Deceptive Tendencies: The 20/20 Profile
By Glenn A. Hascall
Summary
News magazine programs are very popular these days. We took a popular news
program and placed it placed roughly 2000 years BC. The story follows the
trail of deception in the story of Jacob and Esau.
Cast
BAHBAH - female news anchor.
JOHN - know-it-all news corespondent
JACOB
ESAU
REBEKAH
ANNOUNCER - For a television ad
Script
SETTING: A studio with two chairs, perhaps a mock camera operator faces
the host and pretends to be filming. A spotlight shines on the guest(s)
when their lines come up.
ANNOUNCER: (Off stage) Welcome to 20/20 BC. Tonight we feature
the Abram-son Twins - a story of guile and deception, blessings and curses,
honor and glory. We call our story Red Stew and a Blessed Deception.
Bahbah Wahwah joins us shortly, but first a visit with John Stonehenge
for his weekly report called Bestow Upon Me A Quarrel.... John.
JOHN: Today I take issue with the name of this program 20/20 B.C. This
name might have worked a few decades ago, but today we live in the 1900's
B.C. and the name 20/20 is outdated and lacks vision for the future.
And what about our calendar system? When we reach the year zero will
our world end? What happens if the world still exists after that time will
we go into negative numbers or will something radically transform the way
we view time?
20/20 is a time that pre-dates the birth of the Abram-son twins by
several years and yet the executives of this show continue to insist on
calling it 20/20 BC. C'mon - Give Me A Brea... Uh, Bestow Upon Me A Quarrel
BAHBAH: (Smiles) Thank you John, as always a nifty use of your thesaurus.
I'm always surprised at your depth of insight and understanding of our
times, however in this case, John, 20/20 has nothing to with a date and
everything to do with clear vision. C'mon John, give me a break.
JOHN: (Looks befuddled - then embarrassed) Oh...
BAHBAH: In our top story today...
We go back several years when a set of twins were born to Rebecca and
Isaac Abram-son. Theirs was a happy childhood, Esau - the oldest loved
the outdoors and was well aquatinted with the skill of hunting. Jacob -
the younger of the two was more comfortable at home. One rough and wild
and the other meek and mild. Or was he?
REBEKAH: Jacob was definitely a mother's child. We developed a close
relationship and he listened to me - something Esau would never do. As
much as I love my eldest son, I must admit I was happy to see Jacob win
Esau's birthright.
BAHBAH: The birthright that Rebekah talked about entitled its owner
to the greater portion of his father's wealth when Isaac passed away.
ESAU: I can't believe I gave that weasel my birthright for a couple
of bowls of red stew. Sure I was hungry, but what else could I do? It was
either give him my birthright and live or (Pause then smile) walk a mile
and have supper with my parents? What's done is done.
BAHBAH: 20/20 B.C. has learned of another twist to this story that
positioned the younger of the two twins of the Abram-son's to best his
hairy brother. It seems that the twin's father Isaac was legally blind
and nearing death. He called his eldest son, Esau and instructed him to
hunt for a prize deer and make a family specialty for him to eat. Once
this was accomplished, the elder Abram-son would bless his son. It was
evident that this provided Esau with great satisfaction. Even if he would
not have the birthright, he at least would have his father's blessing in
the end. However, this too would be denied.
JACOB: Mother asked me to go out among the livestock and choose a couple
of goats so that she could make Father's favorite dish. Because I am smoothed
skinned, Mother made special coverings from the goatskins for me. She felt
that this would convince Father that I was Esau. Father was genuinely surprised
to see that the meal could be prepared so
quickly.
BAHBAH: Jacob would visit his father and, while Isaac did not initially
believe that it was Esau that stood before him, the smell of the outdoors
and the rough skin coverings made by his own wife ultimately convinced
the man of something, that had he been able to see, he would not have believed.
ESAU: (Angry) That no good brother of mine not only took my birthright
but he took my blessing. I can still hear my father say, "I have made Jacob
your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants.
I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine - what is there left
to give?
BAHBAH: Fearing dramatic reprisals for his deception, Jacob fled to
his uncle Laben Bethuel-son while Esau stayed in his hometown vowing revenge.
Can the loss of both a birthright and blessing ever allow reconciliation
between the twins? Find out when 20/20 B.C. continues.
(Music Out)
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(Music In)
BAHBAH: Welcome back to 20/20 BC, I'm Bahbah Wahwah. The twin Abram-son
boys were as different as night and day. With as much brute strength and
outdoor skill that Esau possessed it was Jacob, the weaker of the two that
ultimately walked away from the family after Esau had threatened his life.
However, in spite of the threat, Jacob left with a birthright and the Patriarchal
blessing from his father.
As the years passed Esau found comfort by marrying a relative of his father's
stepbrother, Ishmael. Jacob on the other hand spent years working to gain
the two daughters of another relative named Laban.
JACOB: I was troubled by the deception of Laban. I had worked the first
seven years for Rachael and yet a veil on our wedding day hid the fact
that it was actually Rachael's older daughter Leah. While I was allowed
to marry Rachael too, I was made to work an additional seven years as a
shepherd for Laban.
BAHBAH: Some would say that Jacob simply got what he deserved. He had
practiced deception and in the process alienated himself from his family
and then, as he sought to start his own family, he was deceived. Poetic
justice? Perhaps.
In time Jacob would break free from the bonds of Laban and take his
family to Canaan where he had grown up. The chain of deception continued,
as Jacob's wife Rachael stole items from her father's house and then lied
to keep them. In time ten of his children conspired to harm their brother
Joseph and sold him as a slave to a caravan of traders bound for Egypt
lying to their father as to what had become of his favorite son. Two other
sons sought revenge for an assault on their sister, Dinah and ultimately
killed every male in a local village.
It is said that Jacob wrestled an angel. It is also reported that he
himself described his existence as a "hard life". We are left to wonder
what might have happened if Jacob had not shown such deceptive tendencies?
20/20 BC has learned that God apparently visited Jacob's mother, Rebekah,
and told her, "Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples shall separate
from your body; And one shall people shall be stronger than the other;
an the older shall serve the younger." One must wonder - if Rebekah had
simply believed what she was told and left all notions of deception behind
if in fact the cycle of deception might never have started.
(Pause)
Tune in tomorrow for the latest news from the Negev to Edom, from Canaan
to the land of Goshen. For 20/20 BC, I'm Bahbah Wahwah.
(Music out)
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Copyright 2002 by Glenn A. Hascall and CMI Publishing
If you use this script would you be so kind as to let us know? glenn.hascall<a>gmail.com