Welly Church Kids Lessons

Youths · 9-12 · Lesson 12

Israel Requests a King

1 Samuel 8:1-22; Deuteronomy 17:14-20; Judges 21:25

Israel's demand for a king exposed both legitimate needs and distrust of God's kingship.

Teach the lesson

Goal: Students explain why Israel requested a king and why the request was both understandable and spiritually dangerous.

Pick how long you want to teach. The plan updates to fit.

Short · 25 minutes
  1. 3 min
    Connect

    Use the opening prompt from the Teach Now card.

  2. 8 min
    Read

    Read 1 Samuel 8 in four movements: leadership failure, request, divine evaluation, and warning about power.

    Ask: What leadership failure did the elders name?

  3. 5 min
    Understand

    Complete a four-column grid and evaluate how the same decision can contain both a legitimate concern and distrustful motives.

    Ask: What did the people want besides justice? · What does the repeated word take reveal?

  4. 6 min
    Do

    Complete the Problem, Solution, Motive, Warning Grid activity.

    Activity: Problem, Solution, Motive, Warning Grid

    Printable: Y1-L12-P01-problem-power-grid

  5. 3 min
    Respond

    Repeat the take-home line and close in prayer.

    Ask: What accountability question should people ask of leaders?

Standard · 35 minutes

  1. 4 min
    Connect

    Use the opening prompt and invite two or three brief responses.

  2. 4 min
    Context

    Introduce the passage setting, speaker or main characters, and genre in age-appropriate language.

  3. 8 min
    Read and observe

    Read 1 Samuel 8 in four movements: leadership failure, request, divine evaluation, and warning about power.

    Ask: What leadership failure did the elders name? · What did the people want besides justice?

  4. 7 min
    Discuss

    Complete a four-column grid and evaluate how the same decision can contain both a legitimate concern and distrustful motives.

    Ask: What does the repeated word take reveal? · What accountability question should people ask of leaders?

  5. 8 min
    Activity

    Complete the Problem, Solution, Motive, Warning Grid activity and review what it demonstrates.

    Activity: Problem, Solution, Motive, Warning Grid

    Printable: Y1-L12-P01-problem-power-grid

  6. 4 min
    Respond

    Review the objective, repeat the take-home line, and pray.

Extended · 45 minutes
  1. 4 min
    Connect

    Use the opening prompt and identify the question the lesson will answer.

  2. 6 min
    Context

    Locate the passage in the whole-Bible story and explain its literary setting.

  3. 9 min
    Read closely

    Read 1 Samuel 8 in four movements: leadership failure, request, divine evaluation, and warning about power.

    Ask: What leadership failure did the elders name? · What did the people want besides justice?

  4. 8 min
    Interpret

    Complete a four-column grid and evaluate how the same decision can contain both a legitimate concern and distrustful motives.

    Ask: What does the repeated word take reveal? · What accountability question should people ask of leaders?

  5. 7 min
    Activity one

    Complete the Problem, Solution, Motive, Warning Grid activity.

    Activity: Problem, Solution, Motive, Warning Grid

    Printable: Y1-L12-P01-problem-power-grid

  6. 7 min
    Activity two

    Complete the Power with Accountability activity and compare the results.

    Activity: Power with Accountability

  7. 4 min
    Respond and assess

    Use one quiz item orally, repeat the take-home line, and pray.

Close the class

Memory verse: 1 Samuel 8:7

Prayer: Pray for just leaders, honest accountability, and primary allegiance to God.

Take-home line: A real problem can still be met with a distrustful solution.

More help: full script, questions, and printables

A word-for-word way to run the lesson, plus every question, activity, and printable.

Teach now

Students explain why Israel requested a king and why the request was both understandable and spiritually dangerous.

Read
1 Samuel 8:1-22
Opening
Ask: Can a real problem lead people to choose a poor solution?
Say
  • Samuel's sons were corrupt, so the elders had a real leadership concern.
  • The people also wanted to be like other nations and have a king fight their battles.
  • God said the demand expressed rejection of His kingship.
  • Samuel warned that concentrated power could take people, property, labour, and freedom.
Ask
  • What problem did the elders name?
  • What additional motive did the people state?
  • How did God evaluate the demand?
  • What repeated warning word appears in Samuel's speech?
Do
Complete the Problem, Solution, Motive, Warning grid.
Close
Pray for wise, just leaders and courage to place allegiance to God above conformity.
Materials
  • Bible
  • Problem and Power Grid

Discussion questions

  • What leadership failure did the elders name?
    Simple answer: Samuel's sons took bribes and perverted justice.
    Going deeper: Explain why the concern should not be dismissed.
  • What did the people want besides justice?
    Simple answer: To be like other nations and have a king lead battles.
    Going deeper: Identify conformity and transferred trust.
  • What does the repeated word take reveal?
    Simple answer: Royal power can extract people and property.
    Going deeper: Explain how repetition shapes the warning.
  • What accountability question should people ask of leaders?
    Simple answer: Does this use of power protect justice?
    Going deeper: Distinguish lawful authority, unjust use, and primary allegiance to God.

Activities

Problem, Solution, Motive, Warning Grid · 9 min

Materials: Four-column worksheet; Pens

  1. Record the corrupt leadership problem.
  2. Record the requested king solution.
  3. Record the motives named by the text.
  4. Record Samuel's warnings and identify the repeated verb.

Low-resource option: Build the grid on a board.

Power with Accountability · 8 min

Materials: Fictional leadership cases

  1. Read a low-risk school or team leadership case.
  2. Identify legitimate authority.
  3. Identify a possible misuse of power.
  4. Propose an accountable, nonviolent response.

Low-resource option: Discuss one scenario verbally.

Printables

Prepare before class (optional, about 25 minutes)

Passage context

First Samuel 8 follows the judges period and Samuel's leadership. His sons do not walk in his ways, take bribes, and pervert justice. Torah had anticipated kingship in Deuteronomy 17, but the narrative judges this particular demand through its motives, timing, and rejection of divine rule.

  • The elders present Samuel's age and his sons injustice before requesting a king.
  • The phrase like all the nations appears in the request.
  • God distinguishes rejection of Samuel from the deeper rejection of divine kingship.
  • The verb take structures much of Samuel's warning about royal extraction.
  • Avoid a false binary: the passage contains both legitimate concern and sinful distrust.
  • Deuteronomy 17 prevents the claim that kingship itself was never contemplated within Torah.
  • Do not map ancient monarchy directly onto one modern party, constitution, or election issue.

Keep it faithful

  • Do not teach unquestioning obedience to leaders or imply that criticism of injustice rejects God.
  • Do not teach that all government is evil or that Christians should ignore lawful civic responsibility.
  • Do not use leadership loyalty to silence reports of corruption, abuse, or harm.
  • Do not overstate: Do not say every desire for accountable government rejects God or that all government is inherently evil.

Questions children may ask

Was having a king always wrong?
Should Christians obey leaders?

Every child can join in

  • Use a visible timeline or comparison grid.
  • Allow written, drawn, or spoken responses.
  • Model one completed example before independent work.
  • Offer a seated alternative to movement activities.
  • Read passages aloud in sections.
  • Use prepared cards so participation does not depend on fluent reading.
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