Single lesson
David Rescues Keilah and Escapes Saul
1 Samuel 23:1–29
In this lesson, children trace how David rescued Keilah, listened to God more than once, escaped Saul, and was helped by Jonathan. They will order the events and notice how people made very different choices.
Before you teach
This passage begins when David hears that the Philistines are attacking Keilah. David asks Yahweh what to do, saves the town, then learns Saul plans to trap him there. After David leaves, he hides in the wilderness, Jonathan strengthens him, and Saul keeps searching until urgent news changes the chase.
Students will be able to sequence the main events of 1 Samuel 23:1–29 and describe at least two choices people made and what happened next.
Welcome: hear the problem at Keilah
5 minBegin by naming the main people in this passage: David, his men, Saul, Jonathan and the people of Keilah. Read verses 1 to 5 aloud. Ask children to listen for the first problem and the first choice David makes. Point out that David hears about Keilah, asks Yahweh what to do, asks again when his men are afraid, and then goes and saves the inhabitants of Keilah.
1 Samuel 23:1, 1 Samuel 23:2, 1 Samuel 23:3, 1 Samuel 23:4, 1 Samuel 23:5
Read and explain: David asks, Saul plans
8 minRead verses 6 to 13. Explain that Abiathar comes with an ephod, and in this passage it is connected with David seeking God's answer. Saul thinks David is trapped in a town with gates and bars, but David again asks Yahweh what will happen. The answers are clear: Saul will come down, and the men of Keilah will hand David over, so David leaves with about six hundred men.
1 Samuel 23:6, 1 Samuel 23:7, 1 Samuel 23:8, 1 Samuel 23:9, 1 Samuel 23:10, 1 Samuel 23:11, 1 Samuel 23:12, 1 Samuel 23:13
Discuss: help, fear and faithfulness
6 minRead verses 14 to 18. Help the group notice two things at once: Saul keeps seeking David every day, and God does not deliver David into Saul's hand. Then notice Jonathan's action. He goes to David, strengthens his hand in God, tells him not to be afraid, and the two make a covenant before Yahweh. Discuss how Jonathan's visit brings courage in a hard time.
1 Samuel 23:14, 1 Samuel 23:15, 1 Samuel 23:16, 1 Samuel 23:17, 1 Samuel 23:18
Make and respond: sequence cards of the chase
7 minGive children simple cards to draw or write key moments: Keilah attacked, David asks Yahweh, Keilah saved, Saul plans, David leaves, Jonathan strengthens David, Ziphites report, messenger interrupts Saul, David goes to En Gedi. Children place the cards in order and retell the account in pairs. Remind them to keep each card tied to what the passage actually says.
1 Samuel 23:1, 1 Samuel 23:2, 1 Samuel 23:4, 1 Samuel 23:5, 1 Samuel 23:7, 1 Samuel 23:13, 1 Samuel 23:16, 1 Samuel 23:19, 1 Samuel 23:27, 1 Samuel 23:29
Closing: different choices, different outcomes
4 minFinish by reviewing the later chase in verses 19 to 29, then connect it with earlier choices already seen in the passage. David asked Yahweh and left Keilah when warned. Jonathan went to David and strengthened him in God. The Ziphites offered to deliver David, and Saul pursued him. Then a messenger reported a Philistine raid, so Saul turned back from the pursuit.
1 Samuel 23:11, 1 Samuel 23:12, 1 Samuel 23:13, 1 Samuel 23:16, 1 Samuel 23:17, 1 Samuel 23:18, 1 Samuel 23:19, 1 Samuel 23:20, 1 Samuel 23:21, 1 Samuel 23:22, 1 Samuel 23:23, 1 Samuel 23:24, 1 Samuel 23:25, 1 Samuel 23:26, 1 Samuel 23:27, 1 Samuel 23:28
Questions to explore
Why did David ask Yahweh a second time before going to Keilah?
Look at what David's men said about being afraid, then notice that Yahweh answered again and told David to go.
1 Samuel 23:3, 1 Samuel 23:4
What did David learn when he asked whether Saul would come and whether the men of Keilah would hand him over?
Read the two questions David asked and the two direct answers Yahweh gave, then connect those answers to David leaving the city.
1 Samuel 23:11, 1 Samuel 23:12, 1 Samuel 23:13
How was Jonathan different from the Ziphites in this passage?
Compare Jonathan going to strengthen David in God with the Ziphites going to Saul to report David's location.
1 Samuel 23:16, 1 Samuel 23:17, 1 Samuel 23:19, 1 Samuel 23:20
Make, think or respond
Story Order Cards
What you’ll need
- plain paper or scrap card
- pencils or markers
- scissors
- Bible
Try it together
- Write or draw 8 to 9 key events from the passage on separate cards.
- Mix the cards and ask children to place them in order using the Bible reading.
- Have each child or pair retell the story by pointing to the cards in sequence.
- Finish by circling two cards that show a person's choice and saying what happened next.
The cards help children follow the order of 1 Samuel 23:1–29 and notice how choices in the passage lead to different outcomes.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, prepare fewer cards with simple pictures and retell the story together as a whole group.
- For older or more confident children, ask them to add verse references to each card and explain which events show help from God, help from a friend, and danger from Saul.
An optional closing prayer
You may pray: "God, thank you that David asked you what to do. Please help us listen carefully, encourage others like Jonathan did, and remember your care when things are hard."
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
1 Samuel 23
1 David was told, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.”
2 Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?” Yahweh said to David, “Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.”
3 David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”
4 Then David inquired of Yahweh yet again. Yahweh answered him, and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
5 David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
6 When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.
7 Saul was told that David had come to Keilah. Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars.”
8 Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.
9 David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him. He said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”
10 Then David said, “O Yahweh, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake.
11 Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Yahweh, the God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant.” Yahweh said, “He will come down.”
12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?” Yahweh said, “They will deliver you up.”
13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah and went wherever they could go. Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah; and he gave up going there.
14 David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn’t deliver him into his hand.
15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the woods.
16 Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in God.
17 He said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for the hand of Saul my father won’t find you; and you will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also.”
18 They both made a covenant before Yahweh. Then David stayed in the woods and Jonathan went to his house.
19 Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?
20 Now therefore, O king, come down. According to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part will be to deliver him up into the king’s hand.”
21 Saul said, “You are blessed by Yahweh, for you have had compassion on me.
22 Please go make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for I have been told that he is very cunning.
23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself; and come again to me with certainty, and I will go with you. It shall happen, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”
24 They arose, and went to Ziph before Saul; but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert.
25 Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told, he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard that, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon.
26 Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain; and David hurried to get away for fear of Saul, for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men to take them.
27 But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid on the land!”
28 So Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines. Therefore they called that place Sela Hammahlekoth.
29 David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.