Rebecca

Welcome to our Holy Land tour. I am Priscilla, your tour guide. Come. This hall leads to past ages.
Oh! We are in a tent! I smell goats! Pardon us, ma’am.
Please tell us who you are, and what you’re known for.

Rebecca

I’m Rebecca, wife of the patriarch Isaac.
I am afraid I am remembered because
I urged my son Jacob to be a schemer!

Prompter & Echoes

A schemer!

Rebecca

I had Jacob trick his father Isaac,
to get Esau’s birthright as the firstborn.
Esau intended to kill Jacob then, and Jacob fled. I cried a lot.

Priscilla

Then what happened, Rebecca?

Rebecca

Jacob collected wives while working for my brother Laban in Syria.
They were devout, not like that wife of his second cousin Lot;
she wanted to stay in wicked Sodom, and God turned her to salt!

Priscilla

Rebecca, what was your mother-in-law Sarah like?

Rebecca

Oh, Sarah was absolutely beautiful, even in old age!  
She led a bumpy life with Abraham. Drafty tents! Always on the go!  
Over 1,000 miles on their first trek from Ur! Once Sarah giggled, eavesdropping, when a visitor told Abraham that she would bear a son in her old age. She did not know the visitor was an angel.

Priscilla

An angel! Didn’t she believe him?

Rebecca

That was sad.
 Sarah urged Abraham to father an heir by her maid Hagar.
His faith faltered and he did it! Hagar bore Ishmael, and the two women squabbled. Sarah drove Hagar and her son Ishmael away.

Priscilla

I remember that. It caused lasting strife between their descendants.

Rebecca

I must go milk the goats now. Please excuse me.

Priscilla

Come, folks, to a later age.
Oh! What are these tiny flakes on the ground?

Miriam

It is manna and it is good to eat. I am Miriam, Moses’ older sister.  
We are fleeing from Egypt’s evil king, Pharaoh.
He enslaved us cruelly.

Priscilla

I read about that, in the Book of Exodus, Miriam.

Miriam

A book?
It must be the log that Moses kept to record God’s great works.
We would multiplied so in Egypt that Pharaoh feared that we would aid his enemies, so He ordered our midwives to drown all Hebrew babies in the Nile River.

Priscilla

Yes! You and your mom hid baby Moses in a basket
among reeds in the river.
Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe and found Moses and adopted him.

Prompter & Echoes

God’s hand was in that!

Miriam

I suggested to the Princess to have a Jewish lady nurse him.
I did not tell her that the lady was Moses’ real mother.
Years later, God had Moses take us through the sea
to escape Pharaoh’s army.

Priscilla

I read your song of praise.
You women sang it after God rescued you.

Prompter & Echoes

It was beautiful!

Miriam

Wandering in the desert, we grew tired and cranky.
To my shame, I scolded Moses
because of his dark skinned, Cushite wife.
So, God turned my skin white, but the Almighty had mercy
and healed my leprosy when I repented.

Priscilla

We must go now. Thank you, Miriam.  Come now to a later century.
Oh! Who is this pleasant, white-haired lady?

Naomi

Hi, travelers! You came at a good time.
We have a sale on barley flour.  
The Lord gave us a great harvest in Bethlehem.
I’m Naomi; that’s my daughter-in-law Ruth
over there grinding flour.

Priscilla

Sweet girl! But Ruth was not Jewish if I remember right, Naomi.

Naomi

Just by marriage.
Famine drove us to Moab, and my sons wed Moabite girls,
Ruth and Orphah. My husband and sons died then,
leaving us three women as widows. I was bitter.

Priscilla

How sad!

Prompter & Echoes

Three desolate widows!

Naomi

I heard the famine had ended in Bethlehem and I started back there.
Ruth and Orphah started out with me,
but I told them to stay with their families.
Orphah wept bitterly and returned home, but Ruth clung to me.

Prompter & Echoes

She was a gem!

Priscilla

God recorded for all time what Ruth told you, Naomi.  
“Do not urge me to return; where you go I will go;
where you lodge I will lodge.
Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
Where you die, I will die. May the Lord take my life
if anything but death separates us.”

Prompter & Echoes

That was beautiful!

Naomi

Ruth’s people were idolaters
but she came to love Israel’s one true God.  
Both Boaz, my relative, and I loved her, and God used that.
Boaz knew that Ruth had been kind to me, and married her.
Boaz’ father Salmon had also married a gentile,
naughty Rahab of Jericho.

Priscilla

Ruth was David’s great grandmother. We must go now, Naomi.  
Come, folks.
Here is David’s wife Abigail. Ma’am, why are you renown?

Abigail

I didn’t know I was! I only fed David’s starved soldiers.

Priscilla

You were a giver; it is recorded in Scripture.

Prompter & Echoes

A generous giver!

Abigail

David preferred me to that sharp-tongued Michal,
King Saul’s daughter.
Michal nagged David as bad as Job’s wife nagged him.
Saul envied David’s fame;
he had David kill 100 Philistines to win Michal.

Priscilla

I think Saul had hoped the Philistines would kill David.

Abigail

God let another woman be Saul’s ruin, the witch of Endor.
Well, I was David’s favorite wife until Bathsheba caught his eye.
I suspect she was as seductive as Potiphar’s wife and Delilah.
Pardon my tears!

Priscilla

We will go now, Abigail. Thank you.
We are now stepping into a later time.  
(Scream) Wait! Watch out for that chariot!

Athaliah

Bow before us, underlings! Bow, I say! We are the queen Athaliah!  
How dare you appear in our royal presence
wearing such foreign attire!
You are in Jerusalem, the City of David – and of Bathsheba.
You have heard of her great allure?
Ha! Her beauty does not compare with mine!

Priscilla

Oh! I see idols of Baal everywhere, and filthy images of Asherah!

Athaliah

Of course!
The more gods we worship, the more protection we will receive.

Prompter & Echoes

Wicked Queen!

Priscilla

Let us get out of here! Quick!
Wow! Well, here we are now in another time.

Martha

Wait, folks! Where are you going? Wrong way!

Priscilla

No, young lady. We are going to Jerusalem to see its grand temple,
the world’s most magnificent building. Oh, the splendor of that city!
What is your name?

Martha

I am Martha of Bethany. You must be new here!
No one goes to Jerusalem now! Come in.
My brother Lazarus is out with Mary fetching our donkeys;
we are about to leave.
I am glad I tidied the house up before you came!  
My sister Mary leaves stuff strewn all over;
her mind is on higher things!

Priscilla

Oh! What are those thunderous crashes we hear?

Martha

Catapults. Romans are demolishing the city and the great temple.  
Get away!
Jesus warned us to flee when armies surrounded Jerusalem.
We are leaving as soon as Lazarus and Mary get back.
Roman soldiers armed with swords
are slaying even women and children!

Priscilla

I read about your godly family, Martha. Jesus stayed in your home!

Martha

Forty years ago! We knew Jesus well, and His mother Mary.
She told us things, both wonderful and terrifying,
that occurred in Bethlehem.

Priscilla

What was Jesus’ mother Mary like, Martha?

Martha

Quiet. She would never attract attention away from her Son.
I asked her why God told the old serpent
that the woman’s seed would crush him.
Mary smiled and said, “I guess I am why!
No man helped me conceive my son.”

Priscilla

Did you know Mary’s cousin Elizabeth?

Martha

Yes, she was John the Baptizer’s mother,
prayerful and quick to glorify God.
She was devastated when Herod beheaded her son John.

Prompter & Echoes

Such a tragedy!

Martha

Another woman was behind that. Herod’s adulterous wife Herodias
had her shapely daughter dance for him, and tricked him
into promising before his guests to give her John’s head!

Priscilla

Martha, what was it like to host Jesus in your home?

Martha

I am ashamed that I actually argued with Him, Priscilla!
Can you believe it?
He let my sister Mary sit around listening to Him
while I did all the housework.
I also complained to Jesus that He did not come in time,
after we sent word that our brother Lazarus was dying.

Priscilla

But Jesus raised him from the dead.
News of that spread all over Judea!

Martha

When they took Jesus to crucify Him, we women stayed by Him.  
Oh, how Mary Magdalene worshipped Him!  
Even the Roman governor’s wife begged Pilate to spare Jesus!

Priscilla

Several women were among Jesus’ first disciples.

Martha

Dorcas the seamstress gave to the poor and served the needy,
but Saphira was a grasping liar.
Oh! Here come Lazarus and Mary. I must go.

Priscilla

We will return home now.
I wish there were time to meet other prominent women
who served God. These include Esther, Deborah, Huldah, Lydia, Nympha and Phoebe.

Prompter & Echoes

And many others!