

Saul disguised himself by putting different clothes on and took two men with him. They went at night to see the medium. Saul asked her to conduct a séance for him. There was a certain man he wanted to talk to. She told him “You know what Saul has done. He has sent all the mediums from the land. Why are you trying to ensnare me and cause me to die?”

Saul told her that there wouldn’t be any punishment for holding a séance for him. She asked Saul “Who do you want to talk to?” Saul told her Samuel. When she saw Samuel, she screamed! She asked Saul why he had lied to her because she didn’t know we was King Saul!

Saul told her not to be afraid and asked her what she saw. She said she saw an old man covered in a mantle (coat). Saul guessed that it was Samuel and he bowed down. Samuel asked why Saul sent for him.

Saul told Samuel that he was very concerned because the Philistines were making war against him. God will not answer him anymore; and Saul decided to ask Samuel what he should do.

Samuel asked Saul “Why are you asking me? God has become your enemy and has taken the kingdom away from you. He has given it to David because you didn’t obey Him when you attacked Amalek. So, God will give Israel to the Philistines in battle tomorrow. You and your sons will die and be with me tomorrow.”

Saul fell on the ground instantly because of what Samuel told him. He was weak because he hadn’t eaten food all day or night. The woman saw how upset Saul was and told him that she had done what Saul asked of her. She told Saul to eat a piece of bread so he would have strength to travel.

Saul didn’t want to eat, but the woman and his servants begged him, so he finally agreed to eat. She cooked some meat and baked bread and fed Saul and his servants. They left that night when they were done eating.

The printables for David in this series are for an older age group than I usually post. 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 which is a worksheet to help encourage discussion. This set includes a color map also. Click here to download.

Click here to download the lesson.

  

Click here to download the visuals.

Click here to download the Pictures to Color. 

Bible Verse: 1 Samuel 28:16

 

Click here to see the entire list and links for the Life of David series.

Click here to see the Magnetic Board Visuals for this lesson.

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

Used by permission.