Free In Pharaoh's Jail
Worship
Worship Innovations Volume Two
Worship Innovations: Easy Bible Drama
Joseph's Integrity Is Tested
Synopsis: Joseph, unjustly confined and forgotten in Pharaoh's prison, is visited by Satan. They argue the value of Joseph's integrity and whether or not God truly cares. At issue: Does a life of integrity really pay?
Preparation
Characters Needed:
Joseph: A young man, dressed in short grayish tunic with wide sash tied in front, Egyptian style. Reflect his long prison stay with a stubble beard, bare feet, mussed hair, and drab-colored clothing. On one wrist is a manacle and short chain. (For an interesting and more contemporary alternative, dress Joseph in striped prison garb.)
Satan: A shadowy figure in long black robe and cape. His face could be made up with white or pale green face paint. He holds a three-foot length of chain coiled in one hand.
Setting: Simulate Pharaoh's "white collar prison" with a simple, wooden cot or bunk bed, draped with a single sheet. Add a clay water jar at the foot of the bed, and an oil lamp or candle on a crude box beside the head of the bed. House lights should be low. Stage light may play through a grid to simulate bars. As the play begins, Joseph lies on his bunk, hands behind his head, in a thoughtful attitude. Satan is crouched in a back corner of the cell, near the foot of the bunk.
Dialogue
Satan: (In a mocking voice, rattles his chain.) A fine situation you are in, Mr. Joseph. Mr. Daddy's Pet Son. All your goody-goody, nice guy actions have bought you is time to rot in Pharaoh's dirty jail.
Joseph: (Raises up and peers though the shadows, trying to locate the voice. He comes up to a sitting position on the edge of the bunk.) Who's there? Who are you?
Satan: (Slowly rises, but stays in the corner.) Never you mind the "who." It's the "why" you should be concerned with. I'm here to show you the error of your fine ways. What good has it done you to be such a holy Joe? (Laughs) Holy Joe -- that's a pretty good pun, son. Nobody cares that you minded your daddy, and denied yourself the favors of Potiphar's wife. Nobody cares that you were honest to a fault.
Joseph: (Turns to face Satan) You are wrong, Enemy! Someone cares. God cares. And my father would care -- if he is still alive. And I care. I care who I am -- even in this jail cell.
Satan: Well, I'll tell you who doesn't care. (Takes one step out from the corner, but stays in the shadows.) Your brothers don't care. They hated you for your goody-goody, tattletale ways. That's how you got to this strange land.
And Potiphar's wife doesn't care. You spurned her and she burned you. Ha! Serves you right. You should have given her what she desired and you wouldn't be in this box now.
Joseph: (Stands, angry and defensive.) No! No, I should not have! My choice was right. I was true to my God and loyal to my master.
Satan: So, look what it got you -- all that piety and self control. A term of indefinite length in a place of forgotten criminals. If you were going to pay the price, you might as well have enjoyed the goods.
Joseph: (Takes a step toward Satan, who remains about six feet away in the shadows of the cell.) It got me honor ... and integrity ... and a clear conscience, Deceiver! Whatever others believe, God and I know I was faithful. It is God whom I serve -- not Potiphar -- not myself -- and surely not you!
Satan: So rot in jail. It suits me fine. You are no trouble to me all locked away. Rot here -- until your friend the Chief Cupbearer remembers you. (Turns his back to Joseph.) Memories grow short when they don't need you.
Joseph: (Turns his back to Satan, arms folded on his chest.) He'll remember -- sooner or later. But God hasn't forgotten. You mean me harm -- and my brothers played into your game. But God is stronger than you, you snake! (Turns, pointing an accusing finger at Satan.) He has a plan, and I mean to stick with him -- whatever the cost. (Sits back on the side of the bunk.)
Satan: God takes years to work his plan. You'll grow old and die right here if you cast your lot with him.
(Turns slowly to face Joseph.) But I'm here -- here and now. And I can help you. I can get you out. (Moves closer and reaches out a hand which Joseph ignores.)
Look at me, Joseph. (Reaches to put a finger under Joseph's chin and turns his face up toward him.) If you join with me, you won't have to concern yourself with forgiving your worthless brothers, and resisting beautiful ladies. Do you want to hear my plan?
Joseph: (Slaps away Satan's hand and stands defiantly, facing him.) No, Deceiver! No plan! Can I deny the God who made me? Should I live up to all the lies they have told about me? No way! No way!
Now go! (Advances a step pointing as he shouts!) Go from this cell! Go now! I choose God's way!
Satan: (Recedes to the corner and crouches down again.)
Joseph: (Turns his back and stands, profile to the audience, chin up slightly. House lights out. They exit.)
Follow Up
Some Issues: Joseph's is one of several prominent Bible stories in which God singled out a person and scripted his or her life in order to achieve his greater plan for Israel. For example, Abraham was called to leave his family and go to an unknown land in order to begin a new nation. Moses was taken from his parents as an infant and raised as a prince in Pharaoh's palace so that he might become qualified to lead a nation. Joseph was sold into slavery in order that he might rescue the beginnings of the nation -- his brothers and their clans. But whereas God let Abraham in on his plan, Moses and Joseph were among those who had to live out (suffer through?) their lives in order to discover why God had ordered the circumstances as he did.
Joseph had grown up in what today's behavioral psychologists would call a dysfunctional family. In fact, most of the patriarch/founding father families would qualify for that label. Abraham had two competing wives and two not-well-blended families. Isaac (Abraham's son) and Rebecca birthed two sons who pretty much hated each other, due mostly to their parents' outrageous showing of favoritism. Jacob (Joseph's father) had two wives and two slave maids, whose twelve children divided and ganged up against each other. Hence Joseph, the favorite of their father, was sold as a slave so the others could more fairly compete for parental attentions and inheritance. Dysfunctional family background provides, in some minds, justification for poor values and behavior in adult life. Is it fair to say that Joseph seems to have bypassed that pitfall to a large degree?
Questions For Thought:
About Then: Would you like to think you were being "used" by God to accomplish a larger plan, even though it caused you to experience unusual difficulty personally? How do you think Joseph managed to be the man of integrity he was, given his troubled childhood? (See Genesis 45:3-11.)
What if Joseph had tripped -- given into Potiphar's wife's seduction, or refused to forgive his brothers? After all, he was a stranger in a pagan land, and there was nobody there to care how he lived. How might the story of the Bible have been different? Does it pay to live a life of integrity when no one is looking?
About Now: Can you think of scenarios in today's world that might parallel Joseph's story? Persons who lived their lives with integrity, but suffered greatly due to some misunderstanding of their motives, false accusations and slander, or jealous plots? Everyone in that position does not have a happily ever after ending. How might you justify righteous living to one who never gets out of such a "jail"? Are you willing to live a life of integrity, even if it costs (or risks) your future?
Synopsis: Joseph, unjustly confined and forgotten in Pharaoh's prison, is visited by Satan. They argue the value of Joseph's integrity and whether or not God truly cares. At issue: Does a life of integrity really pay?
Preparation
Characters Needed:
Joseph: A young man, dressed in short grayish tunic with wide sash tied in front, Egyptian style. Reflect his long prison stay with a stubble beard, bare feet, mussed hair, and drab-colored clothing. On one wrist is a manacle and short chain. (For an interesting and more contemporary alternative, dress Joseph in striped prison garb.)
Satan: A shadowy figure in long black robe and cape. His face could be made up with white or pale green face paint. He holds a three-foot length of chain coiled in one hand.
Setting: Simulate Pharaoh's "white collar prison" with a simple, wooden cot or bunk bed, draped with a single sheet. Add a clay water jar at the foot of the bed, and an oil lamp or candle on a crude box beside the head of the bed. House lights should be low. Stage light may play through a grid to simulate bars. As the play begins, Joseph lies on his bunk, hands behind his head, in a thoughtful attitude. Satan is crouched in a back corner of the cell, near the foot of the bunk.
Dialogue
Satan: (In a mocking voice, rattles his chain.) A fine situation you are in, Mr. Joseph. Mr. Daddy's Pet Son. All your goody-goody, nice guy actions have bought you is time to rot in Pharaoh's dirty jail.
Joseph: (Raises up and peers though the shadows, trying to locate the voice. He comes up to a sitting position on the edge of the bunk.) Who's there? Who are you?
Satan: (Slowly rises, but stays in the corner.) Never you mind the "who." It's the "why" you should be concerned with. I'm here to show you the error of your fine ways. What good has it done you to be such a holy Joe? (Laughs) Holy Joe -- that's a pretty good pun, son. Nobody cares that you minded your daddy, and denied yourself the favors of Potiphar's wife. Nobody cares that you were honest to a fault.
Joseph: (Turns to face Satan) You are wrong, Enemy! Someone cares. God cares. And my father would care -- if he is still alive. And I care. I care who I am -- even in this jail cell.
Satan: Well, I'll tell you who doesn't care. (Takes one step out from the corner, but stays in the shadows.) Your brothers don't care. They hated you for your goody-goody, tattletale ways. That's how you got to this strange land.
And Potiphar's wife doesn't care. You spurned her and she burned you. Ha! Serves you right. You should have given her what she desired and you wouldn't be in this box now.
Joseph: (Stands, angry and defensive.) No! No, I should not have! My choice was right. I was true to my God and loyal to my master.
Satan: So, look what it got you -- all that piety and self control. A term of indefinite length in a place of forgotten criminals. If you were going to pay the price, you might as well have enjoyed the goods.
Joseph: (Takes a step toward Satan, who remains about six feet away in the shadows of the cell.) It got me honor ... and integrity ... and a clear conscience, Deceiver! Whatever others believe, God and I know I was faithful. It is God whom I serve -- not Potiphar -- not myself -- and surely not you!
Satan: So rot in jail. It suits me fine. You are no trouble to me all locked away. Rot here -- until your friend the Chief Cupbearer remembers you. (Turns his back to Joseph.) Memories grow short when they don't need you.
Joseph: (Turns his back to Satan, arms folded on his chest.) He'll remember -- sooner or later. But God hasn't forgotten. You mean me harm -- and my brothers played into your game. But God is stronger than you, you snake! (Turns, pointing an accusing finger at Satan.) He has a plan, and I mean to stick with him -- whatever the cost. (Sits back on the side of the bunk.)
Satan: God takes years to work his plan. You'll grow old and die right here if you cast your lot with him.
(Turns slowly to face Joseph.) But I'm here -- here and now. And I can help you. I can get you out. (Moves closer and reaches out a hand which Joseph ignores.)
Look at me, Joseph. (Reaches to put a finger under Joseph's chin and turns his face up toward him.) If you join with me, you won't have to concern yourself with forgiving your worthless brothers, and resisting beautiful ladies. Do you want to hear my plan?
Joseph: (Slaps away Satan's hand and stands defiantly, facing him.) No, Deceiver! No plan! Can I deny the God who made me? Should I live up to all the lies they have told about me? No way! No way!
Now go! (Advances a step pointing as he shouts!) Go from this cell! Go now! I choose God's way!
Satan: (Recedes to the corner and crouches down again.)
Joseph: (Turns his back and stands, profile to the audience, chin up slightly. House lights out. They exit.)
Follow Up
Some Issues: Joseph's is one of several prominent Bible stories in which God singled out a person and scripted his or her life in order to achieve his greater plan for Israel. For example, Abraham was called to leave his family and go to an unknown land in order to begin a new nation. Moses was taken from his parents as an infant and raised as a prince in Pharaoh's palace so that he might become qualified to lead a nation. Joseph was sold into slavery in order that he might rescue the beginnings of the nation -- his brothers and their clans. But whereas God let Abraham in on his plan, Moses and Joseph were among those who had to live out (suffer through?) their lives in order to discover why God had ordered the circumstances as he did.
Joseph had grown up in what today's behavioral psychologists would call a dysfunctional family. In fact, most of the patriarch/founding father families would qualify for that label. Abraham had two competing wives and two not-well-blended families. Isaac (Abraham's son) and Rebecca birthed two sons who pretty much hated each other, due mostly to their parents' outrageous showing of favoritism. Jacob (Joseph's father) had two wives and two slave maids, whose twelve children divided and ganged up against each other. Hence Joseph, the favorite of their father, was sold as a slave so the others could more fairly compete for parental attentions and inheritance. Dysfunctional family background provides, in some minds, justification for poor values and behavior in adult life. Is it fair to say that Joseph seems to have bypassed that pitfall to a large degree?
Questions For Thought:
About Then: Would you like to think you were being "used" by God to accomplish a larger plan, even though it caused you to experience unusual difficulty personally? How do you think Joseph managed to be the man of integrity he was, given his troubled childhood? (See Genesis 45:3-11.)
What if Joseph had tripped -- given into Potiphar's wife's seduction, or refused to forgive his brothers? After all, he was a stranger in a pagan land, and there was nobody there to care how he lived. How might the story of the Bible have been different? Does it pay to live a life of integrity when no one is looking?
About Now: Can you think of scenarios in today's world that might parallel Joseph's story? Persons who lived their lives with integrity, but suffered greatly due to some misunderstanding of their motives, false accusations and slander, or jealous plots? Everyone in that position does not have a happily ever after ending. How might you justify righteous living to one who never gets out of such a "jail"? Are you willing to live a life of integrity, even if it costs (or risks) your future?
