Act IV - The Prophets, Scene 12
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices
Scene 12
1 2 4 3
VOICE TWO: Not every prophet lived to see the
fulfillment of the revelation which had been given to him by God.
VOICE FOUR: Oftentimes those prophecies were read
and studied for hundreds of years before the people of God suddenly realized
they were being fulfilled right before their eyes.
VOICE ONE: The prophet Zephaniah, however,
lived to see the very events God had told him would take place.
VOICE TWO: King Josiah was sixteen years old
when he heard his cousin Zephaniah preach for the first time. He was hosting a state banquet at the palace,
a small gathering for around two hundred people, when to his amazement,
Zephaniah, who was one of the invited guests, climbed up on a table and started
preaching.
VOICE
THREE: Be silent before the Lord
God, for the day of the Lord is near.
VOICE ONE: It was really quite embarrassing,
especially when he started in on Assyria, talking about how Ninevah would be
destroyed and everyone who walked by would hiss and wave contemptuously. After all, the banquet was being held in
honor of the tax collector from Assyria who had come to receive the tribute
Judah paid annually.
VOICE FOUR: After it was over and the Assyrians
had left, Josiah couldn’t stop thinking about what Zephaniah had said. Were conditions really that bad in
Judah? Did they still have that many
Baal worshippers and idolatrous priests?
There were some, he knew, even though his official policy since becoming
king had been worship of Jehovah. His
wife Hamutal had an uncle named Bar-Abel who he was certain still worshipped
Baal. But were they really in the
condition Zephaniah described?
VOICE THREE: Her princes within her are roaring
lions, her judges are wolves at evening; they leave nothing for the
morning. Her prophets are reckless,
treacherous men; her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.
VOICE ONE: Upon investigation, young King
Josiah discovered that everything his cousin Zephaniah had said was true. Pledging himself loyal to Jehovah God he led
the nation in its last great revival. He
gathered the entire nation to Jerusalem and read to them from the Law. They celebrated the greatest Passover since
the days of Samuel. Josiah’s heart was
right before God, but others, including the king’s son Jehoahaz, simply
pretended to change and continued to worship the false gods in their hearts.
VOICE FOUR: The revival under Josiah provided one
last chance for the nation of Judah to truly repent. Outwardly, and politically, the morality of
the nation was transformed by the strong leadership and spiritual commitment of
King Josiah. Inwardly and in reality nothing
had really changed. People hid their
idols and claimed to worship God because that was the law, while all the time
they were simply waiting for a change of administration.
VOICE THREE: I said, “Surely you will revere Me,
accept instruction.” So her dwelling
will not be cut off according to all that I have appointed concerning her. But they were eager to corrupt all their
deeds.
VOICE TWO: Josiah died in battle at Megiddo,
never knowing the judgment of God which was soon to fall upon his beloved
nation.
VOICE FOUR: The king’s son Jehoahaz served as king
for three months before being carried off to Egypt.
VOICE ONE: His next son Jehoiakim suffered the
same fate at the hands of the Babylonian army.
VOICE TWO: Josiah’s grandson Jehoiachin lasted
three months before his captivity.
VOICE FOUR: Zedekiah, the third son of Josiah to
reign, held out for nine years. When he
was captured the Babylonians killed his children right in front of him and then
put out his eyes so the last thing he would ever remember seeing would be the
death of his sons.
VOICE THREE: Zephaniah saw it all. The Word of the Lord had been fulfilled.
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