2007-03-09 07:40:16 · 14 answers · asked by Hatikvah 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Where are my Jewish friends? I know the book of Esther is satire about exile and assimilation, I remember Jacob(?) meeting God face-to-face at "Peniel." I know there's more, but can't remember them!
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2007-03-09 08:11:29 · update #1
here is an online essay called "humor in the hebrew bible" that's very interesting:
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/friedman/bibhumor.htm
you know, i'm familiar with some of the satirical aspects of esther such as the portrayal of the persian king as an pretentious and useless clown, but i've never really read anything in-depth on the subject. if you've got a link to a good essay on it or know of a book, that would be cool
2007-03-09 09:19:58 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21
Only kidding Christians... the Bible contains no humor, comedy, puns, etc.
2007-03-09 15:45:35 · answer #2 · answered by Maverick 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on your sense of humor.
Also, some of the stuff that was funny in the original language (ie, greek, aramaic) gets a little lost in translation, and also because of cultural differences.
For example: in Matthew 23:24, when Jesus says "You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel," that was a play on words. The words for gnat and camel sound very similar in Aramaic. So it was a bit of a pun, for his listeners, but doesn't sound funny to us at all.
I always find it funny when his disciples fail to "get" what Jesus is talking about. Like in Matt. 15:5-7:
"5When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6"Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
7They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread."
It's funny, because it's clearly not what he meant, but they weren't thinking metaphorically.
The Bible isn't a book of jokes, but neither is it entirely devoid of any humor or laughter. It depends on how you look at it.
2007-03-09 16:01:11 · answer #3 · answered by sappykindredspirit 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Many of the sayings of Jesus would have been very funny in their day, like a camel passing through the eye of a needle or if you are looking for something a bit more bitting when Jesus called the Pharisees whitewashed sepulchres.
However these no longer are funny because our culture is very different.
2007-03-09 15:52:50 · answer #4 · answered by Pablito 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Did you hear the one about the kids that get eaten by a bear because they made fun of a bald guy? It cracks me up every time I read it!
How about the one about God & Satan making a bet at the cost of Job's kids? (But he did get replacement kids! Could it get funnier?)
Then there's that one where The Almighty has asked his people to slaughter a whole tribe and what happens? They kill most of them but decide to take some hostages. So a prophet has to kill them, right there on the spot!! It's a riot!
OK, OK, one last one. Some nasty people surround this guy's house where there happen to be 2 angels visiting - the nasty guys want to have a rolll in the hay with the angels. So in order to protect the angels, the owner of the house says, "Take my daughter, .... please!" No, that WASN'T St. Rodney Dangerfield, it was Lot!
2007-03-09 16:01:12 · answer #5 · answered by JAT 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I like the one where Elijah is mocking the worshippers of Baal in 1 Kings 18:27. They sorta made a bet that they would sacrifice two bulls and see whose God answers. When Baal doesn't answer, Elijah starts telling them 'maybe he has gone to the john or something...'
2007-03-09 15:50:43 · answer #6 · answered by Starjumper the R&S Cow 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Books of the Bible are accountings of happenings by people of the times. They are historical and educational. Those books were not written to "entertain" such as fictional books.
2007-03-09 16:10:30 · answer #7 · answered by June smiles 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
hey l'chaim - i couldn't think of anything specific either, it's like i read the question and totally blanked! couldn't find any lists or anything like that on google search, but i did find this book which sounds like it's kind of along those same lines - one of the other descriptions said he references the sarcastic/ funny verses or things from the hebrew on almost every page. (they have it through amazon and a couple other more familiar sites too.
http://www.judaism.com/display.asp?fp=133&sp=94 - 57k -
2007-03-09 17:43:21 · answer #8 · answered by mommynow 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Jesus said a lot of things that were supposed to be kind of "tongue in cheek" or humorous, but we live in a different culture with a different style of humor so it is lost on us in many instances.
2007-03-09 15:51:14 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Bible isn't a funny book.
2007-03-09 15:43:27 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋