Submitted by
S. Daly

Age Group
5-11

Aim
To learn about the lives of David and Solomon
To prepare for Christmas with this Advent tradition

Faith Group
Christian

Resources
A twiggy branch, a picture of a sheep and a baby.

Time of Year
Advent

Other Details
This assembly can stand alone or can be part of a series of assemblies called "The Jesse Tree", held in the season of Advent.
This is when each class does an assembly on one or more of the ancestors of Jesus. Symbols representing each person are hung on a tree/branch, so that by Christmas the tree is full of symbols, rather like an Advent tree instead of a Christmas tree. The children's feeling of anticipation grows as more and more symbols are hung on the tree.

The order of the Jesse Tree assemblies is as follows:
1) Creation and Adam and Eve
2) Noah and Abraham
3) Isaac and Sarah
4) Jacob and Joseph
5) Moses and Samuel
6) David and Solomon
7) Isaiah and Elizabeth and Zechariah
8) Mary and Joseph
9) John the Baptist and Jesus

Script
1. We are going to tell you about David and Solomon.

2. There are lots of stories in the Bible about David.
He was probably born in Bethlehem, about one thousand years before Jesus. He was the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse.
As a boy, his job was to look after his father's sheep.
One day, Samuel, a wise man, was looking for someone to replace Saul, the first king of Israel.
When he saw David, God said to him,

GOD: This is the one - anoint him!

2. So, although David was just a shepherd boy, he became the second king of Israel.

3. David is famous for being good at music. He could play the harp and wrote many songs and poems. He wrote at least seventy of the psalms in the Bible, for example: The Lord is my Shepherd:

DAVID: (Read Psalm 23.)

4. He is also famous for killing a giant called Goliath. Goliath had weapons and armour, but David only had a stone and a catapult.
David succeeded because God helped him.

5. David's name is used at Christmas time.
We say that Jesus belongs to the House of David. This means that Jesus and David were related.
Both Jerusalem and Bethlehem are sometimes called the City of David.
The Christmas star is sometimes called the Star of David.
We are going to hang a picture of a sheep on our Jesse Tree. This will remind us of David's first job as a shepherd - and of Jesus who later called himself the Good Shepherd.

6. When David died, one of his sons became the next king. He was called Solomon.
He is famous for building a temple for God which took seven years.
He then built a palace for himself which took nearly twice as long.

7. He is more famous for being clever though. There is a phrase "the wisdom of Solomon". This stems from a time when Solomon had to make a difficult decision. This is what happened.

8. Two women came to Solomon. They were arguing over a baby. They both said that the baby belonged to them. Solomon thought for a while.
Then he said the baby should be cut in half, with one half being given to each woman.

9. The first woman thought this was a good idea.
The second woman shouted,

SECOND WOMAN: No, please! Do not kill the baby. Let her have him. I give up my claim to the child. Only don't kill him.

10. Solomon then knew who the real mother was. It was the second woman. He said,

SOLOMON: You are the mother of the child. No real mother who cared about her baby could have him killed before her eyes.

10. He gave the baby to the second woman and she happily left the palace.

11. We are going to put a picture of a baby on the tree. This will remind us of
Solomon's wisdom - and also of Jesus who came to us as a baby.

12. We will now pray for a while in silence. The time leading up to Christmas is an exciting one, but it is sometimes good to stop and think.

13. We will now pray for everyone who is waiting for a baby at this special time. Hail Mary...

14. Let us now sing "Like a shepherd" by Bob Dufford. (Celebration Hymnal for Everyone number 369)