Humour's a very personal thing. I can't understand anyone not liking Father Ted, for instance, though I have friends who find it tedious. Not Going Out is a hoot, as is The Big Bang Theory, but other friends roll their eyes at my low taste in comedy. I'll miss Jon Stewart's Daily Show, too.
I
wish I could remember the scripture passage I was reading as a child
when I laughed out loud. I was with my grandmother, a rather severe lady
at times, and recall her saying: "The Bible is not generally regarded
as a humorous book."
Well, maybe not: but maybe that's partly because
humour doesn't always travel well, in time or space. The Bible was
finished a couple of thousand years ago, in languages strange to most of
us and in cultures strange to all of us. It's not surprising that we
miss some of the cues. And of course, we're conditioned to that whole
not-a-humorous-book approach. Maybe it isn't – but some of it is.
I don't believe the person who recorded the death of King Jeroham in 2 Chronicles 21:20, writing: "He passed away, to no one's regret" lacked humour.
And what about David in 1 Samuel 21:15-16? He
pretends to be insane before Achish, king of Gath, to avoid being
returned to Saul. Achish says to his servants: "Am I so short of madmen
that you have to bring this fellow here?" That's funny.
Elijah's fond of sarcasm, too. His great contest
with the prophets of Baal over which God could light his own sacrifice –
a pretty comical idea in itself – sees him mocking them (1 Kings 18:27)
with the suggestion that he might be on the lavatory, though politer
translations tend to obscure this point.
I've always enjoyed Balaam's conversation with his
donkey (Numbers 22: 21-30). I can't believe that the words: "Am I not
your own donkey? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" were
written with a straight face. And then there's Jonah.
Not only was he thrown into the sea and sicked up by a fish, but the
crowning misery was still to come: the inhabitants of Nineveh wouldn't
perish in fire and brimstone after all, but actually repented. The image
of the prophet sulking under the shade of a vine because God spared the
people is just priceless – and then when "God provided a worm, which
chewed the vine so that it withered", the comedy is complete: all this,
and sunstroke too.
Proverbs, of course, is a goldmine of humour, not
all of it very politically correct. "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion" (11:22); "Better to live
on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife"
(21:9). Or how about 22:13? "The sluggard says, 'There is a lion
outside!' Or, 'I will be murdered in the streets!'" Anything but get out
of bed. Teenagers don't change.
My favourite bit of Old Testament humour? It's one of those that works best read aloud. Daniel 3 tells
of Nebuchadnezzar's burning fiery furnace, into which everyone who
doesn't fall down and worship him are to be thrown (really? That's
funny? I can hear my grandmother now). But notice the repetition of
those long lists: "the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers,
treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials"
(2); then again in verse 3; then there's the list of instruments, "As
soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes
and all kinds of music you must fall down and worship the image of
gold..." (5, 7, 10, 15). It is absurdity piled on absurdity, the
accumulation of impressive titles and an impressive orchestra designed
to create the impression of an irresistible force – which hits the
buffers when three Jews say, "Shan't." Read it with an ear for the
comedy, and it's hilarious.
We won't get all the biblical humour, any more than we get all the
humour in Shakespeare or Chaucer. Language and culture are barriers.
Humour dates (I used to laugh at Abbott and Costello as a child, can you believe it?) though it's there for those with eyes to see.
But does it matter? I think so. The inspired word of God comes to us
through human voices – and humour is part of what it is to be human. The
biblical writers saw the funny side of things, too. They enjoyed
sarcasm, they were witty, they liked showing us how people revealed
their true selves in their bad temper and pique. The biblical writers
laughed as they wrote . I think they'd like it if we sometimes laughed
as we read.
Source: ChristianToday
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