Learning the Lyre

Scripture: I Samuel 15-16

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will learn God sometimes chooses seemingly unlikely people to do special things for Him.
  • Students will learn there are often earthly consequences for disobeying God.
  • Students will learn God may give us a hint about something special He wants us to do for Him, but He may take years to prepare us, just like He did David.
  • Students will learn how to make a lyre.

Guiding Question: What is a lyre and how did David soothe King Saul with one?

Materials: Found in the links in the Procedure section.

Procedure: Share the story of how David was anointed by God from the scriptures above. Emphasize how God can use anyone to do good for His Kingdom. Explain that sometimes life can feel unfair. Remind the students that David was the youngest of seven and it surprised many that David was chosen instead of his older brothers. Ask the students how they would have felt if they were the oldest brother and were not chosen by God to be king. Explain the godly attitude we should have about how to treat others and how to wait patiently for God to prepare us for what we will do for His Kingdom.

Introduce the activity. Remind students that one of David’s talents was playing a lyre. This was used to make music to worship God. Tell the students they are going to make a lyre similar to David’s lyre. To make the lyre, follow these instructions: https://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/classroom_resources/tips_tools/downloads/aa_cardboard_lyre.pdf. Have students listen to ancient middle eastern lyre music while they work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elERNFoEf3Y

Additional Support: How can students display their knowledge of the story of David?

Supplemental Activity: Have the students put on a showcase of artifacts (diy or pictures) from David’s time. Have younger students come visit the showcase and have your students share about David while sharing about the artifacts.

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