King Saul Bible lesson

I don’t know about you, but often when I hear the King Saul Bible lesson I feel sorry for him.  He didn’t want to be king in the first place and then once he was, he lost it.  He went power mad.  In the end, Saul is just a placeholder for David, and Saul knows it.  Can you imagine how hard that would be?  But you can pull out quite a lot when teaching Sunday School, and it’s important to know about King Saul.

Last lesson was on the Call of Samuel.

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Ultimately this King Saul Bible lesson boiled down to: Did Saul obey God?

And there were times he did great at that.  When Samuel first told Saul he’d be king, Saul prophesied about God.  He also raised a wonderful son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Michal.  He fought hard to protect God’s kingdom, and that could not have been easy.

But, he also hid from God when it was time to be crowned.  He took the job of the priest on and changed what God said to do.

Ultimately I feel like Saul is a collection of might-have-beens.  He might have been great, he might have obeyed, and he might have been remembered as a mighty man.

Instead, he’s not.

So this lesson doesn’t have a lot of hands-on activities, because Saul isn’t one for that.  Saul is a lesson for introspection and studying where he went wrong.

But, I do have some…

Call of King Saul activity: Where are the animals?

This all gets kicked off because Saul is missing some cattle so he heads over to Samuel to ask him to help find them by talking to God.

So, we decided to play a game.

They all picked items they valued, and while they closed their eyes I hid them in a local park. Then they ran around trying to find them and showing the same persistence Saul did in finding his missing livestock.

How did Saul do?

In the printable (at the bottom of the post), I’ve included a simple table to figure out when Saul is obeying God or disobeying God.

This is one of those great activities to talk with your kids about, because there are some times it is really obvious. God says go out and drive these people out of the land, and Saul does it. But, what about the time he is praising God? In the context of the situation that’s the right action. A chapter later he keeps some treasure to “give to God,” but God very clearly said to destroy everything, on the surface it looks like he is obeying God, but God very clearly said no, don’t do that.

Am I a might have been?

I sure hope not. I pray I’m not remembered that way.  The kids and I have started on David, and I like he immediately follows Saul.  Because David could have been a might have been.  He certainly messed up enough times, but he keeps coming back.

So click on the picture to get your King Saul Bible lesson, and I’d love to hear what you think.

More King Saul Bible lesson activities

• King Saul lesson book
• Saul becomes King
• The problems of partial obedience

See the story continue in David and Goliath.

What do you think, is King Saul a might have been?