For lent 2022, I’m writing six duologues between Samuel and other people in the Bible, all on the theme of living with conflict.
The prophet Samuel, now deceased, converses with a series of guests in paradise, reflecting on their past experiences and what it was to live with conflict. In this, the second scene, he meets Ezekiel, the would-be priest who was exiled to Babylon, where he saw some pretty indescribable visions of God and wrote them down in a book of prophecy.
Samuel asks Ezekiel whether he’d rather be a prophet or a priest. Ezekiel answers that he’d be a mathematician.
If you’re less familiar with the book of Ezekiel, the Bible Project have made a series of videos summarising the books of the Bible; there are two for Ezekiel (it’s quite a long book) and they’re useful if you want a quick overview. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.
The script of this duologue is light-hearted, but the subject matter of Ezekiel is pretty heavy and Ezekiel 16 is one of the most graphic chapters of the whole Bible! However, reading the book as a teenager enlivened my faith in a way that I’ll never forget. If you want a deeper dive into the complexities of Ezekiel 16 as a ‘difficult passage’, I wrote this post for CBE International: Pejorative Language and Translation Bias in Ezekiel 16.
Otherwise, if you’re up for some light comedy, read on.
An excerpt from the script is below.
Length: 2,350 words
Actors: 2 adult males
Genre: Comedy drama
Advisory notice: Brief mentions warfare and exile, but only in broad terms.
Fun fact: Chris K. Caldwell has an amazing website that allows you to look up the first trillion prime numbers. Also if you enter a number, it will tell you how many prime numbers exist that are equal to or less than that number. Check it out: the Primes website is here.
SAMUEL:
So, you understand the kind of question I’m asking?
EZEKIEL:
Yes. Well… I do and I don’t. Emotional intelligence isn’t exactly one of my strengths.
SAMUEL:
Really? That surprises me.
EZEKIEL:
Have you read my book?
SAMUEL:
Yes.
EZEKIEL:
All of it?
SAMUEL:
Yes.
EZEKIEL:
Including the end?
SAMUEL:
(LESS CERTAIN) Yes. (BEAT) Though I only read that bit once.
EZEKIEL:
(LAUGHS)
SAMUEL:
Are you about to tell me that was your favourite part?
EZEKIEL:
(CHUCKLES) No! I might be weird, but I am human. (BEAT) I’m just saying, if you read between the lines you’ll see that emotion is largely absent from my written work.
PAUSE.
SAMUEL:
But the images you used were so emotive! I always thought you were an artist in disguise.
EZEKIEL:
(CHUCKLES) No, God’s the artist, I just… described what I saw. Usually quite badly.
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