BACK GIDEON2 5'1m*f RT: Gideon conquers Midianites and Amalekites (RT == Readers' Theater: requires little or no memorization, little or no rehearsal. An indefinite number of reporters are salted throughout the audience.) GIDEON -- (enters wearing tunic and sandals, crosses to podium) Good morning, my name is Gideon son of Joash the Abiezrite. I am the commander of the army of Israel. The reason I called this press conference is to update you on our conflict with the Midianites and Amalekites. REPORTER -- Just a minute. GIDEON -- Yes? REPORTER -- You called yourself the commander of the army of Israel. GIDEON -- Yes. REPORTER -- I didn't know that Israel even had an army. The Midianites and Amalekites have never allowed us to have an army. GIDEON -- We have an army now. I organized it. REPORTER -- YOU organized a whole army? GIDEON -- Yes. And we defeated the Midianites and the Amalekites. REPORTER -- YOU defeated the combined armies of the two most powerful nations in the Middle East?! GIDEON -- Yes. REPORTER -- YOU defeated the combined armies that were encamped at Jezreel?! GIDEON -- Yes. REPORTER -- Their combined armies had over a hundred thousand soldiers! How many soldiers did YOU recruit? GIDEON -- Well, originally, I had twenty two thousand. REPORTER -- Originally? You mean, you lost some of them? GIDEON -- Yes. REPORTER -- How many of them died in battle? GIDEON -- Oh, I didn't lose them in Battle. I lost them BEFORE the battle. When I told them that they could get killed in the battle, ten thousand of them went home. REPORTER -- So, you faced one hundred thousand enemy soldiers with only twelve thousand men? GIDEON -- Not exactly. REPORTER -- What does that mean? GIDEON -- That means the Lord God of Israel told me that twelve thousand soldiers was too many. He told me that I should reduce the number significantly. REPORTER -- Significantly? How significantly? GIDEON -- He told me to send all but three hundred soldiers home. REPORTER -- You entered a battle against one hundred thousand soldiers with only three hundred soldiers on your side? GIDEON -- That's right. REPORTER -- But you defeated them? GIDEON -- That's right. Thank you all for coming. (turns) REPORTER -- Wait a minute. GIDEON -- (turns) Yes? REPORTER -- None of us has ever heard of you before. What is your military background? GIDEON -- I don't have any military background. REPORTER -- Then, what qualified you to lead an army? GIDEON -- God qualified me. REPORTER -- You mean, God, the God of Israel, chose YOU, without ANY military training, to lead the army of Israel? GIDEON -- That's right. REPORTER -- How do you know it was God himself who chose you and not some figment of your imagination? GIDEON -- I tested him. REPORTER -- You tested God? GIDEON -- Well, yes. It seem preposterous that God would choose me. I'm a coward. So, I had to be sure I wasn't imagining things. So, I gave him a test... two tests, actually. REPORTER -- Can you tell us how you tested God? GIDEON -- Yes. I laid out the fleece of a lamb and asked God to wet the fleece but leave the ground around the fleece dry. And he did. The fleece was soaking wet and the surrounding ground was dry as a bone. REPORTER -- What was your second test? GIDEON -- I laid out a second fleece and asked God to wet the ground around the fleece but leave the fleece dry. And, what do you know? God did it exactly as I asked. So, I knew for sure that it was God and not some hallucination. REPORTER -- How on earth did three hundred soldiers defeat a combined army of one hundred thousand men?! GIDEON -- Actually, it was God who defeated the Midianites and Amalekites. My men just went through the motions. REPORTER -- What motions? GIDEON -- We lit some torches and then covered them with inverted pots as we approached the enemy camp and surrounded them in the dead of night. Then, on my signal, we all broke the pots and revealed the flames and immediately blew three hundred trumpets. The enemy troops woke up from the crash of the pots to see three hundred torches and hear three hundred trumpets surrounding them. They thought we were three hundred legions of soldiers surrounding them. They drew their swords and began slashing. Unfortunately, in their panic, they began slashing one another instead of us. They couldn't tell the difference in the dark. In the end they killed each other down to the last man. But not one of my men was injured. That's how I know it was from the Lord. Are there any other questions? REPORTER -- I would print this in my newspaper, but noone would believe it! GIDEON -- Thanks for coming. (exits) �2013 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. You may reproduce and distribute this script freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org email: [email protected] BACK |