Saturday, August 18, 2018

Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 6 Lesson 29 David and Jonathan

PRIMARY 6 LESSON 29 DAVID AND JONATHAN


CLASSROOM PREP

Write on the board:
What does it mean to be a friend?


OPENING ACTIVITY


We’re going to start off with a video, and I want you to pay attention to what they say about friendship:
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-06-009-a-true-friend-tanya-and-lada?lang=eng

(Discuss after - what does it mean to be a friend? What kind of friend was Tanya? How did she show that she cared about others?)



LESSON


Today we’re going to be learning about a great example of friendship from the scriptures.
This is about David - we’ve seen him show great faith as a young boy.
This is another time in his life where he showed the love of Christ and true friendship.


(Teach the account from the scriptures and use the discussion questions at the end as needed).


So last week we learned about David and who? (Goliath)
David was taken in by King Saul and lived with him and his family.
One of King Saul’s sons was named Jonathan.
He and Jonathan became great friends - best friends!

1 Samuel 18:1 - the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Would you describe your friendships this way?

David continued to be a loyal servant to the king and he also fought with the Israelite army.
18:5 And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely


One day there was a battle, another battle, between the Philistines and the Israelites.
The Israelite soldiers returned victorious and everyone was happy! (vs 7)

It says in verse 7 that “the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”

Unfortunately, Saul didn’t particularly like hearing that - why not? (jealous)
He was the King, right? And he was feeling prideful. (vs 8)
Remember, he was the first king of Israel.
The Prophet Samuel had anointed him.
He was starting to love power more than he was loving obeying the commandments.

Samuel the Prophet hadn’t chosen one of Saul’s kids to be the next king, with the Lord directing him of course.No, he had chosen one of Jesse’s sons...David.
So Jonathan wouldn’t inherit the kingdom, David would.


He decided he was going to kill David!
It says in verse 10 that an “evil spirit from God came upon Saul”
“...and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand”
And in verse 11 “And Saul cast the javelin” and he wanted to kill David!
David “avoided out of his presence twice”
Thank goodness!
In verse 12 it says that Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him.
The Spirit was not with Saul!


19:1 Saul spoke with Jonathan and his servants and said that they should kill David!

But in vs 2, Jonathan told David and he tells him “take heed to thyself until the morning and abide in a secret place and hide thyself.”
Do you think this is good advice from a friend? (yes!)

He tells him in vs 3 that he, Jonathan, will go out and stand beside his father Saul and give David a heads-up about what Saul is doing.


19:4 Jonathan tells Saul, “he hath not sinned against thee” and reminds him he’s been a faithful servant!
He pointed out that David had been very loyal to him, fought in battles, protected the Israelites.
19:6 Saul listened to Jonathan and Saul promised “As the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain”
I’m sure this made Jonathan feel very relieved!


19:7 Jonathan went back to David and reassured him that he was safe now.
19:8 There was war again, and David came out from hiding and faithfully fought!


19:9 Saul was still not with the Spirit and was waiting with a javelin!!
19:10 Still sought to smite David! But David escaped again into the night.


Would you say Saul was kind of obsessed with his hatred for David at this point?


20:1 David asks Jonathan what he did?
20:2 Jonathan tells him that he is pretty sure he can protect David from Saul - that he knows Saul will not hide his intent from him, Jonathan, so Jonathan can try to stop his father.
It says in 20:16 that Jonathan and David make a covenant of friendship.
They really are true friends.
David stays in hiding but Jonathan tells him he’ll have a secret code and here’s how it would go.
20:20 He’ll shoot three arrows as if he was shooting a target.
20:21 He’ll send a boy to get the arrows and if he says “they are on this side” then David knows he is not in danger and can come out from hiding.
20:22 But if Jonathan says “the arrows are beyond thee” then David must run further away.
20:24 So David hid and waited.
20:27 Saul is asking where David is (remember he’s Jesse’s son).
20:28 Jonathan says David had left for Bethlehem.
20:31 Saul wants David and wants him to die!
20:32 Jonathan asks him - why do you want to kill him?
20:33 Saul tries to kill Jonathan with a javelin! He’s clearly blinded with hatred!


20:34 Jonathan leaves the table in anger and is sad for David.


20:35 He goes into the field as he said he would and what secret code should he say? (beyond thee)
Yes, he says “is not the arrow beyond thee?” which means David is in danger!


20:41 David comes out of hiding and they hugged.
20:42 Jonathan tells David to go and reminds them of their covenant.


So eventually Saul is told where David is hiding.
24:1 Saul takes 3,000 men to seek David!
Saul went into a cave during which time David came out of hiding!
He could have killed Saul but he spares his life.


Saul knew that was true!
24:16 Saul wept!
24:17 He tells David “thou art more righteous than I”
24:20 He knows David will be a good king because of this.


1.5 years later, the Israelites and Philistines had fought again.
But this time the Philistines had won - Saul and Jonathan had died!
David was very sad!
2 Samuel 1:11 David rent (tore) his clothes
1:12 They mourned and wept and fasted for Saul, for Jonathan, and all the people of the Lord.


2 Samuel 9:1 David asks if anyone is left that he may show kindness to Jonathan’s family.
Vs 3 he finds out Jonathan’s son who cannot walk is still alive.
David took him in (vs 7) and took care of him for the rest of his life.
He honored the covenant he’d made with Jonathan.




POST-LESSON DISCUSSION

David - good friend? (yes) why? (kept his promise, loyal, careful, considerate)
Jonathan - good friend? (yes) why? (tried to save David’s life, loyal)
Saul - what did you learn from him? (don’t give in to impulse, power can be bad, jealousy is very bad, keep the Spirit with you)

How does a true friend feel about another friend’s successes?

What promises were part of this story? (Saul promises Jonathan he wouldn’t hurt David, David and Jonathan promised they’d take care of each other’s families, etc.)

How important are promises to friendships?

What does true friendship mean? (creates a bond of love, you care about what your friend wants and not just what you want, you feel inspired to become a better person)





GETTING-TO-KNOW-YOU/TEAM-BUILDING ACTIVITY IDEAS

- There are examples in the manual (Enrichment 4)

- Have a series of fun questions and have everyone split up and interview each other and then take time to have everyone report back.
http://tomakefriends.com/ice-breaker-questions/

- Human knot - have everyone stand in a circle and reach across to hold someone else’s hand with their left hand. Then everyone connects their right hands with someone else.

- Unknot themselves by moving around without breaking the knot!
Talk about how they are all connected etc.

- Two Truths and a Lie - have everyone write down and then share three statements about themselves, one of them has to be false while the other two have to be true. Have everyone guess which ones are true and which is false.

- Shrinking blanket - bring in a big blanket and have them all stand on it. If you have a bigger class, split into two teams, one per blanket. Then fold the blanket in half and have them stand again. Keep folding it in half and keep having them try to fit everyone. The last time when it’s clearly almost impossible, just have them try to creatively all fit on for at least three seconds.





FRIENDSHIP CARDS

Have supplies for them to create cards for inactive kids in their class (to mail or deliver), for their Primary President, for an adult at church of their choosing, for someone that comes to mind that they feel prompted to reach out to, for your Bishopric, etc. You can have treats on hand to attach if delivering to someone at church.




NEED AN EXTRA IDEA WITH EXTRA TIME?

Lots of friendship stories here


Without friends, life can feel really lonely! Friends can help us feel happy, and they can also cause us to feel sad. Our friendships teach us a lot about life - about forgiveness, about choices, about unconditional love, about being supportive. The Lord can lead us to people that help us grow, and we can also be that person to others.

2 comments:

  1. are you on lesson 31 yet? Looking for ideas to use this week. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. are you on lesson 31 yet? Looking for ideas to use this week. :)

    ReplyDelete