Brother jealousy (deeds of David day 21)

2 Samuel 13-15 recounts some of David's consequences from his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. As Nathan had promised, violence became well known in David's house. In this case, one of David's sons Absolam plans and kills his brother Amnon. Amnon was in line to be King and Absolam was not content to simply be a prince.

We again stressed the importance of being thankful for what God has given to us, and not being greedy or jealous. For this activity we filled a plastic storage box with water. Then we balanced two peanut butter lids facing up in the water (can you tell we eat a lot of peanut butter in our house.) I got the change bowl out and assigned each of the kids one PB lid. I told them that they could place any coin and any number of coins in their lid. Whatever they got in their lid they would be able to keep. However, if the lid and coins sank, they would not receive the money. It definately proved to be a hard task- a battle between wanting more money and knowing when to stop. Von is older and so he knew money value and went for the big quarters. However, he over did it and the lid sank :( After seeing this, Alyse used smaller coins, and decided she had enough before it sank. It was a hard, yet applicable lesson.

the point? be content with what you have

Bathsheba (deeds of David day 20)

The Action Bible handles the story of Bathsheba, from 2 Samuel 11, very tastefully. It was not inappropriate for my 8 and 6 year old who are not yet ready for the details. It tells of how King David wanted Bathsheba to be his wife, so he arranges for her husband Uriah to be killed. It also goes into Nathan confronting David and David's tearful repentance. We discussed coveting, jealousy, stealing, greed, and basically wanting what someone else has to the point of sin. We also discussed David's repentance, God's forgiveness, and the long term consequences of David's sin.

Choosing an activity was also a bit difficult so we recounted the "story" that Nathan told David when confronting him. The story about a rich man taking a poor man's only sheep to feed his guests. We made a batch of "peanut butter kisses" together. You can use any treat but these are fast and we had the ingredients on hand.

By hand, mix together:
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
Form 1 inch balls and then roll the balls in powdered sugar... eat!

Then I told each child they could choose ONE to eat. However, before they actually got it in their mouth, I took it and ATE it! They were shocked. We talked about the poor man (and Uriah) who was left with nothing. After they seemed to feel the affects, I did let them eat another one :)

the point? God gives us everything we need and so many extra blessings, we should be thankful (not covetous or greedy.)

The Ark (deeds of David day 19)

After David is made King of all Israel, he desires for the Lord's holy Ark of the Covenant to be in the capital city as well. 2 Samuel 6-7 and I Chronicles 13 tell of David's attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem. David had not read God's very specific instructions on how the holy Ark was to be transported. Therefore, when one man touches the ark to keep it from falling, he is struck dead. David is devastated and leaves the Ark where it is. However, after being very careful to read and follow all God's instructions, David retrieves the Ark and brings it into Jerusalem. David sings and dances for joy as they enter the city.

To make our own "Ark of the Covenant" we used an old diaper box and found two long sticks. We punched holes in the sides of the box and ran the sticks across the top of the box to create handles. The kids carried the "Ark" and re-enacted the story. Later, they decided to make a game out of it (though they understood it was no game in real life.) They tried to jump over the box without touching it. It they touched it they had to "fall down dead." Actually, this fun continued for quite a long time.

the point? The Lord God is HOLY!

Through the sewers (deeds of David day 18)

Today's story is from 2 Samuel 5 and 1 Chronicles 11. I love the background The Action Bible gives about why David wanted to take over Jerusalem to be the capital city. I am sure I have heard this story before but I had never seen the context of it, it is so fun to learn more about God's story. Anyway, Jerusalem was a well-protected, walled city that did not belong to Israel. There was virtually no way to defeat them. So, David and his men enter the city through the outgoing sewer tunnels, ewww. Once inside the wall, they open the gates and let the rest of the Israelite army in to take over the city.

We constructed CLEAN tunnels to crawl through. We lined up the dining room chairs and hung a sheet over them so they were darkened. The kids enjoyed crawling through the tunnel and acting out the story.

The point? sometimes God wins by miraculous power, and sometimes he wins by giving brilliant ideas to his people

David crowned King of Israel (deeds of David day 17)

In 2 Samuel 3-5, The rest of the civil war between David and Ish-Bosheth (Saul's son,) is recounted. Some were skeptical when Abner, who at first defended Ish-Bosheth, changed his support to David. Joab, commander of David's army, had a personal vendetta against Abner. Joab tricked Abner and murdered him, which made David furious and nervous. However, since Ish-Bosheth no longer had military support, David is made King over all of Israel.

We played the classic card game "battle" for our activity. We tried it with different number of cards to start with. For example, we divided 12 cards between two players. Each player kept their cards face down. On 3, each player turned their top card face up. The player with the highest number kept both of the cards. Play continued until one player accumulated all the cards. Just as David reigned over all the tribes of Israel.

the point? God is the hero