Children Bible Stories

In Maon, there was a very wealthy man called Nabal. Nabal owned 1000 sheep and 1000 goats. Nabal kept his 1000 sheep and 1000 goats at Carmel.

Nabal was a very rough and mean man; but Nabal’s wife, Abigail was a very pretty and wise woman.

One day, Nabal’s servants were sheering wool from their sheep at Carmel.

David heard about it and he sent 10 men to Nabal, saying, “I hope everything is well with you and your family. When your shepherds are at Carmel tending the sheep, we didn’t hurt them or steal anything from them. You can ask your shepherds, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Today is a day of celebration; please share with us some of the food you’ve cooked.”

David’s men went to Nabal and gave him the message but Nabal replied, “Who does David think he is? David is just a slave who listens to his master. What makes you think that I will share my food and water with you? I also don’t know whether you are really sent by David!”

David’s men returned to David and told David what Nabal had said.

David’s anger was aroused and he said to his men, “Everybody strapped on your sword!” Four hundred men strapped their swords; but two hundred men stayed behind to guard the camp.

While David and his men were on their way to destroy Nabal and his household, one of Nabal’s servants said to Abigail, “David and his men are very good to us.

They never hurt us or steal anything from us. They are always nearby when we are tending the sheep and goats. With them around, we are as safe as we are inside a walled city.

Please come up with an idea to help us because David and his men are on his way to kill his family and everyone who works for him.”

Abigail quickly loaded 200 loaves of bread, 2 large jar of wine, meat of 5 sheep, 1 big sack of roasted grain, 100 handfuls of raisins, and 200 handfuls of figs on the donkey.

Then she rode her donkey. Abigail didn’t inform Nabal that she took food for David.

On the way, Abigail met with David and his men and she bowed down to David.

Abigail said to David, “Please let me explain! Don’t pay attention to what Nabal, the fool said to you.

Please accept these gifts of food that I have brought to you.

God had kept you from doing evil things and killing innocent people.I pray that you will not commit evil crime for as long as you live.

I pray that anyone who tries to harm you will end up like Nabal. God will always protect you because you fight for him.”

David accepted the gifts of food from Abigail. David said to Abigail, “You can go home now. I will not harm Nabal and his household.”

Abigail returned to her home. When she arrives home, she found Nabal was celebrating with his servants in a party fit for a king.

Nabal was very drunk so Abigail didn’t tell Nabal about it until the next morning.

The next morning, Nabal was sober and Abigail told him everything that had happened yesterday.

Nabal was a very stingy person. He couldn’t take it and he have a heart attack. After 10 days, Nabal died.

When David heard that Nabal is dead, he praised God because He had kept him from taking revenge on Nabal and his household.

Then David sent messengers to Abigail to ask her to be his wife.

Abigail quickly saddled her donkey and went to meet David. David and Abigail were married as soon as Abigail arrived.

One day, Saul was on his way home after fighting the Philistines at En Gedi when someone told him, “David and his men are at Wild Goat Rocks at En Gedi.”

So Saul took 3000 best soldiers with him to find David so that he can kill him.

On the way, Saul saw some sheep pens around the entrance to a cave.

Saul felt very tired so he went into the cave to rest. David and his men were at the back of the same cave where Saul is resting.

David’s men said to him, “Today God had delivered Saul into your hand.” David sneaked over and cut off a small piece of cloth from Saul’s robe then hid back in the cave.

When Saul woke up, he didn’t notice anything missing and left the cave. David and his men also got up and left the cave.

David caught up with Saul and said, “Your Majesty, why are you trying to harm me? Why did you listen to those men who told you that I plan to harm you?

Did you notice a piece of your robe missing? If could cut off a piece of your cloth from your robe, I could have kill you but I didn’t.

There is a proverb that says, ‘Only evil people do evil things.’ I am not going to kill you.

But I pray that the Lord will judge between you and me and punish you.

Why should the king of Israel be out chasing after me since I am as worthless as a flea?”

Saul said to David, “David, is that you? You are really a better person than I am. I realized that you will be the next king of Israel. Promise me that you won’t wipe out my descendants.”

David promised Saul that he will not wipe out Saul’s descendants when he becomes king.

Saul went home and David returned to his hiding place.

One day, the Philistines were getting ready to fight with the Israelites.

Saul and his army troop set up camps on a hill opposite of where the Philistines army set up their camps.

At that time, the Philistines had a hero who is a giant called Goliath.

Goliath came from the town of Gath.Goliath is 9 feet tall.

Goliath always wears a bronze helmet, and bronze armor to protect his chest and legs. Goliath carries a sword which he always strapped at his back as well as a large spear.

Goliath came out and challenged the Israelites army to fight with him everyday.

David’s brothers was also fighting in the Israelites army so Jesse called in David and said to him, “Take this sack of roasted grain and ten loaves of bread to your brothers. Here are 10 large cheeses to take to the commanding officer as gift. Go and see if all is well with your brothers who are at Elah Valley now.”

David obeyed his father. Early the next morning, he woke up and loaded a sack of roasted grain, ten loaves of bread.

After David had left the supplies with the man in charged, he ran up to the battle line to talk to his brothers to see if everyone is well with them.

While David was talking to his brothers, Goliath came out again and showed off to them. The Israelite armies were afraid of Goliath the giant and they backed off.

The Israelite armies said to one another, “Look how Goliath keep coming out to boast and insult us. The king will give a huge reward to the man who kills Goliath; the king will also give his daughter to marry him and his family won’t have to pay taxes anymore.”

David asked the soldiers, “What will the man who kill Goliath gets as his reward from the king?”

The soldiers told David what King Saul will reward the man that kills Goliath the giant.

Then David turned and asked another soldier the same thing. Some soldiers overheard what David was saying, and they told King Saul about it.

Saul called in David and David came.

David said to Saul, “Your Highness, that giant Goliath are laughing at us and turning us into cowards. I will go and fight him.”

Saul answered, “You will surely be beaten down by Goliath. He works as a soldier all his life.”

David said, “I look after my father’s sheep. When a prey attacks the sheep, I go after it and beat it until it let go. If it turns against me, I will grab its throat and slaughter it. I had slaughtered lion and bears all my life and so I can also kill this worthless Philistine. If the Lord protected me against the lion and bears, he will surely also give me victory over Goliath.”

Saul then gave his military clothes, armor, and sword to David.

David put on the military clothes, armors and sword and walked around with it but he felt very uncomfortable.

David said to King Saul, “I am not used to all these.”

So David took off the military clothes, armor and sword and gave them back to King Saul.

David picked up his shepherd stick. He grabbed a few small pebbles from the stream and put them in his leather sling back. Then David went off to fight with Goliath.

When Goliath saw David is just a healthy handsome looking boy, he laughed at him, saying, “What! Do you think I am dog?”

David answered, “You came fighting with me with a sword, a spear and a dagger but I came out to fight you in the name of Lord God Almighty, the commander of Israel’s army! Today, I will defeat you with the help of the Lord. Then I will cut down your head and feed the corpses of the Philistine soldiers to the animals.”

Then David took a pebble and put it in its sling. David ran toward Goliath and swung the sling around.

The pebble flew out and hit Goliath right in the head.

It cracked Goliath’s skull. Goliath tumbled down and died.

God felt sorry that He chose Saul to be king over Israel.

So God said to Samuel, “I don’t want Saul to be king anymore. Pour olive oil into a small container and go to the house of Jesse now. I had chosen one of Jesse’s sons to be king.”

Samuel replied, “If I do this, Saul will find out about it then he is going to kill me.”

God said, “Take a calf and pretend to offer a sacrifice to me. Then invite Jesse. I will tell you which one is my chosen king and you will pour olive oil on his head.”

Samuel obeyed God and went to Bethlehem to offer a sacrifice to Him.

When the town leaders of Bethlehem saw Samuel, they were afraid.

They asked Samuel, “Is this a friendly visit?”

Samuel replied, “Yes. I have come to offer sacrifices to God.

Everyone is invited to the sacrifice.” Samuel also invited Jesse to take part in the sacrifice.

When Jesse and his seven sons arrived, Samuel saw the oldest son,Eliab and thought to himself, “This must be the Lord’s chosen king,”

But God said to Samuel, “Eliab is not the one. People judge a person from their outward appearance but I see what is in their heart.”

Jesse had all his seven sons went to Samuel but none of them God had chosen to be king.

Samuel asked Jesse, “Have you anymore sons?”

Jesse answered, “Yes. I have another son. He is my youngest son. He is outside at the field looking after the sheep.”

Jesse sent message for David to come.

David is a healthy and handsome boy.David’s eyes have sparkles.

David came in, and God said to Samuel, “He is the one. Pour olive oil on David’s head.”

Samuel poured olive oil on David’s head to anoint him.

At that moment, the Holy Spirit took control of David and he stays with him from then on.

One day, Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord gives you this message, ‘When the Israelites come out of Egypt, they were attacked by the Amalekites. Now go and destroy the Amalekites along with all their possessions including the men and women, babies, sheep, cattle and donkeys. ’”

After Saul heard this message from Samuel, he sent messengers for the men to join his army troop at Telaim.

Then Saul led the army troop to a valley near a town of the Amalekites.

Some Kenites lived nearby. Saul doesn’t want to kill them so he asked them to leave the place. The Kenites left and evacuated the place.

Then Saul and his army attacked the Amalekites. They kill every men, women and babies of the Amalekites and captured King Agag.

Saul did not obeyed the Lord because he didn’t kill King Agag and held back some of the Amalekites’ livestock.

Someone told Samuel, “Saul had traveled to Carmel to build a monument to remember his victory. After that, Saul left for Gilgal.”

Samuel caught up with Saul. Saul said to Samuel, “I hope the Lord will bless me because I had done everything as you had said.”

Samuel answered, “Then why is there the voice of cattle and sheep?”

Saul explained, “I kept the best cattle and sheep so that I could offer them as sacrifices to the Lord at Gilgal.”

Samuel answered, “Why did you disobey the Lord? I told you to destroy every possession of the Amalekites. ”

Saul replied, “I did obey the Lord! I captured King Agag and destroy everything that belongs to the Amalekites except the cattle and sheep. All the cattle and sheep are going to be offered as sacrifices to the Lord at Gilgal. ”

Samuel answered, “Does God really want your sacrifices? All He wants is you to obey Him. God had decided that you cannot be king anymore because you had disobeyed Him.”

Saul said, “I am wrong. I had sinned against the Lord. Please forgive me and come to worship the Lord with me at Gilgal.”

Samuel answered, “No! You disobeyed the Lord and therefore the Lord had decided that you cannot be king anymore!”

Saul held on to the edge of Samuel’s garment and it tore.

Saul said, “I know I disobeyed the Lord. But please come and worship the Lord with me at Gilgal for the sake of the soldiers and the people of Israel.”

Samuel agreed to go back with Saul and he went with Saul to worship the Lord.

After that, Samuel shouted, “Bring King Agag!”

King Agag thought, “They surely won’t kill me!” But Samuel took a sword and chopped King Agag into pieces.

After that, Samuel went back home to Ramah; and Saul returned to Gibeah.

Although Samuel felt depressed about Saul, he never sees him again.

There was once a very rich man called Kish. Kish comes from the tribe of Benjamin.

Kish had a handsome son called Saul. Saul was the most handsome and tallest man among the Israelites.

One day, Kish’s donkeys ran away. Kish said to his son, Saul, “Some of the donkeys have run away. Take a servant with you to find the donkey.”

Saul took a servant and departed to find the missing donkeys.

They went into all the places including the hill country of Ephraim, Shalishah, as well as the territories of Shaalim and Benjamin but their donkeys were still nowhere to be seen.

Finally Saul and the servant came to the place where the clan of Zuph lived.

Saul said to his servants, “Let us go back now. If we don’t go home now, my father will get worry about us and forgot about the missing donkeys.”

The servant answered, “There was a very powerful prophet that lives nearby this town. But we don’t have anything to offer him. I only have a small piece of silver. We can give this to him and he will tell us where the donkey is.”

Saul said to the servant, “Good! Let us go to find the prophet now.”

Saul and the servant went into the town where Samuel lived.

As they were going up the hill, some women were coming out of the town to fetch water.

They asked the young women, “We are looking for the prophet who sees vision. Can you tell us where he is now?”

The young women answered, “He is offering a sacrifice to the Lord at the place of worship. Hurry up now and you will meet him inside the town gate.”

Saul and the servant went into the town. As they were entering the town gate, Samuel was coming out.

When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “This is the man whom I had chosen to be the king over Israel.”

Saul said to Samuel, “We are looking for the prophet who can see vision”.
Samuel answered, “I am the prophet. Go now to the place of worship and eat with me. The donkeys that ran way had already been found. Every valuable thing in Israel now belongs to you.”

Saul said, “How can this be? I am from the Benjamin tribe which is the least important in Israel. ”

Samuel took Saul into the dining room at the place of worship and seated him. He gave Saul the best portion of the meat.

After Samuel and Saul had finished eating, Saul went up to the flat roof of Samuel’s home to sleep.

The next morning, Samuel took a jar of olive oil and anointed Saul.

Samuel embraced Saul and said, “God had chosen you to be king over Israel.

After you left me, you will meet with two men near the tomb of Rachel in Zelzah who will tell you that the donkeys had been found.

Go from there to the giant oak tree at Tabor, You will see three young men.

One of them is leading 3 goats, the other will be carrying 3 loaves of bread and the last one will be carrying a jar of wine.

After you meet them, one of the men will give you 2 loaves of bread.

Next, go to Gibeah and you will see the army camp of the Philistines. The prophets will meet with you as you enter the town. Then the Spirit of God will suddenly take control of you and you will prophesy along with them.

After that, you will reach Gilgal. I will be there in a week. Stay there and I will tell you what to do next when I arrive at Gilgal.”

Saul left Samuel and found everything happened just as Samuel told him. Samuel sent message to the Israelites to gather at Mizpah.

When all the people had assembled at Mizpah, Samuel said to them, “God had rescued you from your troubles but you have now rejected him and ask for a king. Now each tribe and clan comes forward because the Lord wants to choose a king.”

Every tribe came forward to the altar and God chose the Benjamin tribe.

After that, each clan of the Benjamin tribe went forward to the altar and the Matri clan was chosen.

Then Saul the son of Kish is chosen to be king over Israel.

The people asked, “Is Saul here?”

God answered, “Yes. Saul is here and he is hiding among the baggage.”

The people ran and brought Saul from the baggage into the crowd.

The people noticed that Saul is a handsome man and a head taller than them.

The people cheered for Samuel as their new king and followed him. But some men mocked at Saul and didn’t give any gifts to Saul.

Saul was very angry but he stayed calm.