THE STORYTELLER'S BIBLE
Act I - The Pentateuch, Scene 10
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices

Scene 10

                                                            4                     1

                                                                    3       2

                                    (READERS SIT ON STOOLS WITH FEET PULLED UP OFF THE FLOOR TO AVOID THE SNAKES.)

VOICE TWO:            Forty years of death.  Forty years of miracles.  Forty years of murmuring.

VOICE THREE:        Snakes!  It’s bad enough to have to eat manna every day, but now we have to fight the snakes to even gather it.

VOICE FOUR:          It’s your fault, Moses.  We’re all going to die.  There’s no water, there’s no bread—and now—snakes.

VOICE TWO:            Snakes!

VOICE THREE:        Enough, Moses!  Please ask God to take them away.  We know we’ve sinned.  Please God, no more snakes.

VOICE FOUR:          Snakes!

VOICE TWO:            Snakes!

VOICE ONE:             Once again God graciously provided for His people.  One in the form of that which plagued them was hung on a pole in the sight of all.  A brass serpent, a dead serpent to give them life.  A substitute provided by God to save them from dying. (FEET ON FLOOR)  Look!  Look and live!

VOICE TWO:            (FEET ON FLOOR)  Finally the dying was over.  No one older than 59 years of age remained alive.

VOICE ONE:             (FEET ON FLOOR)  Except Moses, Joshua and Caleb.

VOICE THREE:        (FEET ON FLOOR)  The new generation stood poised to enter the land.

VOICE FOUR:          The march toward the hills of milk and honey began.

VOICE ONE:             Up the eastern side of the Dead Sea, along the king’s highway and into the territory of the Amorites.  There King Sihon refused to let them cross to the west, and the young and inexperienced army faced its first battle.  Flush with victory they advanced against Og, king of Bashan and soon they possessed everything up to the border of Ammon and Moab.

VOICE TWO:            Balaam lived in the Mesopotamian valley in a city called Pethor, and had never ever heard of the Israelites before the messengers arrived from King Balak.  Their plight mattered nothing to him and so when God told him not to go with them he sent them away.

VOICE THREE:        The next group of messengers were more persuasive, that is, their bribes were of far greater value and this time Balaam didn’t wait for God’s direction.  He didn’t even listen when his donkey spoke up, but finally the angel of the Lord got his attention with a sword and he promised to say only what God gave him to say.

VOICE FOUR:          Three times Balak tried to convince him to curse the people of Israel and three times God used him to bless them instead.

VOICE ONE:             When he managed to get away from God, Balaam gave the heathen king some advice that would bring the curse of God on the people he had been forced against his will to bless.  

VOICE FOUR:          Get them to marry your sons and daughters.  Persuade them to worship your gods and their own God will destroy them.

VOICE TWO:            Twenty-four thousand people died in the plague that resulted from the evil advice of the false prophet Balaam.

VOICE THREE:        Moses realized the new generation still needed some preparation before entering the land.  He started by appointing Joshua to take his place pending his approaching death.

VOICE FOUR:          He continued by gathering the entire nation together to rehearse in their ears the lessons he had learned before the face of God on Mount Sinai.

VOICE ONE:             I have taught you the statutes and judgments even as God taught me.  Now you must keep them and do them that all the nations might know the might and wisdom and power of your God.  What other nation has God so close unto them, dwelling in their very midst.  What other nation can call upon God and have Him answer them?  What other nation has God’s righteous law as their constitution and legal code?   Never forget what you have seen.  Hide his words in your heart.  Teach them to your sons and your grandsons. (STAND)

VOICE TWO:            (STAND)  Talk about them when you sit down in your house.

VOICE THREE:        (STAND)  Discuss them while you are walking by the way.

VOICE FOUR:          (STAND)  Make them the last thing you think about before you lie down…

VOICE ONE:             And the first thing on your mind when you rise up.

VOICE TWO:            The day will come when your children will ask you about them.  Why are the laws of God so important to you, father?   What do the statutes and the commands and the judgments all mean?

VOICE THREE:        We were bondmen to Pharoah, slaves in the land of Egypt.  The Lord brought us out with a mighty hand.

VOICE FOUR:          (STEP FORWARD)He demonstrated His power with an awesome display of terrifying plagues on all the people of the land. 

VOICE ONE:             (STEP FORWARD)  He preserved us for forty years in the wilderness, years in which we never went hungry or thirsty, our clothes never got old and our shoes remained supple beneath our feet.

VOICE THREE:        He brought us out to bring us in—in to a new land, a land of promise, a land where the hills and valleys flow with an abundance of milk and honey.

VOICE FOUR:          He gave us His law, the revelation of His holy character, that we might fear Him and obey Him and seek for Him with all our hearts.

VOICE ONE:             The law will be our righteousness for it shows us our need of a sacrifice, an atonement before God for our sin.

                                    (ALL FOUR READERS STAND SHOULDER TO SHOULDER AND STEP FORWARD AS A STRAIGHT LINE.)

VOICE THREE:        Therefore, we must love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and strength.   We must keep his charge and his statutes, his judgments and his commandments always.

VOICE FOUR:          Then the Lord will multiply the years he has given us in this good land.

VOICE ONE:             Then the Lord will drive out from before us the nations which possess the land, and no one will be able to stand before us, for the Lord our God will lay the fear of our armies upon them.

VOICE THREE:        He will bless us if we obey.

VOICE FOUR:          He will curse us if we disobey.

VOICE ONE:             Do you understand my children?  The eternal God is our refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.

VOICE TWO:            Yes, father.  We understand.  His words will be a song upon our lips, a glorious vision before our eyes, a stay to keep our hands from evil and a light to guide our steps in the way of righteousness.  We will never, never, never forsake your God.