Life of David: 11. Michal and Jonathan Protect David

Today's lesson is found in 1 Samuel 19. Michal is Saul's daughter that married David, and Jonathan is his son. They both want to protect David from their father, King Saul. David also gets help from the prophet Samuel and most importantly: God.

Saul had been getting more jealous of David. David had killed Goliath the giant and the people were happy about that. David behaved wisely and God was with him. After another battle with the Philistines, the women were singing that David was a better soldier. That made Saul jealous! Saul put David in battles against the Philistines hoping he would be killed; but God was with David and kept him safe. David married Saul’s daughter Michal. She loved David.

Saul told his son Jonathan and his servants that they should kill David. Jonathan was friends with David. Jonathan told David that his father wanted to kill him. He told David to be on guard against Saul.

Jonathan spoke good things about David to Saul. Jonathan reminded his father that David had been very good to him. David had killed the Philistines it brought a great relief to all of Israel. Saul had been very happy when Goliath was killed. Jonathan asked him why he wanted to kill David without a reason.

Saul listened to Jonathan and said that David wouldn’t be killed. Jonathan went to David and told him what had been said. So, David came out from hiding and spent time with Jonathan again.

Saul became angry with David again and sent messengers to David’s house to kill him. David’s wife, Michal warned him that if he didn’t save himself that night, he would be killed!

Michal let David down through a window so he could run and escape Saul. Then, she made the bed to look like David was covered up under the covers. She used goats’ hair for his head and covered it with clothes. When Saul’s messengers came and asked for David, she told them that he was sick.

When they returned again, they found out that David wasn’t in the bed and had left. Saul asked Michal “Why did you send my enemy away and let him escape?” Michal told Saul that David told her to let him go because he didn’t want to kill her!

David escaped and went to Samuel. He told Samuel what Saul had done to him. David and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. Someone told Saul where they were, and Saul sent messengers to capture David. Samuel was a leader with a group of prophets, and they were worshipping together. Saul sent messengers three times to capture David, and each time when the messengers arrived and saw the group of prophets worshipping, they began to worship also.

Saul asked someone at the well of Sechu where David and Samuel could be found. Someone told King Saul that they were still at Naioth. Then Saul went to Naioth to find Samuel and David, but he began to worship God also! But, when he arrived in Naioth and went before Samuel, he took off his clothes and laid down all day and night without his clothes.

Next week, David will leave Naioth and look for Jonathan. Today’s Bible verse is part of the conversation between Jonathan and David.

The printables for David in this series are for an older age group than I usually post. Most of these lessons about David are not appropriate for early elementary. But David is a great study. So, as you can see from the above picture, there is a Q&A. This could be used with younger groups by using the answer sheet and just asking the questions for discussion. Each post in this series will have a maze and some type of puzzle. The additional application has thought questions about how the students can apply the lesson to their daily life. This includes a poster for discussing PROPHECY in this text. There are answer sheets for all worksheets except for the last application. Everyone will have a different set of answers. Click here to download.