THE STORYTELLER'S BIBLE
Act IV - The Prophets, Scene 13
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices

Scene 13

                                    1                      2                      3                      4

VOICE FOUR:          (CROSS TO CENTER STAGE AND THEN RETURN TO POSITION AFTER SAYING LINE)  Captivity!

VOICE TWO:            (CROSS TO CENTER STAGE AND THEN RETURN TO POSITION AFTER SAYING LINE) Restoration!

VOICE ONE:             (CROSS TO CENTER STAGE AND THEN RETURN TO POSITION AFTER SAYING LINE)  Nebuchadnezzar!

VOICE THREE:        (CROSS TO CENTER STAGE AND THEN RETURN TO POSITION AFTER SAYING LINE)  Cyrus!

VOICE FOUR:          (CROSS TO CENTER STAGE AND THEN RETURN TO POSITION AFTER SAYING LINE)  Babylon!

VOICE TWO:            (CROSS TO CENTER STAGE AND THEN RETURN TO POSITION AFTER SAYING LINE)  Jerusalem!

VOICE ONE:             Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah!

VOICE FOUR:          Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi!

ALL:                           The prophets of the return!

VOICE TWO:            (CROSS TO CENTER)  How quickly time passes.  It has been four months already since my husband and I first went over to the courtyard to hear Haggai preach.  El-nathan and the rest of our neighbors have been working on the temple for twelve weeks.  It still doesn’t look like much to the older folks who came back from Babylon, but it looks great to our generation.  We’re pretty proud of how much is being accomplished.  There’s just one thing that bothers me.  I wouldn’t say anything about this to Joshua or Zerubbabel, but—well—I just don’t feel like God is keeping His part of the bargain.  I mean, Haggai told us to go to work on the temple and so we did.  The men have been faithful.  Worked hard.  Sacrified.  We ladies have given up all our time to till the fields while they worked on the temple.  It just seems to me like if we are going to work that hard for God, He ought to do something for us.  That’s the problem.  There still isn’t any rain for our crops.  I’ll be lucky if we get ten measures of wheat out of a field that ought to yield twice that amount.  Just last week we had another hailstorm.  The vineyards are full of puny, little, shriveled grapes that have almost no juice.  It’s just not right.  I mean, if we work on God’s house as hard as we have been working, shouldn’t He work on our houses?  Doesn’t He owe us that? (RETURN TO POSITION)

VOICE ONE:             The prophet Haggai wanted the people to work on the temple, and that’s what they did.

VOICE THREE:        But he wanted more than that.  He wanted them to work on their hearts.  Holiness did not come from touching holy garments.  Holiness did not come from eating sacrificial meat.  Holiness did not come from working on the temple.

VOICE FOUR:          Holiness came from God.

VOICE ONE:             When the attitude of the heart changed,

VOICE THREE:        When humility replaced pride,

VOICE FOUR:          When they repented of their sin and sought forgiveness,

VOICE ONE:             The blessing of God would come.

VOICE THREE:        They had to be holy before they were blessed—and only God could make them holy!