Samuel anoints David
1 Samuel 16
Cast needed: (Samuel, David, Jesse, brothers)
Have the kids act out the story as you read it. They repeat after when their character says something, otherwise they don’t have to say anything, just do what you tell them to.
Example: Samuel was imagining what the future king would look like—Samuel should pretend to be thinking.
It was time to anoint a new king. That means it was time for God to let the people know who would be the next king.
God was sending Samuel to find the next king at Jesse’s house.
On his way over, Samuel was imagining what the future king would look like. Surely he would be tall. And have big muscles, because a king has to be strong. It will be easy to recognize Jesse’s son that God had chosen to be the next king.
When Samuel arrived at Jesse’s house he saw God’s chosen king. He was tall, and strong, and looked very kingly. Surely this was who he was supposed to anoint. God spoke to Samuel though.
“Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Since Eliab was not the one, Jesse had 7 of his sons come meet Samuel. Each time Samuel met on of the sons, he said “no, the Lord has not chosen him”
Samuel met all 7 of the boys, and he was confused. God had sent him here to anoint the next king, but God had said no to all of the boys before him. So he asked Jesse---“are these all of your sons?”
Jesse told Samuel that his youngest and smallest son was out in the field taking care of the sheep. The youngest son was named David.
When David arrived, the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”
So Samuel stood up, took the horn full of oil that he brought with him and he anointed David with his brothers all watching.
This is the same David who fought against the bear, and the lion, and Goliath. He grew up playing the harp for Saul, who was the current king. Eventually he went on to be the King, just as God wanted.