THE STORYTELLER'S BIBLE
Act II - Conquest and Kings, Scene Six
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices

ACT II, SCENE 6

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VOICE THREE:        Good King Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all   

                                  the days of Jehoida the high priest--        

VOICE FOUR:          who lived to a ripe old age of 130.

VOICE  ONE:          When Jehoida was gone, Joash listened to other counselors.

VOICE TWO:          He left the house of the Lord God of his fathers.

VOICE THREE:        He served groves and idols.

VOICE FOUR:         When God sent him a prophet—

VOICE ONE:            Zechariah?

VOICE FOUR:         Yes, Joash.  Zechariah, the son of Jehoida, your best friend.  Why                                   do you transgress the commandments of the Lord?

VOICE ONE:             Stone him!

VOICE THREE:        Within a year, two of the king’s own servants conspired against  

                                  him and assassinated him in his own bed for the blood he had shed                                   in condoning the death of Zechariah, the man of God.  The man  

                                 who, even to the end, remained his best friend because he called                               

                                 him back to God.

VOICE TWO:          Amaziah, the son of King Joash, had learned well from the ways of  

                                 his father.  He also did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but                                  not with a perfect heart.

VOICE FOUR:          Edom had been the enemy of Judah for as long as anyone could  

                                  remember.  Amaziah simply inherited that enmity from the kings  

                                  who had gone before, but he determined to seek revenge for the                                   many attacks the Edomites had made on his land.

VOICE ONE:             The battle took place in the valley of the Salt Sea amid the wadis                                    and stark, angular cliffs of the wilderness.  Ten thousand Edomites                                    were killed in battle.  Another ten thousand were taken to the top                                    of one of the sheer canyon walls and pushed over to fall to their                                     deaths on the rocks below.

VOICE TWO:            Another story of atrocity had been added to the collection of those

                                   who in years to come would seek their own vengeance for the                                   

                                   king’s callousness.

VOICE THREE:        And then, with his victory over the Edomites and their false gods                                   still fresh in their memories, Amaziah brought the gods of the                                       

                                  Edomites back to Jerusalem, bowed down before them and burned                                   incense to them as well as to Jehovah. 

VOICE FOUR:          So God sent a prophet to the king.

VOICE ONE:             (STAND AND MOVE DOWN LEFT)  What foolishness is this?                                    You are praying to the very gods who were impotent to deliver                                    their worshippers out of your hands?

VOICE THREE:        That’s enough.  No more preaching unless you want to die.

VOICE ONE:            Should I fear you?  I know that God has determined to destroy you,                                  or perhaps simply let you destroy yourself by your own                                          

                                 foolishness.

VOICE THREE:       Flush with victory, King Amaziah sent a message to the king of the 

                                 northern tribes, their other traditional enemy.  But this battle did                                  

                                 not have the same outcome as the one against the Edomites.  The                                  army of Judah fled before the Israelites.  They captured Amaziah at                                  Beth-shemesh and then marched right into the city of Jerusalem.                                     There they plundered the temple and the palace and broke down                                 

                                the wall of the city all the way from the gate of Ephraim to the                                       

                                corner gate.

VOICE TWO:           And the gods of the Edomites did nothing to protect Judah from                                                             attack.

VOICE FOUR:         Like his father before him, Amaziah died at the hand of an                                                                       assassin.  He had served God as king for twenty-nine years, but not                                  with a perfect heart.

VOICE ONE:            (RETURN TO STOOL AND SIT)  With Amaziah gone, the  

                                   people saw in his son Uzziah the qualities they wanted in a leader                                   and they made him the next king at the age of sixteen.

VOICE TWO:           For the next fifty-two years the nation of Judah enjoyed a time of  

                                  peace and prosperity unequalled during the reign of any other king                                  during the days of the divided monarchy. 

VOICE THREE:        Uzziah subdued the formidable Philistines and as a result 

                                 long-time enemies Ammon and Moab sued for peace.

VOICE FOUR:          He fortified Jerusalem, rebuilding the walls that had been 

                                  destroyed, and invented huge military engines for the                                                  

                                  purpose of both defense and attack.

VOICE ONE:             King Uzziah organized a crack troop of soldiers similar to David’s

                                   band of mighty men.  Only he had 2600 special forces instead of  

                                   the 400 who served King David.

VOICE TWO:           The secret of Uzziah’s success was really very simple.  He learned 

                                  from history, and from a personal study of the Word of God, what                                   so many other kings failed to learn.  As long as he sought the Lord, 

                                  God made him to prosper.

VOICE THREE:        As long as he sought the Lord—

VOICE FOUR:          There’s something ominous about that phrase, especially when you  

                                  combine it with the later comment concerning the king that “his 

                                  heart was lifted up.”   Prosperity leads to pride.  Pride goes before

                                  destruction.  Trial follows victory.

VOICE ONE:             (STAND AND STEP FORWARD)  He rose up that particular 

                                   morning, left the palace and made his way up the white pavement                                    to the great southern wall of the temple on Mt. Moriah.

VOICE THREE:        (STAND AND STEP FORWARD)  He walked briskly through the 

                                  triple gates, accompanied by the welcoming blare of trumpets.  The                                   king was coming to worship.

VOICE FOUR:          (STAND AND STEP FORWARD)  His entourage paraded 

                                  through the subterranean passage and into the great courtyard of                                   Solomon’s porch.  Across the courtyard he marched.  Past the  

                                  court of the women.  Into the court of the men where priests were                                   offering sacrifices.

VOICE TWO:           (STAND AND STEP FORWARD)  This was normally as far as  

                                  any man who was not a priest ever went.  But the king was not just                                   any man.  He had decided it was time to show just how great he                                   was. 

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VOICE ONE:             Grabbing a burning censor from one of the priests, he climbed the 

                                    steps between the twin pillars and boldly entered the holy place.

VOICE FOUR:          Azariah and eighty other priests rushed in behind him to stop him.                                   But Uzziah could not be stopped.

VOICE ONE:             How did the king justify his attempt to offer incense in the temple

                                   itself?  Maybe he thought he had earned the right by his many  

                                   years of service to God.

VOICE THREE:        Maybe he convinced himself that his great passion for God 

                                  exempted him from following the specific commands God had  

                                  given for worship.

VOICE TWO:           Perhaps he decided the priests had too much authority and thought

                                  that he needed to put them in their place.

VOICE FOUR:          The human mind can invent seemingly endless excuses to justify 

                                  the selfish desire to sin.

VOICE ONE:             But God had said to be certain that your sin would find you out.

VOICE TWO:             Uzziah’s sin found him out in his very flesh.  As he sought to offer

                                    his incense before God in direct opposition to the command of his                                    God and the priests of the temple, leprosy rose up in his forehead                                     and he remained a leper until the day of his death.

VOICE THREE:        (TURN UPSTAGE AFTER LINE)  Never again could he enter the

                                  courts of the Lord.

VOICE FOUR:          (TURN UPSTAGE AFTER LINE)  Never again could he come                                        in to his own palace.

VOICE ONE:             (TURN UPSTAGE AFTER LINE)  He would live in a house apart  

                                   until he died with his son Jotham carrying on the day by day duties                                    of the kingdom as co-regent.

VOICE TWO:            (TURN UPSTAGE AFTER LINE)  Sin always leaves a mark.

                                    (RETURN TO STOOLS AND SIT WITH BACKS TO                                                       AUDIENCE).