Each meeting covers one lesson. The passage, questions and notes are all on the lesson page, and group members can print their own copy.
Leaders need only this guide: first the flow that is the same every time, then the focus points and tips for each lesson.
A lesson takes about an hour. Meet weekly or every other week — whatever fits your group.
Each Meetingabout 55 min
Snacks and catching up
10 min
Read together
10 min
Discussion
25 min
This week
5 min
Close (prayer optional)
5 min
Opening: Start with last time’s ‘This week’: ‘Did you do it? How did it go?’ For the first lesson, ask everyone to say in one sentence why they want to read about this person. The leader goes first.
Read together: Take turns reading the passage, a few verses each. The leader reads the short notes between sections.
Discussion: You don’t need to discuss every question in ‘Think It Through.’ Pick one or two from each group, add this lesson’s focus points, and that is plenty.
This week: Read it together, and ask each person to decide on the one small thing they will do this week.
Close: You can pray using a verse from the lesson. If some aren’t used to praying aloud, a minute of silence together is fine too.
Focus 1 (vv. 7–10): Solomon said, “I am just a little child”; he asked for “an understanding heart to judge your people”; and “This request pleased the Lord.” Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verses 13 and 6 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone writes down one thing where they ‘don’t know how to go out or come in’, and asks God for understanding about it every day this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: This lesson and the ones after it do not make Solomon a warning example, nor a model; read the passage as it is written. Read “except that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places” (v. 3) and the line about Pharaoh’s daughter in Before We Begin as written; don’t say ‘here is the seed of his later fall’ — what happens later is left to Lesson 5. God giving him riches and honor he had not asked for (v. 13) is not to be made ‘ask for wisdom first and God will make you rich’. Read “then I will lengthen your days” (v. 14) as written; there is no need to discuss how long he lived. There is no need to work out how old he was when he called himself “a little child.” The LORD appeared to him in a dream; read it as written, and don’t make it a method for seeking God today. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs are not discussed in these lessons; if someone asks, say these lessons read only Kings. Don’t press on question 10; only those who want to share need to.
Lesson 2 · Give the First Woman the Living Child1 Kgs 3:16-28
Focus 1 (vv. 25–28): The king said, “Divide the living child in two”; the living child’s mother said, “in no way kill him!”; the king said, “Give the first woman the living child”; and the people “saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.” Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verse 28 and 1 Kgs 3:9 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of one matter where it falls to them to decide between two sides, and this week hears both sides out fully before asking God for understanding. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: There may be parents in the group who have lost a baby. Read the child’s death (v. 19) once as written; don’t discuss it, don’t ask how that mother felt, and don’t ask group members to imagine themselves as either of the two mothers (that is why questions 5–6 are the man with the sword and an Israelite). Read “two women who were prostitutes” (v. 16) as written; their lives are not discussed. Why the king said what he did in verse 25, the passage does not explain; there is no need to spell out his intention for him, and don’t make wisdom ‘thinking up a clever trick’ — verse 28 speaks of “the wisdom of God.” Read the mother’s words in verse 26 as written; don’t make them ‘true love lets go’. Don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 27–30): The house had just been finished, and Solomon asked, “But will God in very deed dwell on the earth?”; then he asked God, “Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.” Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verses 24 and 30 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone prays once a day this week in an ordinary place. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: This lesson does not make Solomon a model of devotion, and it does not jump ahead to Lesson 5. Read “if only your children take heed to their way” (v. 25) as written; don’t say ‘and later he did not take heed.’ Read verse 27 as written; don’t open it into a doctrinal discussion of God being everywhere, and don’t make it ‘church buildings don’t matter’ or ‘God hears only if the place is right.’ The ‘three thousand proverbs’ mentioned in Before We Begin are read once as written; which book they are is not discussed. The seven years spent on the house are read as written, not compared with his own palace. Read ‘there is no man who doesn’t sin’ (1 Kgs 8:46) as written; it is not discussed further. Don’t press on question 10; only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 6–9): The queen said, “Behold, not even half was told me!” and “Blessed is the LORD your God.” Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verse 9 and Matt 12:42 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone finds a passage they have only ‘heard about’ and reads it for themselves this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Read the queen of Sheba only as the passage gives her: she came because she “heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the LORD’s name” (v. 1); don’t bring in later legends about her, and don’t make it a story of romance between the two. What the king gave her in verse 13 the passage does not spell out; there is no need to guess. This lesson does not go into Solomon’s riches, horses, and chariots; don’t make it ‘God’s blessing is wealth’, and don’t jump ahead to ‘glory is dangerous’ — what happens in Lesson 5 is left to Lesson 5. ‘Pointing to Christ’ only sets the queen and Jesus’ words side by side; don’t call Solomon a type of Christ. Don’t press on question 10; only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 9–13): The LORD was angry with Solomon “because his heart was turned away”; and he also said, “Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake.” Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verses 9 and 12 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone prays with Ps 86:11 once a day this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: This lesson does not make Solomon a warning example; don’t sum it up as ‘wisdom could not save him’ or ‘even clever people fall, so be careful’, and don’t read the first four lessons back as a steady slide downhill. The passage records God’s anger and also God’s holding back; read both as written. Whether Solomon later repented, or whether he was saved, the passage does not say, and these lessons do not discuss it; if someone brings up Ecclesiastes, say these lessons read only Kings. Read the numbers in verse 3 as written; polygamy is not discussed. Don’t make this lesson teaching about marriage (‘don’t marry an unbeliever’) — there may be people in the group whose husband or wife does not yet believe. Verse 2 says “they will turn away your heart after their gods” (v. 2); the passage goes on to speak of ‘his heart’ (vv. 4, 9) — don’t put the blame on the women. Read the names of the gods in verses 5 and 7 as written; they are not explained. Don’t press on question 9; only those who want to share need to. Question 11 looks back; leave ten minutes for it.
Principles
The leader is not a teacher, but someone walking alongside everyone else.
Give everyone a chance to speak. If some talk a lot, you can gently say, ‘Let’s hear from those who haven’t spoken yet.’
Don’t rush to give answers. If there is silence, wait a few more seconds.
If you can’t answer a question, it’s fine to say, ‘I don’t know — let’s look into it together,’ and come back to it next time.
What is said in the group stays in the group.
At the start, the leader can share their own answer first. Keep it simple and honest.
In the lessons, words in double quotes with a reference are scripture. What the passage does not say, we can only guess; guessing is fine, as long as we say we are guessing.
Don’t press on painful things. If someone becomes upset, stay with them after the meeting; if needed, involve a pastor from their church or a professional counselor.