Do you remember the Pokemon trading card craze? I was a school teacher when those were so wildly popular, and I confiscated so many cards as kids would sneak them out to look at them during lessons, or try to secretly trade them. I have to admit I was thinking of Pokemon cards when I made these Kings of Israel trading cards for my Sunday School class.
The week before we studied this in class I sent the kids home with one or more “Kings of Northern Israel Trading card,” with a reference for the king they were given (there were not cards for Jeroboam (last week’s lesson) or Ahab because both have their own separate lessons).
As the kids read through all of the kings they noticed a trend.
Not a single one of these kings was good. Every single king of Northern Israel was bad. There was one or two who wasn’t all the way evil, but pretty much all of them had something horrible they did.
We also learned that God does not always punish evil the way we think He should. Some of these men died of old age in their beds. Others were killed by assassination.
But the thing they all had in common? You can learn something from each of them. Even with the worst king you can imagine, God was able to work within the situation to continue His PLAN.
The lesson is a bit of a downer as you see so much sin, but next week we get a bit of fun with King Ahab and Elijah in the next lesson.
More resources for Kings of Israel
Not too surprisingly there isn’t a whole lot about the Kings of Northern Israel for kids, but there’s a few resources I’ve used and really enjoyed.
- Kings of Northern Israel trading cards (this is what I used for this lesson)
- Kings of Israel board game*, a fun way to learn the history of Northern Israel, (read the full review of Kings of Israel)
- Buck Denver Asks What’s in the Bible: Volume 6 A Kingdom Divided
*
- Yeah, I searched my pinterest board and the only item on there specific to this lesson I couldn’t get to load, I got nothing more.
Check out the rest of the Kings and Chronicles lessons.
I love your king trading cards!
Thanks. I’m still coloring them, so I shared the black and white version. Also, I need to work out kinks in the color one because the name just blends in with the color version.
What great cards! I like the black and white version because my kids always love to color! Thanks for linking up this week to my Enchanted Thursdays Blog Hop!
My kids love to color too.
I just read 2 Kings today, and was thinking it would be good to put something like this up for the kids – thanks for doing all the work for me – this is great!
You’re welcome! My Sunday School class found it fun, so I’m betting your kids will too.
Too funny that the Bible is full of examples of bad rulers. History has this tendency to repeat itself.
It certainly does. The rather depressing thing is the LARGE numbers of bad rulers throughout the Bible and history.
“Bible study: Kings of Northern Israel | Adventures in MommydomAdventures in
Mommydom” really got me personally hooked with your page!
I actuallywill probably be returning a whole lot more frequently.
Thanks a lot -Denisha
Thank you, these are great!! I see tis is an older post, but is there any chance you have done the kings of Judah too?
I have not done cards for all the kings of Judah, I have some lessons coming up in the next few months on specific kings of Judah, but that’s a good idea, and I can work on that.
Love this idea, but
Question: Why do the printables not have an Ahab or a Jeroboam card?
Thanks!
At the time I wrote this lesson I did not include them because they both got their own separate lesson, so I did not include them as trading cards since they got a much more in-depth lesson to talk about their follies. I’d intended to go back and add them in, but had forgotten to do so. I’ll add links to both of their lessons to the post.
Thanks for asking the question, it reminds me to get that done (it won’t be this week, but in the next few weeks hopefully).
Thank you so much for sharing these trading cards!! Have Ahab and Jeroboam been added somewhere yet that I’m not seeing? Thank you!
Do you have trading cards for King Saul, David, Solomon, Ahab and Jerboam 1?
I know that their stories are included in other lessons, but would love to have them as part of the trading card set. They are great to help kids understand the genealogy and also the choices that each king made. There are great lessons in these stories..Your cards made me appreciate these stories more than I ever have! Which makes is much more fun to teach 🙂
I held off approving your comment because I was really hoping I could tell you I got it done, but I’m having to track down a decent drawing of the missing figures. I’m still looking because according to my records I should have the original drawings somewhere, but I can’t find them in the correct folders.
This year in AWANA, I am teaching through the kings of the divided kingdoms…and I really wanted to do (in my mind) a “baseball card” for each king. Your cards are the perfect place for me to start! I’m going to color them in Photoshop, then cut , laminate, and put a single hole punch in the corner of each…give them a large caribiner clip, and they will each have a set by the end of the year.
THANK YOU THANK YOU!
You’re welcome!