Old Testament Bible Characters

David

The aim of this session is to: teach the story of David – how he had an amazing relationship with God and how, by relying on God, he had the strength to stand up and defeat the giant Goliath. David was small but with God’s help he did big things.

Verse:

 1 Samuel 17:1-58

David: Activities

Activity 1 

Materials- Gather a cardboard box and, soft balls or scrunched up paper

Take the cardboard box and make a Goliath figure on the outside of the box or make a cardboard Goliath that stands or you can make a paper Goliath and tape it to the wall.  

Take the soft balls or newspaper and try to knock over your goliath or see how many times you can hit it with your balls. 

Activity 2 

Today we have talked about the faith that David had.  One of the things that David did is he talked to God about the things he was scared about. Think about some of the challenges that you have in your  lives – e.g. fear of spiders, teachers at school they don’t like, bullies etc.  Spend some time talking and praying to God about these things to help you overcome your fears.

Take some time to draw a frog or have your parents draw a frog, Then write the words  FROG: Fully Rely On God on the inside. 

Activity 3

Have them draw five small rocks on a piece of paper.  Tell them that each small rock is for them to write people to pray for. Examples: people who have jobs that require them to be courageous, people they know who are ill or who need to be brave, or for people they know that don’t know Jesus. Then have them color and decorate the small rocks and cut them out. Put them in a special place and then take time every day to pray for these people.  

Activity 4 (older children)

Have them get out their Bibles and look up these passages and then answer these questions. 

Hebrews 11:1-3

• What is faith?

• Who was famous for their faith?

• What do we believe by faith?

• How difficult do you think it is to have faith?

Hebrews 12:1-2

• What race has God given us to run? What does it mean, “race”?

• What stops us from following God positively?

• Who is watching us and cheering us on as we try to follow God today? Does this encourage you?

• How will keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus help you to have faith?

1 Samuel 17:45-47

• What did David say about God to Goliath?

• David sees that God does things and people just “help”. How does this view of God affect our faith?

• How can we know what things God wants us to “help” Him with?

Facts on David

• David was the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse
• David means ‘beloved’ or ‘uncle’.
• David was born in Bethlehem and died in Jerusalem
• David was a shepherd, musician, warrior, and king
• David was the second king of ancient Israel, Saul was the first . 
• David was 30 years old when he began to reign. He reigned for 40 years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah for 7 years and six months. Then in Jerusalem he reigned 33 years over all Israel and Judah. David united the kingdom.
• David had 8 wives, many concubines, and 19 children are named in the bible.