I King
Memory Verse:
“The
Lord has kept the promises he made.” (1 Kings 8:20)
Key Facts
Author: unknown
Why
Written:
Chronicles the life of King Solomon
Key
Lesson: Seeking
wisdom is greater than riches
Important
people in book:
King David, King Solomon, The Prophet Elijah
When
written: BC 1015
Key Stories in Book
King
David’s charge to Solomon I Kings 2:1-4, 10-12
Solomon
asks for wisdom I Kings 3:6-14
Solomon’s
Wisdom I
Kings 4:29-34
Solomon’s
Prayer of Dedication I Kings 8:56-60, 9:3-5
Elijah
and miracles I Kings 17:1-6, 17-24
Lesson #1: King David’s charge to Solomon. I King 2:1-4,
10-12
“When the time drew near for David to die,
he gave a charge to Solomon his son.
‘I
am about to go the way of all the earth,’ he said. ‘So be strong, show yourself
a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and
commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that
you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go, and that the Lord may keep
his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk
faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have
a man on the throne of Israel.’
Then David rested with his fathers and was
buried in the City of
1.
Who
was Solomon? (David’s son)
2.
Who
was about to die in the beginning of this chapter? (David)
3.
What
was King David’s charge to Solomon? (Be strong, be a man, and observe what the
Lord requires)
4.
What
do you think he meant by “observe what the Lord requires?” (Follow God’s
commandments)
5.
What
does the Lord require of you?
Summary: Pay attention to what the Lord
requires of you. You are required to
obey his word, show love to those around you, and love the Lord with all your
heart. If you follow these requirements,
the Lord will keep his promises to you.
Lesson #2: Solomon asks for wisdom. I Kings 3:6-14
“Solomon answered,
‘You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was
faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him
and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant
king in place of my father David. But I
am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you
have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to
govern you people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people
of yours?’
The
Lord was please that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, ‘Since you have asked for
this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death
of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what
you have asked. I will give you a wise
and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor
will there ever be. Moreover, I will
give you what you have not asked for – both riches and honor – so that in your
lifetime you will have no equal among Kings.”
1.
Solomon
showed great love for the Lord. He could
have asked God for many things, but what did he ask for (a discerning heart)?
2.
Because
Solomon asked for discernment and wisdom, what did the Lord also give him
(riches and honor)?
3.
What
is wisdom and how can it help you? (Wisdom is the ability to make right
choices. Wisdom can help you make the right choices in your life)
4.
What
does this lesson tell you about how to pray? (Do not pray for selfish things
like money, fame, and material things. Pray for things that will help you to
fulfill God’s purpose for you.)
5.
What
are some things that you would like to pray for?
Summary: It is better to pray for how
God can use you for his purpose rather than to pray for selfish things. God will bless you when you give yourself to
him.
Lesson #3: Solomon’s Wisdom. Read
I Kings 4:29-34
“God gave Solomon wisdom and very great
insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the
seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater
than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of
1.
What
did God give Solomon (wisdom, insight, and understanding)?
2.
Do
you think that you could count the number of sand on the seashore? Why not?
3.
How
would you like to have this type of understanding?
4.
Why
would it be important for a king to have this type of understanding? What kinds of challenges do you think King
Solomon had to face?
5.
Solomon
wrote 3 thousand proverbs and 1005 songs.
Look up five of his proverbs. Did
you find any wisdom in what he wrote?
6.
Can
you apply the proverbs to your life?
How?
Summary: Wisdom and understanding is of
great value. Because Solomon was so
wise, men from all nations came to listen and seek King Solomon’s advice. Pray for wisdom and understanding for your
life.
Lesson #4: Solomon’s Prayer of
Dedication. I Kings 8:56-61, 9:3-5
“Praise
be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he
promised. Not one word has failed of all
the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us as he was
with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all
his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our
fathers. And may these words of mine,
which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night,
that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel
according to each day’s need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know
that the Lord is God and that there is no other. But your hearts must be fully committed to the
Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.
“The
Lord said to him: ’I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I
have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there
forever. My eyes and my heart will
always be there.
As
for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David
your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will
establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your
father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of
Israel.’”
1.
Solomon
states that “not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave”
(v.56). What are some of God’s promises
to you?
2.
Solomon
also prays “may he turn our hearts toward him (v.58). He is praying that God will actively help us
to stay focused on God. What does that
mean to you?
3.
Do
you think it is possible to turn away from God?
How might that happen?
4.
What
are some things that you can do daily to keep your mind and heart focused on
God?
5.
Does
God hear King Solomon’s prayer (v.3)? Do you think God hears your prayers?
Summary:
Sometimes we do not think that God hears our prayers. But we need to
have faith that God hears our prayers and answers them according to his will
and plan for our lives. His answer and
timing might not be what you expected, but know that God always hears your
prayers.
Lesson #5: Elijah and Miracles. I Kings 17:1-6, 17-24
“Now Elijah the Tishbite, from
Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I
serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my
word.’
Then the word of the Lord came to
Elijah: ‘Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the
Jordan. You will drink from the brook,
and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.’
So he did what the Lord had told
him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east
of the
Sometime later the son of the
woman who owned the house became ill. He
grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, ‘What do you have against
me, man of God? Did you come to remind
me of my sin and kill my son?’
‘Give me your son’, Elijah
replied. He took him from her arms,
carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his
bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, ‘O
Lord my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with,
by causing her son to die?’ Then he
stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, ‘O Lord my
God, let this boy’s life return to him!’
The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and
the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived.
Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the
house. He gave him to his mother and
said, ‘Look, your son is alive!’
Then the woman said
to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord
from your mouth is the truth.’”
1.
What
is a miracle?
2.
Elijah
was a prophet in the Old Testament. What
was the job of a prophet? (A prophet delivered messages from God to the people)
3.
What
was the first miracle in chapter 17? (God fed Elijah through Ravens)
4.
What
would you think if the Lord told you to go and hide and that Ravens would bring
you food?
5.
Would
you trust him?
6.
What
was the miracle about the little boy? (God brought life back into the body of
the little boy).
7.
Why
do you think God performed miracles?
8.
Do
you think that God performs miracles today?
Summary: Prophets were considered great
men of God. They loved the Lord with all
of their hearts, followed his laws, and relayed messages to the people. Today God talks directly to each one of
us. He can answer prayers, perform
miracles, heal the sick, and intervene to help us in any circumstance. We only need to pray and seek his voice.
*The scriptures used for this study were
taken from the “Young Women of Faith Bible New International Version” published
in 2001 by the Zondervan Corporation.
