Exit Saul, Enter David

Our story this past week was really too long. I wanted to end the OT unit, & Saul's death & David finally getting to be king, seemed like a good stopping point. But I needed to flesh that transition out a bit, and it ended up a bit too fleshy (like me)!

Story Part One:

Saul is really miserable. Because he was jealous of David, David had left & didn't lead the army anymore. So they didn't have the success in battle that they used to. Nothing is as good as it used to be!	introduce Saul (in crown)
In the past, there was Samuel to teach Saul how to do what pleased God.	introduce Samuel (in red mantle)
But Samuel has died.	Samuel sits down
Saul says to himself, if Samuel hadn't died, I could ask his help. Even if he has rejected me, he might have been willing to help seek God's blessing just for Israel's sake. But now what should I do?
What are the choices Saul has?	Three kids help put three choices up on board: confess sin & beg for God's mercy ask David to come back & lead the army ask his advisors what to do
Which one of these should he choose?	get adults to come to a consensus. Have one child find it on chart and ü.
Do you think Saul chose that one?	(ask all)
Nope. He didn't choose any of them! Now, when he had first become king, and he was still concerned about keeping Israel holy, he had gotten rid of all the mediums and sorcerers in the land.	put "magician's headdress" on girl, send her away. (Have her take off headdress & take it with her) (to kitchen)
But now? Saul calls on some of his servants and asks them if there are any mediums still around somewhere, because he wants to ask for some advice.	he sends servants to look for her.
They go find her, then come tell Saul there is a medium at Endor.	They come back & point to where she is
Saul disguises himself, so that no one will know what he is doing.	takes off crown, puts on jacket
He goes and finds the medium. He asks her to call up the spirit of a dead person for him. She answers, why are you asking me to do that? Don't you know that the king has ordered all mediums out of the land?	Saul goes to kitchen, girl comes out to talk
But Saul promises her that she won't get in trouble. So she prepares to call up a spirit for him.	They set up a table, girl puts on headdress & takes out "crystal ball"
Saul tells her to call up Samuel. Pretty soon, she says she sees an old man in her crystal ball. The man is very unhappy about being disturbed, and says that whoever had decided to disturb him deserved to die—indeed, he would die, very soon!	Girl acts like she is seeing things in ball.
Saul is terribly frightened and hurries back to the palace.	Saul gets up & runs back to sofas
Not long after, once again they are fighting with the Philistines.	Saul & several others fight with swords
Saul's son, David's good friend Jonathan, has already died.	one boy "dies" (pushed down on sofa)
Saul is badly injured. He's really afraid of being captured by the enemy; he'd rather die! So he falls on his sword on purpose to kill himself.	Saul falls on his sword.
The Philistines celebrate!	Philistine army high-fives each other

Story part two:

Israel has a very hard time for the next several years. They're constantly being attacked by the Philistines.	Philistines keep waving their swords around
Finally, someone says they should really find David and get him to come and be king in Saul's place. Everyone thinks this is a great idea.	a couple of Israelites high-five
They go find David.	choose a boy to be David, crown him.
David has to spend the first several years conquering the Philistines.	more fighting
Finally, he is triumphant, and there is peace. David can finally just enjoy being king for a while.	David sits on throne, given scepter, people bow to him
So one of the first things he does is gather his servants and ask: are there any of Saul's family left in Israel? I would like to show kindness to them for the sake of my dear friend Jonathan.	Calls a couple of servants to come before him
One servant says, are you crazy? Saul was your enemy who wanted to kill you! It wouldn't be safe to let any of his family get close to you!	One servant makes "x" sign
But David says, I don't care of the whole family hates me, I still want to be kind to them.
A second servant says, well, there's a son of Jonathan's, called Mephibosheth. But you definitely don't want to have anything to do with him. He's crippled from when he fell as a child. Can't walk. Obviously he is a bad-luck person and would bring bad luck to your kingdom.	second servant makes "x" sign
But David says, if he is a son o fmy friend Jonathan, then I don't care how good or bad my luck is, I'll be thrilled to have him around! Go get him and bring him here! Hurry!	They go and get Mephibosheth. A lame child if we have one! Otherwise have one use a walker.
David is very happy to meet Jonathan's son. He commands one servant to be in charge of tending Saul's family fields and making sure Mephibosheth gets the profit from them.	One servant bows & leaves
And he welcomes Mephibosheth to come and live with him and eat with him at his table for the rest of his life.	David & Mephibosheth embrace

Like I said, a bit too long. And too much talking & not enough action in the second part. Sigh.

We played a simple ring toss game—the rings were supposed to "fall on the sword".

We made scepters for a craft—wrapped Styrofoam balls in soft clay, stuck them on the ends of gold-painted chopsticks, and then rolled them in glitter. They ended up looking more like golden caramel apples than scepters, ha! And I inadvertently chose a clay that was a bit too wet & most of the kids don't like getting their hands that grungy. So mainly the adults did the crafting. Sigh.

For Bible study, we chose Romans 12:16-17, about being willing to associate with the lowly, and not taking revenge on your enemies.