The Despot and the Innkeeper

2 minutes / 2 narrators

Description
Setting up a scene taking place, or a song about, the Innkeeper in Bethlehem.

Originally from
Vacancy / There’s Room in My Heart (musical)

Voices
Two

Notes
Edit the specifics in the last three lines to reflect your own production.

Topics
Christmas God’s Glory Light Birth Jesus Christ Savior Baby Bethlehem Caesar Augustus Bethlehem Inn Census

Script
Select and copy the following text to the Clipboard, then paste into your word processor or text editor. We would appreciate your retaining the accompanying copyright notice in your end document.

-{script begin}-

Narrator #2
Bethlehem was a small, inconspicuous town lying just short of a day’s journey south of the city of Jerusalem. It was a sleepy little village, tucked away and forgotten by most; nothing flashy, a bit disheveled.

Narrator #1
Few people ever visited by choice. Time and trends had passed it by, disregarded and even held in contempt by some–until one day the mighty despot called for a census to be taken of all the people in all his conquered lands.

Narrator #2
In the village was a small inn, unimpressive and tattered, worn down by time, home for the village innkeeper and his wife and son.

Narrator #1
From the large room facing the street they conducted their business. This room more than any other was home for the innkeeper as he welcomed new guests and dispensed with the old.

Narrator #2
The mighty despot was Caesar Augustus; and the village innkeeper was called Simon.

Did you know…?

Our four-year study of First Corinthians has now drawn to a close. All 170 sessions, in both text and audio, remain available at the First Corinthians page. More important, we are pleased to offer the complete study in one PDF volume! This makes an excellent resource for any study of the letter. All this is available at our First Corinthians page.

Remember: Everything at this web site is free and safe—no cost, no ads, no stealing of data, no strings, no begging for money. Just lots of free resources for living closer to God.

The writer to the Hebrews quotes from a number of important Psalms in his epistle/sermon. We have recently added A Five-psalm Preparatory Study for the Book of Hebrews: Psalms 102, 40, 8, 110, 95 —which supplies an essential preface to the Hebrews study. Even if you are one of the thousands who have already downloaded and used our Hebrews study, this new resource will contribute to your understanding of that book. And if you have not yet downloaded our popular Hebrews study, be sure to obtain this new five-psalm study as well, and work through it before beginning Hebrews.