Hi all!

Welcome back! Today’s story will cover several chapters from 1 Samuel 29-2 Samuel 7 as we move into the next part of Israel’s history. This is a brief overview intended for small kids aged 2-7ish.

God had appointed King Saul as the first king over His people Israel. (They didn’t want God to be their only king and begged and whined for a king, and God was nice to them and gave them a king.) But, King Saul did not always make great choices and God was sad He ever made Saul king. God chose David (from David and Goliath) to replace Saul as king…but David respected Saul and didn’t become king until after king Saul died several years later.

David was best friends with Saul’s son Jonathan. They fought together and won many times and had promised to always take care of each other and each others’ families.

Saul was jealous of David and tried to kill him several times, but David was nice to Saul even though he was being mean, and eventually Saul left David alone. Because Saul disobeyed God, one day when he and his sons went to fight their enemies, Jonathan died and Saul died.

Some of the people thought David would be happy that Saul was dead. But he was not. He cried and cried for his friend Jonathan and for Saul, the first king of Israel.

The people of the tribe (big family) of Judah were ready to make David their king…but the rest of Israel was not.

The rest of Israel and the fighters from Judah ended up fighting and David’s men won. So then all the people of Israel made David their king. He moved to the city of Jerusalem and had a big palace (like a castle).

David had the ark of the covenant (a holy box where God’s spirit lived) brought to Jerusalem. When David and his men brought the ark in, they were dancing and laughing and rejoicing! They were SO happy to have a place to bring the most special things of God!

But David was still sad because God’s house had been a tent. All the time God had led His people from Egypt, through the wilderness and now in the promised land, the only church they had was a big tent. David said, “Why should i get a big fancy palace when God has a tent?”

God was pleased that David wanted to make him a real tabernacle (church). But God said that David’s son, not David would be the one to make it. God reminded David how He had chosen him when he was only a young shepherd, taking care of the sheep, to fight the Philistines and to be king. Now David would be like shepherd to the people of Israel…watching over them, caring for them and protecting them, just like a shepherd does for his sheep.

God also promised that David’s family would be kings and that someone great would come from David’s family. Do you know who that is?

It’s Jesus. Many years later, Jesus would be born, as part of David’s family and He would be the forever king of our hearts. He would be the Good Shepherd, the one who saves us, loves us and cares for us.

Our craft today is making sheep. You can use a paper plate or cut out a sheep shape from construction paper. Then glue eyes and cotton balls on fluff.

David was Israel’s shepherd, like Jesus is our shepherd!

Thanks for joining us today, love to you all!