session 16 aim a good king.… · 112 session 16 | david: a good king | 2 samuel 9 | opening...

112 Session 16 | David: a good king | 2 Samuel 9 | Opening activities

Session 16 David: a good kingAlthough our 5 to 8s are often instinctively kind, there are also times when they are not. Help them to understand that this is something that God will help them with, and encourage them to ask him for that help.

To plan your session... Choose a selection of Opening, Into the Bible and Living the life activities to make your session fun and memorable.

Options to open your session...

Aim To realise that God is kind to us and we can be kind

to others

Bible passage 2 Samuel 9

Ready to useactivity

GameActivity time: 5 minutes Aim: to realise that God is kind to us1 Make four simple signs saying

‘kind’, ‘powerful’, ‘holy’ and ‘king’, and display them around the room. Explain that you are going to call out something about God. Challenge the children to run to the word they think best describes him in that situation. If you are short of space they could point to the correct sign.

2 Ideas for things about God are: made the world; gave us families; gives us rules to live by; answers our prayers; wants us to obey him; helps us when we’re worried; gave us the Bible; is always with us; shows us the best way to live.

Giving gameActivity time: 10 minutes Aim: to realise that God is kind to us and we can be kind to others You will need: wrapped sweets1 Give everyone fi ve sweets (be aware

of allergies and hygiene). Explain that, now you have been kind to them, you’d like them to be kind too and give their sweets away. If someone offers them a sweet they have to take it and they are not allowed to drop or hide any sweets.

2 When someone has given away all their sweets, declare the end of the game. Explain that, just as you were kind to this child and then they were kind to others, so God is kind to us and wants us to be kind to others.

Chat and worshipActivity time: 10 minutes Aim: to realise that God is kind to us You will need: a whiteboard or large sheet of paper, a song about God’s character1 In the middle of your whiteboard

write ‘God is kind’. Tell the children that today they will be thinking about God’s kindness. Challenge them to tell you how God shows his kindness to them, or to think of words that describe God’s kindness.

2 When the board is full, sing a song about how good, great and kind God is. Perhaps you could include some of the words you have written together, or shout them out during an instrumental break.

Tip for Leaders: Think about the children in your group and choose varied activities that you think will best suit their learning styles and ages.

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Into the Bible – options to explore the Bible passage...

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Session 16 | David: a good king | 2 Samuel 9 | Into the Bible 113

Ready to useactivity

Bible story cubeActivity time: 20 minutes Aim: to realise that God is kind to us and we can be kind to others You will need: copies of the Splash! sheet from page 116

1 Make Give out copies of the Splash! sheet from page 116 and help the children to make a story cube each (you may like to cut these out in advance). Make a cube yourself. To make your cubes stronger, stick the Splash! sheet on to thin card before cutting it out.

2 Story See if the children can remember who was king before David (King Saul). Tell the story from 2 Samuel 4:4 and 2 Samuel 9 using the story cube as your visual aid. Help the children to turn their own cubes so they can see the relevant picture as you tell each part of the story. If you have a cube yourself then turn the appropriate picture to face the children.Picture 1: King Saul and his son Jonathan have been killed. David is sad.Picture 2: David is crowned king.Picture 3: Mephibosheth’s nurse picks him up to carry him to safety but accidentally drops him.Picture 4: King David remembers his friend Jonathan and asks if any of his family are still alive.Picture 5: Mephibosheth is brought before David and bows down.Picture 6: King David gives Mephibosheth back his grandfather’s land and invites him to eat with him at the palace.

3 Recap After the story, use the cube to recap what happened. One way you could do this is to roll the cube like a dice and challenge the children to tell you what is happening in the picture that is uppermost. Another way would be for six children to work together placing their cubes in a row so that the pictures are in the correct order.

4 Think and pray Use the cube to encourage the children to think and pray about different people and situations. Look at picture 1 and talk with the children about people they know who are sad (perhaps because someone they love has died). Pray for those people. Use picture 2 to pray for those who have had some good news (maybe a new baby or they are going on holiday). Picture 3 could be for people who are frightened, ill or in a dangerous situation, and picture 4 for friends or family who live a long way away. Use picture 5 to pray for those who are worried about something. Finish by thanking God for people who are kind to us (picture 6).

5 Chat After your prayers, remind the children that David showed kindness to Mephibosheth. Say that they can be kind to people who are upset, worried, hurt and so on. Either talk about ways they can do this now or move into one of the Living the life activities.

If you want to do a short series with your group, other sessions that work well with this one are:

Session 14 David: a new king, 2 Samuel 5:4–12; 6:1–19

Session 15 David: a king for ever, 2 Samuel 7

Session 17 David: a king who goes wrong, 2 Samuel 11:1 – 12:15

More on this theme


Into the Bible – options (continued)...

114 Session 16 | David: a good king | 2 Samuel 9 | Into the Bible

That was all a long time ago. Then, last week, I got a message that King David wanted to see me. Apparently he’d been asking whether there were any relatives of Jonathan’s left alive, and one of King Saul’s old servants told him about me. So, I cleaned myself up and got ready to go to the palace.On my way to see the king I was pretty worried. Perhaps King David had decided to kill me after all! Maybe he thought that I wanted to be king instead of him and would get an army together. I must have looked scared, because the first thing King David said to me was, ‘Don’t be afraid’. But what he said next was a complete shock.King David reminded me that he and my father Jonathan had been best friends. He also told me that he’d promised my father that he would always look after our family. So, he said that he was giving back to me all the land that had belonged to my grandfather Saul! It was actually going to be mine! He also gave me some servants to work for me and said I could eat every day with him in the palace. I was amazed – overwhelmed at his kindness and very grateful.

3 Chat Ask what kind things David did in the story when he was king. Explain that God had been kind to David and helped him to be a successful king, and so now David showed kindness to someone else. Challenge the group to say how God has shown kindness to them (for example, health and strength, homes, families) and how they might show kindness to others (refer back to your earlier discussion).

Bible storyActivity time: 15 minutes Aim: to realise that God is kind to us and we can be kind to others You will need: a costume for Mephibosheth, a crutch or walking stick (both optional)

1 Think Ask the children to think about the last time they were ill. Who was kind and looked after them? Ask if they have they ever been hurt in the playground. Was anyone kind to them then? Explain that you’re going to tell them how David was kind to someone.

2 Act Put on your costume, if you have one, and tell the story from Mephibosheth’s point of view, using or adapting the script below. Try to incorporate some action to help keep the children’s attention (for example, moving your arms, hobbling around).Story: You know, some people feel sorry for me – not being able to walk properly – but things could be a lot worse. I could be dead!You see, my dad was Prince Jonathan and my grandfather was King Saul. They were both soldiers and fought very bravely. Sadly, one day, during a battle between the Israelites and the Philistines, both my father and grandfather were killed, along with my uncles and lots of people I knew!With King Saul and the princes dead, the people had to find a new king. Everyone seemed to want it to be David. Now it was very dangerous for me to stay in the palace. David’s supporters wouldn’t want anyone around from Saul’s family who might try to be king instead. They might come at any time and kill me!My nurse decided the best thing to do would be to run away with me, so she picked me up to carry me to safety – I was only a small boy you see. Things were so urgent and she was so scared that she dropped me and I broke both my feet so now I can’t walk properly. But, as I said before, that’s better than being dead!


Blue Compendium

Session 16 | David: a good king | 2 Samuel 9 | Living the life 115

Living the life – options to help live God’s way...Ready to use

activity

Action prayerActivity time: 5–10 minutes Aim: to ask God to help us to be kind1 Use the following prayer with the

children, pointing to the different parts of the body as you say it.

Father God,Open my eyes to see what people need,Open my ears to hear and take good heed,Open my mind to think and plan,Open my mouth to say ‘I can’,Open my heart to want to care,Open my hands to give and share. Amen.

2 Encourage the group to join in with the actions and then repeat the prayer a second time so they can really concentrate on the words and, perhaps, join in with them and make the prayer their own.

3 Invite the children to draw pictures of themselves being kind.

WristbandsActivity time: 5 minutes Aim: to ask God to help us be kind to others You will need: copies of the wristband from page 1171 Give each child one of the wristbands

from page 117 or a strip of paper approximately 21 cm long (width of A4) and 1.5 cm wide. Remind them that, in the story, David had promised to help Jonathan’s family and so he was kind to Mephibosheth.

2 Challenge everyone to think of one way they could be kind to someone. This should be something new, diffi cult or that will take effort.

3 Help them to write ‘I promise to be kind to [name] by [deed]’ on their strip and decorate it.

4 Fix the strips around the children’s wrists using sticky tape. Suggest the children wear them until they have kept their promise to be kind. Perhaps you could ask next session whether they did!

Look and thinkActivity time: 10 minutes Aim: to think about how we can be kind to others You will need: pictures from page 1181 Give a picture from page 118 to each

pair or small group of children. 2 Ask each pair to discuss the following

questions: How do you think the person in the picture feels? Why do you think they feel like this? How could you show kindness to them?

3 After a short time, ask the different groups to show their picture and feed back their answers. (In a large group, each pair could share with just one other.)

4 Encourage the children to think of people they know who are similar to those in the pictures and do something to help them (for example, help a lonely child at school or give some of their pocket money to charity).

Extra ideas for the session, and beyond...If your group includes some confi dent readers you could read the story from the Bible as a drama, with different people taking the parts of the narrator, King David, Ziba and Mephibosheth.Remember to follow this session up next time and ask the children if they were kind to anyone like King David was to Mephibosheth.


Copyright © Scripture Union 2018

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session 16 aim a good king.… · 112 session 16 | david: a good king | 2 samuel 9 | opening...

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