David and Bathsheba for kids

I know what you’re thinking, “David and Bathsheba for kids?  Are you crazy?”  No, actually I thought about this long and hard, and decided it’s a really important lesson and kids, even young kids need to learn about David and Bathsheba, and I have now taught this lesson successfully three separate times to my Sunday School class.

Last week we saw David finally crowned king.

Why teach David and Bathsheba to kids?

1. Because otherwise, your kids grow up thinking David was a perfect man.  All they hear is David loved God, David killed Goliath, and they put him up on a pedestal, and don’t see his feet of clay.
2. Because your kids need to see that God always offers forgiveness, even for a horrible crime.  David planned the murder of someone who had been loyal to him and served him for years.
3. Because David’s sin here had consequences that went far beyond David, and some of these consequences were good.  Jesus is Solomon’s great great…. grandsire.

Okay, so how do you teach David and Bathsheba to kids?

First, keep it age-appropriate.  Remember the age range you’re talking to, if you are talking to preschool and most of elementary you don’t need to say what David did.  I explained it to my kids when they were really young as David kissed Bathsheba because they understood you don’t kiss someone else’s wife, as they’ve gotten older we’ve explained more details as needed.  Now they know he stole someone else’s wife, and they understand how big a problem that is.

Now, I say all this, and I want to be clear not all topics are needed for all ages.  I believe this story is important because of all the consequences that come out of it, but you’ll notice I don’t teach my kids about what happened to Jacob’s daughter Dinah, or how Judah treated his daughter-in-law because those don’t have lasting significance to the entire Biblical narrative, they do have lessons to learn from them, which my kids will learn when they are older.

Future Ticia 2024 here, technically Judah’s treatment of Tamah does have lasting significance because Tamar is one of the five women mentioned in Jesus’ family line. So I was wrong.

Now that I’ve given you my thesis statement, here’s what we actually did:  I’ve entitled this lesson: David’s Folly

David and Bathsheba for Kids

When it comes to the actual lesson, this is a heavy one, there’s no getting around it, and I want the kids to really feel the heaviness of it, for the actual story there’s no game.

Instead, it’s lots of discussion, and talking about what’s going on.  How did this affect everyone?  How did one wrong decision change the trajectory of a nation?  You also see in this story, that even if you’re really sorry, there are still consequences, and sometimes those consequences don’t hurt just you.

Now when you talk about hard things like this, your kids might not want to look you in the face.  It’s awkward, and it’s hard, especially once you start asking how about you?  So give them freedom to not be looking at you, have an exercise ball to sit on and roll around on to lessen the embarrassment.

Of course, once the tough questions are done, you do need a fun game.  And I tried my best to make this as silly as possible to keep things somewhat light, so I give you:

Yes, it’s the age-old game, that I’m sure has been played for years and years the world over.

Or for days and days in my house with much giggling.

• David is swinging his slingshot to knock out the lion.
• The lion is scaring Bathsheba away.
• Bathsheba beats David (pick how you want Bathsheba to stand, we have her acting silly).

We played several rounds of this and that helped take away the sadness of the story with some serious giggling as we played.

Other David and Bathsheba resources for kids

I’m not gonna lie, there’s almost nothing.  I’ve linked to a couple of other lessons in the printable, but the only other one is the David and Bathsheba resource that cracks me up the most (and whose song I have stuck in my head right now):

VeggieTales – King George and the Ducky {affiliate link}

Oh, and there’s a pretty good description of the whole incident in Buck Denver Asks: What’s in the Bible? Volume Five – Israel Gets a King {affiliate link}, my kids always laugh when David carries Bathsheba over his shoulder like she’s a sack of potatoes.

Pick up your own copy of David and Bathsheba for kids by clicking on the picture up above.