Intermediate Level, Block 6—Establishing Kingdom
Week 60
David—Becoming King
Point to Emphasize: God keeps His promises.
Reference Reading: 2 Samuel 2:1-11; 5:1-5
Memory Verse: For as many promises of God as there are, in Him is the Yes…
(2 Corinthians 1:20a)
Story Sample
David really mourned the death of King Saul and his son Jonathan. After all, Saul had been the king, the one God had anointed to be over all His people Israel. And Jonathan? Don’t you remember how they had been such friends when they were young? Yes, David was truly saddened by the death of these two.
But eventually, the time to mourn came to an end. What would David do next? Remember, a long time ago Samuel had told him that he would be king. So, what do you think he did first? Did he step up and demand that he be king? No! The first thing David did was to pray! He had a conversation with God about what to do next.
I always like to talk to God about what I am about to do, whether it is a big thing like where we should move, or a small thing, like what I should wear. It’s good to talk to God!
In this conversation with God, David asked Him where he should go, and God answered him. So, he went to Hebron. He brought his whole family, all his men who were with him, and all their families too. And they lived in the cities of Hebron. And the men of Judah came and anointed him to be king over the house of Judah.
Now, did this mean he was king over all of Israel? No! He was only king over one of the tribes. There were twelve tribes of Israel. So he was only king over one—the house of Judah. What about the rest of Israel? David was still going to have to wait a long time for God’s promise to be king over all of Israel to be fulfilled.
Have any of you ever had your parents make a promise to you, and then it seemed as if they were never going to keep that promise? Maybe they promised that they would take you to get a new pair of shoes, and you thought that meant RIGHT NOW. But first they had to clean the house, get the groceries, pick up the dry cleaning, and so on. Then, to make it worse, your aunt and uncle showed up for a visit, and then the whole day was gone. Didn’t you go crazy waiting? Didn’t you think maybe you would NEVER get your new shoes? It seemed to take FOREVER for the time to finally come. But eventually, your parents kept their promise, and bought you your new shoes. [Storyteller, feel free to use your own example.]
Well, David had to wait a lot longer than that! It had been YEARS since he had been told he would be king. But he never doubted God. He always knew that he would one day be king of all of Israel.
For seven and half years, David reigned over Judah, only one tribe of Israel. During those years everything that David did pleased the people of Israel. So eventually all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron, offering themselves to David. So David was FINALLY made king over all of Israel! After all these years, he was now king. He had received the promise from God when he was a youth, and now at thirty-seven years old, he was finally king over Israel and Judah. And he would be king for the next thirty-three years. In total, David was king for forty years. God kept His promise to David!