Interview with the Donkeys of Genesis, part 1
CHARACTERS: VONTRICE, JACK 1, JACK 2, JENNY 2
PROPS: Microphone
COSTUMES: Rain hat, flowered straw hat
SETTING: TV studio
SCRIPTURE: Genesis 1, 2, 6-8, 22
RUN TIME: 12- 15 minutes depending on audience interaction.
VONTRICE: Welcome to Animal World. I’m Vontrice Veterinarian the host of this show. On every show we examine the wonders of God creation in the animal world. Today we’ll be interviewing some donkeys from the book of Genesis.
VONTRICE: Welcome to the show, Jack.
JACK 1: Pleased to be here. Did you know Adam named me?
VONTRICE: Did he?
JACK 1: Yes, that was one of the first jobs God gave Adam. God formed all the animals out of the ground birds of the air. He brought us to the man to see what Adam would name us and whatever he called each living creature, that was our name.
VONTRICE: I understand you were the first donkey created out of the dust of the earth. Tell us about that.
JACK 1: On the sixth day, after God had gotten the world ready for us by creating land, the sun and vegetation, that’s plants, of all kinds, he created the animals. We donkeys are some of his finest creations.
VONTRICE: Why do you say that?
JACK 1: We have much longer ears than most creatures. That means we are good at listening.
VONTRICE: Yes, listening is a good quality for all creatures. We all know faith comes by hearing…
JACK 1: And hearing by the word of God. Donkeys, and our African cousins the zebras, have long ears and other adaptations that became important after Adam and Eve got kicked out of the garden.
VONTRICE: Like what? And why was that important after the fall?
JACK 1: Everything was perfect in the Garden of Eden before Satan came and deceived Eve. However afterwards, life was much harder for Adam. He had to work hard to get food from the ground. I was there when God spoke to Adam about the consequences of disobedience.
VONTRICE: What happened? What did God say to Adam?
JACK 1: God said: ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food.
VONTRICE: I remember that.
JACK 1: Unlike horses, donkeys have a very tough digestive system that can break down almost inedible vegetation – that means plants that are hard to eat - and at the same time extract and save as much moisture as possible.
VONTRICE: Explain to our audience what extract moisture means.
JACK 1: It means getting water out of plants. You really need to be able to do that to live in the desert.
VONTRICE: So would you say God created you to be adapted to marginal desert lands and, therefore, easier to keep than a horse?
JACK: Yes. Horses are fast but donkeys were created to survive in more places. We get by on less food than a horse of similar size, and need a lower protein content in their feed. Good grass hay and pasture is usually all a donkey needs.
VONTRICE: Thanks for joining us, Jack.
JACK 1: My pleasure! (exits)
OPTION: Before Jack leaves he teaches the audience the following song:
Day 1, day 1, God made night where there was none.
Day 2, day 2, God made skies and seas so blue
Day 3, day 3 God made grass, flowers and trees
Day 4, day 4, God made sun, moon and stars galore
Day 5, day 5, God made birds and fish alive
Sixth day, sixth day, God formed animals and man his way
Day 7, day 7, God rested in his heaven.
VONTRICE: Our next guest will be Jack from Noah’s ark. While we wait for him to arrive, who can tell me on what day donkeys were created? (sixth).
JACK 2: (wears a rain hat) Hee- Haw Hello!
VONTRICE: Welcome to our show – animal world. Your name is Jack also. Is that a co-incidence?
JACK 2: No, all male donkeys are called Jack.
VONTRICE: You deliver mail?
JACK 2: No, male M-A-L-E as in boy donkeys.
VONTRICE: Thanks for clarifying. So how did you come to be on the ark?
JACK 2: I was one of the chosen ones. Only two of all the donkeys were chosen. God told us to show up on Noah’s doorstep and we did. But it was a little frightening.
VONTRICE: How so?
JACK 2: God also called two of every creature. Now I didn’t mind being in close quarters with horses, zebras, even the cows and deer. They are all herbivores. It was the carnivores that scared me.
VONTRICE: Explain to our audience what a herbivore is and what a carnivore is.
JACK 2: God created herbivores to eat plants. Donkeys are herbivores. So are horses, zebras, cows, sheep, deer, goats… you get the idea. But carnivores eat meat. Like lions and tigers.
VONTRICE: And bears. Oh my!
JACK 2: Technically speaking bears are omnivores because they eat plants and animals but yes, the bears scared me too.
VONTRICE: And you were squished all together on the ark.
JACK 2: I wouldn’t say squished. The ark was pretty big. It was as long as one and a half football fields, as wide as two basketball courts and as tall as a five story building.
VONTRICE: That is big.
JACK 2: God gave Noah the perfect plans too. There were three floors and the proportions of the boat were perfect for not tipping over.
VONTRICE: What was it like on the ark when the rain came?
JACK 2: It was like being rocked to sleep in a baby’s cradle. I love the sound of rain tap-tap-tapping on the roof. Put me right to sleep.
VONTRICE: Did you all hibernate?
JACK 2: Not exactly and I can’t give you all the details but you know God created many animals with the ability to hibernate – sleep through the winter or estivate – sleep through tough conditions. God thinks of everything when he creates!
VONTRICE: What happened when the rain stopped after 40 days?
JACK 2: It was months before the water dropped low enough to see the mountain tops. The ark came to rest on the top of Mt. Ararat but we had to wait even longer for the land to dry enough to get out. You should invite the dove and raven to the show because they were very important players in that part..
VONTRICE: So when you finally got to leave, what happened?
JACK 2: It was gloriously beautiful. God put a rainbow in the sky. It was a perfect purple, beautiful blue, gorgeous green, yummy yellow, awesome orange and radically red, absolutely astounding! It was his promise to us He would never flood the earth again.
VONTRICE: Thanks for dropping by our show – animal world.
JACK 2: You’re welcome and God bless.
Option: Before JACK 2 leaves he teaches/leads a song about Noah’s ark. One suggestion is “Old Man Noah”
Old Man Noah built an ark, e-i-e-i-o
And on his ark he took don-keys e-i-e-i-o
With a hee-haw here and a hee haw there, etc with whatever animals you choose to use.
VONTRICE: Our next guest donkey is on her way. Who can tell me how many days of rain came with Noah and the ark? (40) (may insert other review questions) (Donkey arrives wearing a flowered straw hat) Welcome, Jenny.
JENNY 1: Hee haw hello and glad to be here.
VONTRICE: How did you get the name Jenny?
JENNY 1: All female donkeys are called jennies.
VONTRICE: Where do you appear in the Bible?
JEBNNY 2: Genesis 22. That’s how I got the nickname Genesis Jenny.
VONTRICE: Tell us about what happened.
JENNY 2: God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, Isaac, whom he loved, and go to Mt. Moriah where he would sacrifice as an offering.
VONTRICE: This was the Isaac, the promised child, born to Abraham when he was 100 years old?
JENNY: The very same. His mother Sarah was 90 when she had Isaac. He was their cherished promised child.
VONTRICE: Go on.
JENNY 2: Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled me. He loaded me up with some wood. After three days of travel we arrived. He left me and the two servants and went further with the wood and Isaac.
VONTRICE: So you didn’t actually see what happened next?
JENNY 2: But I heard about it all the way home from Abraham and Isaac. Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. As Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, an angel of the LORD stopped him.
VONTRICE: A last minute rescue. And didn’t God bless Abraham because of his faith?
JENNY 2: Yes, without faith it is impossible to please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
VONTRICE: Faith comes by hearing and ….
JENNY 2: hearing by the word of God. Did Jack tell you we donkeys have excellent hearing because of our big ears?
VONTRICE: He did. Perhaps some of our audience remembers other ways God created donkeys that make them able to survive. (Call on audience to review previous material, adjusting the questions to the audience’s level of understanding. JENNY 2 leaves
Thanks for tuning in. Stay tuned for other shows about animals in the Bible!
PRODUCTION NOTES:
If you have internet access, the following battleship style game is entitled Biblical donkeys.
http://www.quia.com/ba/194987.html |
