Storybooks · Grades 6 to 8
The Shepherd King
Long ago, in the hills of Judah, your child's name and Mother are leaving home in the dark.
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- For Grades 6 to 8
- 3 endings
Ways to do it
- On their own, with their Pet
- With a grown-up beside them
- With someone far away, on a call
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For grown-ups
Your child hides with David in the hills, hears how he faced Goliath, and sees him crowned king, as 1 and 2 Samuel tell it.
What your child practises
- Hearing a Bible story whole, in the order 1 and 2 Samuel tell it
- Sparing someone who has wronged you
- Trusting God when the waiting is long
Listen for
Your child saying why David would not hurt Saul, even when he could.
Your part
- For ages 10 to 14; hard parts are told briefly, so stop and talk; David and Bathsheba, years later, are left out
- The hero, the hero's mother and old Yoash are made up; every event is the Bible's, and no choice changes one
- The last page links the story to Jesus, as Christians read it
Take it off the screen
Read 1 Samuel 17 together from your own Bible, and talk about what the book left out.
Where the facts come from
- World English Bible: 1 Samuel 16, the shepherd anointed
- World English Bible: 1 Samuel 17, David and Goliath
- World English Bible: 1 Samuel 24, the cave at En-gedi
- World English Bible: 1 Samuel 25, Abigail
- World English Bible: 2 Samuel 2, king at Hebron
- World English Bible: Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd
After the book
How it begins
Long ago, in the hills of Judah, your child's name and Mother are leaving home in the dark. Since Father died, they have owed money to a hard man. Tomorrow he is coming to take everything they have. Maybe even your child's name. "There is one place we can go," Mother whispers. "To David, in the cave of Adullam." The Bible says that everyone who was in trouble, everyone who was in debt and everyone who was unhappy went to David there.
At dawn they reach the cave. Men sit round small fires, sharpening spears. About four hundred of them, the Bible says. A young man with red-brown hair comes out to meet them. "You are safe here," he says. "I'm David." David! The one King Saul is hunting. The one people say God has chosen. Your child's name is so hungry. There is one loaf left in the bag. By the nearest fire an old soldier sits alone, with no food at all.
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