Let My People Go!
Friday, May 06, 2005 (12:01:04)

Posted by Conx

This play was converted by me from the story "The Tyrant's Tale" which appears in the book "Complete Bible Baddies" by Bob Hartman. It should only be used as part of church worship and should NEVER be used to make any profit other that spiritual wealth.
Conx


Narrator: At first it was almost amusing.

Pharaoh: Did you see those two old men? They looked like a couple of goats, dragged out of the desert.

Magician #1: Desert goats!

Magician #2: (bleating like goats) M-o-o-oses and A-a-a-ron!

Pharaoh: And did you hear what they wanted?

Magician #1: (laughing) LET MY PEOPLE GO!

Magician #2: (laughing) OR YOU'LL BE IN TROUBLE!

Pharaoh: I suppose I should cut off their heads, but everybody needs a good laugh now and then. And I've got to admit it, two tramps demanding that I, supreme ruler of all Egypt, release some stupid Hebrew slaves is the funniest thing I've heard in a long time"

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Narrator: No one was laughing the next day however, when Moses and Aaron approached Pharoah as he walked along the river Nile.

Pharaoh: Not you again!

Aaron: The Lord God has sent us. you refused to let His people go and now, by His power, I will turn the waters of Egypt into blood.

Narrator: Aaron touched his staff to the water and the water turned blood-red.

Pharaoh: How did he do that?

Magician #1: It's.......... it's a trick. Yes, that's what it is. A trick.

Magician #2: Erm......... anyone can do it!

Narrator: The magicians took a bowl of water and muttered secret words. They shook their sacred sticks. The water turned to blood.

Magician #1: See!

Magician #2: Anyone can do it!

Pharaoh: Tell your god that I will not let his people go.

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Narrator: Another week went by. Moses and Aaron visited Pharoah again.

Pharaoh: This is starting to irritate me!

Aaron: Frogs!

Magician #1: Frogs?

Magician #2: Frogs?

Pharaoh: Frogs?

Aaron: Frogs! Our God will send frogs. Frogs in your houses. Frogs in your streets. Frogs everywhere.

Pharaoh: I don't see any frogs.

Magician #2: Ribbit!

Pharaoh: That's not funny!

Magician #2: It wasn't me!

Narrator: The magician lifted up his robe.

Magician #2: It was him!

(Stage direction - all the actors should pretend to follow the frog with head movements as it hops away)

Narrator: Pharaoh ran away as fast as he could but there was no escape. Suddenly there were frogs everywhere.

Magician #1: A simple trick!

Magician #2: We can do it too! We can make frogs.

Pharaoh: Fine! But can you make them go away?

Magician #1: Sorry boss.

Pharaoh: Then fetch Moses and Aaron. I think it's time to give them what they want.

Narrator: But, once Moses and Aaron had departed, Pharoah changed his mind and refused to let the Hebrews go.

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Narrator: And so it was that the plagues continued, each one worse than the one before. And that is why the magicians came to Pharoah with a message he didn't want to hear.

Magician #1: Boss! These plagues must be the work of a very powerful god. Please stop our suffering and let the Hebrews go!

Magician #2: The gnats weren't too bad even though they got in our ears and up our noses.

Magician #1: We tolerated the flies. Even when they got in our food and our beds.

Magician #2: But when the animals started to die - the camels, the horses, the goats. Well, then we started to get scared.

Magician #1: And now these crippling boils and sores.

Pharaoh: STOP WINGEING! Do you think I'm blind? Do you think my family hasn't suffered too? But don't think I'm going to give in. I AM PHAROAH! King of all Egypt. No one in heaven or on earth is going to tell me what to do.

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Narrator: And so the plagues continued. Hail crushed the crops in Pharaohs fields. Then anything left growing was devoured by locusts. Finally darkness covered the land. The magicians returned to Pharaoh. They found him sitting alone, quietly brooding.

Pharaoh: What do you want?

Magician #1: We want you to give up.

Magician #2: Please?

Magician #1: No-one will think any less of you. You've done all you could.

Magician #2: And we've heard what the next plague will be.

Pharaoh: (Quietly) The death of the first-born. Your son and my son. Everybody's son.

Magician #1: Please Lord. My wife and I................ we couldn't bear it!

Magician #2: We love our sons........................ and we know you love your own son too. You have the power to save them.

Pharaoh: Power? What power? The god of the Hebrews controls the wind and the rain and the light. I am just a king............ And yet there's one power I have left. The power to say NO!

Magician #1: But the children will die!

Pharaoh: Sometimes a leader has to harden his heart for the sake of his people.

Magician #2: For his peoples sake?

Magician #1: Or for the sake of his own pride?

Pharaoh: OUT! Get out. And if you want to keep your heads, you'll never come back here.

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Narrator: Another week went by. The magicians stood quietly together next to the Red Sea.

Magician #1: So he let them go after all.

Magician #2: I still hear the crying and the wailing. They said he tried to shut it out. But then his own son died and................. well, that was just too much for him.

Magician #1: So he let them go. Then changed his mind again.

Magician #2: I suppose he thought he had them trapped. Perhaps it never occured to him that a god who could send locusts and hail and turn the Nile to blood could quite easily divide a sea as well?

Magician #1: And so the Hebrews crossed on dry ground. And our own army? What about the soldiers he sent after them?

Magician #2: Drowned. Drowned as the sea washed back over them.

Magician #1: So our suffering was all for......

Magician #2: Nothing. Nothing at all.

Magician #1: And what of Pharaoh?

Magician #2: He has forbidden anyone to speak of it. He has ordered his court historian to make no record of it.

Magician #1: A proud man.

Magician #2: Proud to the end.


Narrator: And the two men turned away from the Red Sea and walked sadly home.