Samuel

OBJECTIVE

In this unit, we will look at the establishment of Kings for God's people, Israel. We will also take a more in depth look on how we learn about Our Lord God, through His interactions with the characters of the Bible. We begin with the story of Hannah's prayer for a child and Samuel's life in the Temple. Through these stories we will learn the Our Lord God is strong and mighty, He listens to us, and He speaks to us.

INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 5 Minutes

Hook 1:

Ask the children how they measure a person's strength? You can lead them in some of these activities. For example, how many pushups can you do in 30 seconds? How many jumping jacks can you do in 1 minute? Alternatively, you can ask them "Would I be strong if I can do 10 pushups? 20? 30? 40?"
Ask the children how they measure God's strength?
Today, we will read a story that shows us how strong God is

Hook 2:

Play different types of sounds and music. For instance, play sounds of nature, play sounds of laughter or children playing, play classical music. Share your favorite sounds with the class. Ask the children what their favorite sounds are. Tell them that Our Lord God also has a favorite sound, and that's the sound of prayer. Today we will read a story that explains the type of prayer that is His favorite

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 10 Minutes

Memory Verse
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart - these, O God, You will not despise." (Psalm 50:17)
Memory Verse
"And Hannah prayed and said, 'My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.'" (1 Samuel 2:1)

Passages:

Hannah's Vow- 1 Samuel 1:8-18
Samuel Is Born and Dedicated- 1 Samuel 1:19-1:28
Samuel's First Prophecy- 1 Samuel 3:1-19

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 15 Minutes

Our Lord God gave us the Old Testament to help us understand His "personality" through the interactions of the characters. We also understand how we should interact with Our Lord through these stories.

These events start with an Israelite man named Elkanah, who had 2 wives named Peninah and Hannah. Peninah had many children, while Hannah did not.

Yearly, Elkanah would take his family to the Temple of the Lord to give thanks to God, and to offer sacrifices. Peninnah would obviously show that she was thankful to God for her many children, without modesty. Peninnah would also tease and taunt Hannah for not having children. It seemed for Penninah's perspective that the Lord did not favor or bless Hannah. Hannah was deeply hurt and saddened by this.

One year, Hannah's contrition moved her to pray sincerely from her heart in the Temple. Mimic someone praying silently while moving your lips. Most people in ancient times prayed out loud, not silently like this. When Eli, the priest, saw Hannah praying in this manner, he thought she was acting very silly to the point of thinking she was drunk Hannah explained humbly to Eli the priest that she was praying to God from her heart.

Let's recall Hannah's prayer and promise from 1 Samuel 1:8 "Then she made a vow and said, "O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head."

This is the first time in the Bible that Our Lord God is referred to as Lord of Hosts. What does this mean and why would Hannah start the prayer this way? Think about this for discussion later.

Hannah's faith and boldness, and her humility and sincerity of heart is what the Lord looks for in prayer. In fact, God answered Hannah's prayer and a few months later, Hannah gave birth to a baby boy Hannah named the baby Samuel, which means "God has heard". Hannah followed through on her promise and dedicated Samuel to live in the Temple from a very young age.

Samuel grew up learning all the jobs of the Temple from Eli the priest. One night, while Samuel was laying in bed, he heard a voice calling him saying , "Samuel, Samuel". He thought it was Eli calling him, however it wasn't Eli. Eli sent Samuel back to his bed. Once more Samuel heard the voice calling him saying, "Samuel, Samuel". He went to Eli, but again it wasn't Eli who called him. For a third time, Samuel heard a voice calling him saying, "Samuel, Samuel". He went to Eli again. At this time, Eli realized that this was the Lord calling Samuel. Eli gave Samuel instructions on what to do when he hears The Lord's voice again. When Samuel hears the Lord calling him saying, "Samuel, Samuel", he answered saying, "Speak Lord, your servant hears".

Since then, the Lord trusted Samuel with special messages to give to His people, even when Samuel is as young as 12 years old

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 15 Minutes

This is the first time in the Bible that Our Lord God is referred to as Lord of Hosts. What does mean and why would Hannah start the prayer this way? How should we begin our prayers?

Let's go back to our strength activity at the beginning of the lesson. If I was having trouble opening a jar or moving a heavy item, who would I give the job to? I would give it to someone I KNOW is strong and can do the job.
This is how Hannah starts her prayer - with the knowledge that she is asking the ALMIGHTY God for help. She knows that God is more than capable because He is the Creator of Life. The title of Lord of Hosts means the Lord of Heaven's Armies. This title demonstrates how Almighty God is the leader of an army of Heavenly Beings
Hannah's faith and boldness, and her humility and sincerity of heart is what the Lord looks for in prayer. In fact, God answered Hannah's prayer and a few months later, Hannah gave birth to a baby boy How does Hannah show she is thankful to the Almighty God the Lord of hosts? Hannah named the baby Samuel, which means "God has heard".
Samuel was raised in the Temple since he was a toddler. He learned to do the work of the Temple and to be obedient to his teacher, Eli the priest. Through his obedience, humility, and love for the Lord's house, Samuel was receptive to listening to God's voice.

LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes

What do we know about our Lord through what we've read today? He is Almighty, Lord of Heaven's Armies, He loves a sincere and contrite heart, He loves to hear our prayers, He speaks to those who are receptive to His voice.

Our Lord loves us and wants us to communicate with Him daily. In this way, we will be receptive to Him and will be able to hear His voice in our lives.

ACTIVITY - 5 Minutes

Where we are in the Old Testament - Timeline Activity

The purpose of this activity is to lay the groundwork and reinforce their previous knowledge of the Old Testament. It's important that the children understand the layout and progression of characters of the Old Testament to see how we arrived at SAMUEL and KINGS.

Please see attached activity sheet

Have children put these following events in order. You can choose many different ways to do this.

You can print these out and cut into separate pieces of paper
Have them work in small groups,
Do this together as a class the first week, then by themselves or in a small group the following weeks,
Have them compete for a prize on correctness the first week and speed of completion the second week, etc...

Place in Order (This is the correct order)

In the beginning, God created Heaven and Earth
Adam and Eve
Noah and the Flood
The Tower of Babel
Abraham & Sarah
Isaac and Rebekah
Jacob & sons
Joseph the Beloved
Moses & Pharoah
10 Commandements
Isrealites in the Wilderness
The Promised Land
Joshua & Caleb
The Judges
Deborah
Samson
Ruth
Samuel

SERVANT RESOURCES

A Patristic Commentary First Samuel by Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty (orthodoxebooks.org)

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Your 5th graders have begun the Old Testament unit. This week we discussed the events of Samuel, beginning with the beautiful story of his mother, Hannah's sincere prayer for a child and ending with Samuel hearing the voice of the Lord calling his name. Please read these stories together with your child this week (1 Samuel 1 - 3). We've highlighted how these stories show us our Lord's "personality". He is Almighty, Lord of Heaven's Armies, He loves a sincere and contrite heart, He loves to hear our prayers, He speaks to those who are receptive to His voice.