These cut-out puppets are great to use for this week to help with a Hands-on Story!
Here is the picture that we used to represent this week in Bible Quest.
Here's our puppet script from this week that I wrote:
Jacob and Esau
Narrator: “Do you fight with your brothers or sisters? I’m sure you get along with them ALL the time, don’t you? (wait for responses) Well, this story is about two brothers that were fighting each other even before they were born! Their names were Jacob and Esau.”
(Isaac enter stage left, Rebecca enter stage right)
Isaac (at Rebecca): “Wowsers!”
(Rebecca giggles)
Narrator: “Isaac married Rebecca when he was 40 years old. Time passed, but they didn’t have any kids. So, Isaac prayed to God.”
Isaac: “Oh Lord, please give my wife and I some kids!”
Narrator: “God hears our prayers, doesn’t He? God granted Isaac’s request and when Isaac was 60 years old, he and Rebecca found out that they were going to have twins! But, before the babies were born, Rebecca felt them fighting inside her tummy!”
(place a large padded bump in Rebecca’s tummy to represent her pregnancy)
Rebecca: “Stop it! OW! Stop that! OUCH! Why is this going on in my tummy! OOF!”
Narrator: “God told her, ‘The two children inside you will become the fathers of two nations. Just like the two are fighting with each other now, the two nations will struggle with each other. One will be stronger than the other and the older will serve the younger.’”
Rebecca: “OOF! I see. OUCH! Do you two need to go into time out?”
Isaac: “Rebecca, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.” (Rebecca continues to make ouch noises)
Rebecca: “OWIE! Yes, Isaac OOF dear?”
Isaac: “I’ve noticed that you wiggle around a lot at night, and I’m having a hard time sleeping… could you please keep still in bed?” (Rebecca continues to make ouch noises)
Rebecca (staring at him): “OOF… OUCH… (menacingly) No.”
Isaac (apologetic): “Oh… well… no problem. I was just asking.” (Rebecca continues to make ouch noises)
Rebecca (still staring daggers at him): “OW… OUCH…”
Isaac: “I’ll just go over… here. Away from… here.” (Rebecca continues to make ouch noises)
Rebecca (still staring daggers at him): “That’s probably a good idea.”
(Isaac opens his mouth, shuts it, nods, and walks away. Rebecca continues to make ouch noises)
Narrator: “The babies soon arrived! The first baby born was a boy. He was all red and covered with hair!”
Isaac: “What is it?”
Rebecca: “Your son!”
Isaac: “He looks like a hairball coughed up by one of my camels!”
Rebecca: “Dear!”
Isaac: “Well, he does! His skin is red, so I think we ought to name him ‘Esau,’ which means ‘red.’”
Rebecca (slowly): “Why would you name a child what they look like…?”
Isaac: “Easier to remember. Next!”
Narrator: “The second baby was also a boy, too. He came out with his little hand holding onto Esau’s heel!”
Isaac: “That’s awesome.”
Rebecca: “I was thinking a name like Jeremy!”
Isaac: “I’m going to name him Jacob.”
Rebecca: “Doesn’t that mean ‘heel’?”
Isaac (pause): “It’s easier to remember.”
(Rebecca sighs)
Narrator: “So they named him Jacob, which sounded like their word for ‘heel.’”
(Remove the pregnancy bump from Rebecca)
Narrator: “The boys grew up. Esau loved the outdoors and became a great hunter. Jacob was more quiet and liked staying at home. Isaac like Esau because he got to eat the yummy meat that Esau brought home from his hunts.”
Esau: “Hey Dad… you want some of this random critter I got when I was huntin’?”
Isaac: “Yum yum yum yum yum. Delicioso!”
Narrator: “But Rebecca liked Jacob, maybe because he did things to help her at home.”
Rebecca: “And make sure you clean that camel with a toothbrush!”
Jacob (sighs): “Yes Mother!”
Narrator: “One day Esau went out to hunt.”
Esau: “Hunt, hunt, hunt, hunt, hunt.”
Narrator: “When he came back, he was really, super hungry!”
Esau: “Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry.”
Narrator: “Just when Esau came home, Jacob had a big pot of super yummy stew. The smell of that good food made Esau’s mount water.”
Esau: “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Give me some food, food, food, food, food!”
Narrator: “Jacob thought that he’d use Esau’s hunger to get something for himself out of this.”
Jacob: “I’ll tell you what, Esau, if I give you some stew, you have to give me your Birthright.”
Narrator: “The Birthright was very important. Esau should have had it because he was born first. The Birthright meant that when Isaac died, Esau would be head of the family and he would get God’s promise that was given to Abraham. But Esau was hungry NOW!
Esau: “Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry.”
Narrator: “He didn’t care about the future, he just wanted his food NOW! Jacob knew that one day the future would be today. If he had Esau’s Birthright, he would someday be the head of the family.”
Jacob: “So, you want some of this yummy, yummy stew?”
Esau (under breath): “Yummy, yummy… (loudly) Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright! It won’t do me any good to have the Birthright if I starve, starve, starve, starve, starve!”
Narrator: “Esau would not have starved to death. He was just hungry.”
Esau: “Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!”
Narrator: “So Esau sold his Birthright for some soup. Later, Isaac got old. He was all bent over, and he couldn’t see very well. When he knew that it was close to his time to die, he called Esau to him.”
Esau: “Yup, yup, yup, yup, yup!”
Isaac: “Esau, I’m about to die. Go hunting for me and cook the meat of the animal you catch so that it tastes (make slurping sound) good. After I (slurping sound) eat it, I will bless you.”
Narrator: “Isaac’s wife Rebecca heard all of this from another part of the tent. When Esau left, Rebecca got Jacob and talked to him.”
Rebecca: “Your father sent Esau out to hunt. When he gets back, he is going to make some yummy food for your father and then your father will give him his blessing.”
Jacob: “Oh, that’s nice of him!”
Rebecca (shakes her head): “Hey! Go bring me two goats, and I will fix a yummy dinner for your father. Take it to him and make your father think that you are Esau so that he will bless you instead.”
Jacob: “But… Esau is all red, and I’m not!”
Rebecca: “Your father is as blind as a bat.”
Jacob: “Oh, yeah… but Esau is hairy, and I’m not! If Father feels my skin, he will know I’m tricking him! He will curse me, not bless me!”
Rebecca: “Let the curse be on me… just do what I tell you.”
Narrator: “Jacob brought the goats and Rebecca made a yummy meal. She put Esau’s clothes on Jacob and she put the goat skins on Jacob’s arms and his neck to make him hairy like Esau. Jacob took the food to his father.”
Isaac: “Who is it?”
Jacob (in false low voice): “Esau. I brought you the yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy food you wanted.”
Isaac: “Really? That was really fast…”
Jacob (in false low voice): “God helped me. Go ahead and eat, eat, eat, eat, eat! Then we can get to the blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing!”
Isaac: “You don’t sound like Esau,” Isaac said.
Jacob (in regular voice): “No I do-“ (in false low voice) “I mean, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!”
Isaac: “You sound like Jacob using a low voice. Come here and let me touch your arms and neck.”
Jacob (in regular voice): “See?” (in false low voice): “I mean, see, see, see, see, see?”
Narrator: “Isaac felt Jacob’s arms and neck and felt the goat hair there.”
Isaac (to self): “The voice is Jacob’s, but the arms are Esau’s.” (to Jacob) “Are you really Esau?”
Jacob: “Yup, yup, yup, yup, yup!”
Narrator: So Isaac ate the food. When he was done, he called Jacob over to him. Isaac smelled the smell of Esau’s clothes on Jacob.
Isaac: “Repeats everything AND smells like a yak? You’re Esau!”
“The smell of my son is like the smell
of open country the Lord has blessed.
May God give you the dew of heaven,
and the richness of the earth,
corn and new wine in plenty!
Let nations and peoples serve you.
May you rule over your brothers,
and may they bow down to you.
Let anyone who curses you be cursed,
but blessed be anyone who blesses you!”
Narrator: “So Isaac gave Esau’s blessing to Jacob, but he thought it was Esau! After Jacob left, Esau came back. He made some yummy food like his father had asked and brought it to Isaac.”
Isaac: “Who is it?”
Esau: “It’s me, Esau!”
Narrator: “Isaac began to shake because he knew he’d been tricked!”
Isaac: “Someone was just here and gave me yummy food and I gave that person my blessing!”
Esau: “AUGH! Bless me, too!”
Isaac: “I can’t, Esau! Jacob tricked me and your brother stole your blessing!”
Esau: “Jacob is a cheat! He cheated me out of my Birthright, and now he has stolen my blessing!”
Narrator: “Now Esau hated his brother and wanted to kill him, so when Rebecca found that out, she told Jacob to run!”
Rebecca: “Run, Jacob, Run!”
Narrator: “God doesn’t like it when we lie and cheat others, and it makes a big mess! But, God still loved Jacob and as we’ll find out, God used Jacob and his family for some of the biggest plans that God had to save people from their sin! God can use anyone for His purposes, even if they mess stuff up.”