Mystery of History Volume 1: Week 11: Saul, David, and Solomon

Mystery of History Volume 1: Week 11: Saul, David, and Solomon

As I mentioned previously, sometimes I do these lessons in a different order, or on a different timetable, than the book lays out. In this case, we sturdied Lesson 30 about the prophet Samuel on the same day as Lesson 31, King Saul.

We began reading The Hittite Warrior with these lessons, and I love how perfectly it fits with our MOH timeline. We completed chapters 1-3 today, and I read them aloud to all of the kids together. It’s a great, fast-moving story…”this meticulously researched novel is set in the time of the Judges, and incorporates Biblical facts with a gripping story, set against the wide background of ancient civliziations.” It is a perfect time to start this book, as it piggybacks on the Ancient Egypt lessons, as well as the conquest of Canaan.

“Uriah the Hittite has found refuge from the Greeks in the Canaanite city of Tyre. Now the Hebrew Jotham’s decision to save a child from being sacrificed to Moloch forces Uriah to choose life over reverence of Tyre’s fearsome god. Three escape to the hill country of Judah, where Deborah and Barak are mustering the Hebrews to fight the Canaanites.”

My older teens are reading parts of The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer. Their extra reading for this lesson is Chapter 26: Rise of the Hittites.

Lesson 31: King Saul

As usual, I like to read the MOH lesson combined with portions straight from scripture. In this case, 1 Samuel 8-10 and 15. I stressed the importance of 1 Samuel 15:22-23. (I grew up listening to Keith Green, and always hear his song, To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice in my head.)

Lesson 32: David

We devoted one day (plus a few extra days of reading scripture) to David. First I read the MOH lesson aloud, but I pulled out my Chronological Study Bible (which is so fun for the study of David’s life and Psalms!) and read the following scriptures, mixed in with the lesson:

• 1 Samuel 17 (David and Goliath)
• 1 Samuel 19 (Saul Persecutes David)
• Psalm 59 (“A Mihtam of David when Saul sent men, and they watched the house in order to kill him)
• 1 Samuel 21 (David and the Holy Bread)
• Psalm 56 (Prayer for Relief from Tormenters)
• 2 Samuel 1:17-27 (The Song of the Bow)
• 2 Samuel 11 and 12:1-15 (David and Bathsheba)
• Psalm 51 (A Prayer of Repentance)

After the readings, we watched Drive Thru History Holy Land Volume 1 Episode 3: Valley of Elah, Ein Gedi, and Qumran. It was a perfect follow-up to the lesson about David. I cannot express this enough!

In the video, Dave Stotts mentioned the recent archaeological excavation of the Valley of Elah, confirming some of the biblical accounts of David’s life. I highly recommend this segment (but really the entire Hold Land series). You can purchase individual episodes on Amazon Prime Streaming or buy the entire DVD set.

The Mystery of History Companion Guide has some really great activities to do with all ages. I chose to assign all of my kids the “Historical Setting of the Psalms” portion, where they will look up 14 different Psalms and read and note where (and why) David wrote them.

We also continued reading The Hittite Warrior, chapters 4-6, today.

Two different Usborne books I like for this time are The Usborne Book of World History and Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History.

• Usborne Book of World History p. 46-47 Canaanites and Philistines
• Encyclopedia of World History p. 140-141 The People of Canaan/Raiders of the Mediterranean

My older teens are reading parts of The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer (think of this as the grown up version of Story of the World. Their extra reading for this lesson is:

• Chapter 29: The Three Way Contest (Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor)
• Chapter 31: The Mycenaeans of Greece (Crete and Greece)
• Chapter 32: Struggle of the Gods (Egypt)
• Chapter 33: Wars and Marriages (Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor)

Lesson 33: Solomon

The Bible readings for this lesson are 1 Kings 1-11, as well as Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and favorite Proverbs. When there is a lot of scripture reading like this, I will let my youngest read the same story from the Children’s Story Bible by Catherine Vos.

To finish up, we added these events to our timelines, did the mapwork in the Companion Guide, my 9 & 12 year olds added the corresponding sections to their labpooks (folder books), and everyone did the Week 11 review quiz.

Be sure to check out all the great book suggestions and activity ideas in the Mystery of History Companion Guide! Follow the entire course with us at the main Mystery of History Volume 1 page here.

Do you have some fun ideas for these lessons? Comment below!