Life of David: 19. King Saul and Jonathan Are Killed

This is week 19 in the Life of David series. This is found in 1 Samuel & 2 Samuel 1. King Saul and his 3 sons are killed in battle. David is upset and mourns Saul and Jonathan.

David and his men were with the Philistines getting ready to go into battle, but one of the princes of the Philistine army walked by, and he said David couldn’t fight with them. He wanted David and his men to leave. David left and when they arrived at Ziklag, they found out the Amalekites had set fire to the city and taken everyone as captives.

David and his men went after the Amalekites and retrieved everyone safely. They took back all the animals and shared them with the cities that they had stayed at.

Back at the Philistines, they were fighting against Israel. The men of Israel ran from the Philistines and were killed on Mount Gilboa.

The Philistines chased King Saul and his sons relentlessly. The Philistines killed Saul’s sons: Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua. Saul fought a fierce battle against the Philistines and one of the archers hit him. Saul was severely wounded by the arrow.

Saul told his armor bearer to use his sword to finish killing him. He didn’t want the Philistines to get him alive and abuse him. But the armor bearer was afraid and wouldn’t kill Saul. So, Saul took his sword and fell on it. When the armor bearer saw that King Saul was dead, he took his sword and fell on it also. So, Saul, his armor bearer, his three sons and his men died that day.

Some of the men of Israel were on the other side of Jordan. When they heard that Saul and his sons had been killed, and they saw that the men on the other side had run, they ran too! They left the cities empty. Afterward, the Philistines came and lived in them.

The Philistines returned the next day to take what they could from the ones that had died. They found Saul and his three sons on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head. They took his armor. They sent the news of his death through the land of the Philistines. They put Saul’s armor in a temple and attached his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

When the men of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul’s body, they traveled all night. They took Saul and his sons’ bodies to Jabesh. They cremated (burned) and buried them under a tamarisk tree in Jabesh. They fasted (didn’t eat) for seven days.

(2 Samuel 1) David had been in Ziklag for two days, and on the third day, a man came to David from Saul’s camp. He was dirty and his clothes were torn. He fell face down in front of David.

David asked him where he had come from, and the man answered that he escaped from the camp of Israel. He was an Amalekite. David asked him how the battle went. The man told David that people ran from the battle, many of the men are dead including Saul and his sons. David asked how he knew that Saul and his sons were dead. He said that he just happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and he saw Saul dead.

The man told David that he saw Saul leaning on his sword. Saul had seen this man and called to him. After Saul asked who the man was, Saul asked him to kill him because he was hurting so bad. The man said he knew Saul wouldn’t live much longer, so he killed Saul and took his crown and bracelet. He brought them to David.

David asked him why he wasn’t afraid to kill King Saul ‘the Lord’s anointed’? David had the man executed and said his blood is on his own hands for killing King Saul.

David and the people mourned for Saul and Jonathan. David sang a song saying “Saul and Jonathan were loved. They were faster than eagles and stronger than lions. How the mighty have fallen in battle! I loved you like a brother and you were wonderful to me. You were always nice to me.”

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. Everyone will have a different set of answers. 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:  2 Samuel 1:27
 

 

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

Click here to see the Hard Heart application printables and a puzzle.

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

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

Used by permission.