Lessons from the Land: the Kings
Grab your Bible for an exciting adventure to the land of Israel! Barry Britnell is your guide through 13 videos filled with compelling visuals and powerful applications for kids. Explore the lands, the history, and the archaeology of the time of Samuel, Israel’s final judge, and the nation’s first kings: Saul, David, and Solomon.
Your ticket to a Bible lands adventure is right here... No passport required!
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Lesson 1
Read Judges 2:1-15. The Israelites did what was right in their eyes. They trusted in what they saw and felt, doing what they wanted and treating themselves like they were in charge. This is a problem that goes back to the beginning. When we don’t treat God like the king that he is by following his rules, then we can expect the world to get out of order.
Lesson 2
Read 1 Samuel 3:1-21. When so many did not know how to listen to God, God called to young Samuel. Samuel listened. As difficult as it might have been, Samuel told God’s message to others.
Lesson 3
Read Joshua 4:19-24. Archaeology is a way of showing honor to things that happened in the past so that we can better learn who we are today. When the Bible is read today, we can better appreciate its meaning and see how powerful the message of these ancient stories still is!
Lesson 4
Read 1 Samuel 4:1-11. Again and again God is victorious over the enemies of righteousness. We want to be sure we are on his side! The Israelites lost the battle in 1 Samuel 4 not because they were fighting against a stronger Philistine army but because they were not on God’s side!
Lesson 5
Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13. After God had rejected Saul for his disobedience, God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint a new king from the sons of Jesse. Samuel thought the eldest son Eliab looked like he could be the next king, but the Lord wanted “a man after his own heart” to lead his people.
Lesson 6
Read 1 Samuel 17. David was ready to go to battle for God’s honor and to save God’s people. He met the giant Goliath in the Valley of Elah and defended God's name.
Lesson 7
In 1 Samuel 24, David easily could have killed his enemy, King Saul. Read vv. 10-15, and see why David chose not to harm him. All authority is from God. He is the ultimate authority. He has chosen a king, the Lord’s anointed, the Christ (“Christ” and “Messiah” mean “anointed one”), to rule over us (Psalm 2).
Lesson 8
Read 1 Samuel 13:8-14 and 15:13-23. Saul waited... but not long enough. Saul obeyed... but not all of the way. What does the Bible call that? Disobedience.
Lesson 9
Read 2 Samuel 5:1-10 and 1 Chronicles 11:1-9. David reigned for seven and a half years in Hebron in the territory of Judah, but he then rallied Israel to take the city of Jerusalem. David called for a volunteer to take a risk that would lead to victory. Joab rose to the challenge.
Lesson 10
Read 2 Samuel 11. Uriah, one of David’s famous mighty men, lead warriors in his army (2 Samuel 23:39). His wife Bathsheba was the daughter of Eliam, another of David’s mighty men (2 Samuel 23:34). She was also the granddaughter of Ahithophel, one of David’s most trusted advisors (2 Samuel 15:12). But this didn’t stop David.
Lesson 11
God's Word is a treasure! The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1946, are the oldest copies of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) we’ve yet found. They were probably written in the second century BC, about 200 years before Jesus was born! Archaeologists still discover scrolls in the area, recently finding dozens of fragments in March 2021. One such fragment contained Zechariah 8:16-17.
Lesson 12
Read 1 Kings 11:1-10. It’s painful and difficult to imagine how foolish the wise king had become, but sin can lead us to do terrible things. If we keep turning away from God, pretty soon, we won’t recognize ourselves! Solomon’s heart was not "wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father” (1 Kings 11:4).
Lesson 13
Read 1 Kings 12:25-33. When Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king, the people asked him for mercy, but he pridefully rejected their request. Many of the people of Israel left Judah and chose Jeroboam to be their king in the north. However, Jeroboam was afraid of losing the people's loyalty, so he invented his own way of worship far from Jerusalem.