Adult Sunday School

The David Story

     On the last Sunday in November our adult Sunday school class began a study of “The David Story.” Our effort will cover the biblical text of 1 and 2 Samuel and the first two chapters of 1 Kings, a period beginning with the birth of Samuel and extending through the death of King David.  Key biblical characters include Samuel, Saul and David.  Samuel anointed the first two Israelite kings, Saul and David and thereby began a period knows as the “United Monarchy,” when Israel was under the kingship of Saul, David and Solomon. Upon Solomon’s death the united monarchy quickly split into Israel in the north and Judah in the south.  Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. and Judah to the Babylonians in 587 B.C.  The Babylonians destroyed the Jerusalem Temple, which had been constructed under Solomon, and took with them on their return to Babylon a number of leading citizens from Judah, the “Babylonian Captivity.   “The David Story” covers the period from approximately 1050 until approximately 970 B.C., a period during which tribal Israel became the Kingdom of Israel.

      We are beginning the fifth year of the current version of our adult Sunday school class.  We began with six students and have now grown to about triple that number.  There is always room for more people in our class, so if you are intrigued by a class that pays high regard to the biblical text and offers a running commentary on that text, then please join us on Sunday mornings between 9 and 10 a.m.  We focus more on understanding than speed and last Sunday worked our way through the 13^th chapter of 1 Samuel.  We typically cover a chapter each week so there is plenty of time left to join our effort with “The David Story.”

      Our class spends much time in study with the Old Testament because of our bias that without an understanding of the Old much of the New sails over our heads.  People saw Jesus as the Messiah because of his descent from the line of King David.  Bethlehem was the hometown of David.  Genealogies at the beginning of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke trace this line of descent.  While our study concentrates on Old Testament text, a conscious effort to connect the Old to the New is made each Sunday morning.

      You are invited to our class with the assurance that you are free to determine your own level of participation, which can range from a host of questions and ideas to attentive silence.  That is for you to decide in your own good time.  We do want to inform those who may not be aware that serious bible study is underway each Sunday morning in our church.