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The Bible is a big book. A really big book. Well, more accurately it is a really big compilation of books. I'm sure you're quite aware of that. However, we miss out on a lot of what that means in terms of the functionality of the Bible and the practical implications of what it means to read and engage with the Bible.

One mistake I commonly see is people expecting every page of the Bible be read in the same way. You read the words on the page and that is what it says, therefore that is what it means. This concept ignores the depth of the Biblical text. Let me give you an example: Imagine you're enrolled in a university. You have 5 courses to take this semester. English, Math, Biology, Astronomy and Psychology. All of your textbooks will likely be very different for each course. You'll likely have a workbook for Math, maybe a novel to read for English, a Biology textbook, a research paper for Psych and a standard 20 chapter textbook for Astronomy. Well, you wouldn't be a very good student if the next time you sat down to study for Math you began to read the equations in the same way you would read a novel. In fact, you would quickly realize that doesn't make any sense! We must understand genre and purpose of the books we have - which informs us on how to read and learn them. Naturally, this example isn't perfect, however it provides us with a framework to understanding how we should consider approaching the Bible.

Over the past few years I have consistently been teaching our Youth about what it means to understand that the Bible has genres and how one should read each genre. Do you know what each of them are? Go ahead, test yourself! In order through the Bible we find: Law, Historical Narrative, Wisdom, Poetry, Prophetic wirtings, Gospels, Historical Narrtive (again), Pauline Epistles, Apostolic Epistles, and Apocalyptic Literature. I know any of my kids from Youth Group reading this knew that off the top of their head! Some of that literature is meant to draw a sense of profundity to your mind, or a sense of dread and foreboding (I'm looking at you Ecclesiastes). Other parts of Scripture fill you with a passion for God and His people and show you the way you've been wonderfully created. Some of the parts of scripture will tell you these things plainly in narrative format, and other will use complications of Ancient Near Eastern Poetry to bring the mysterious ways of God to our souls. 

So, we have this giant book of many different genres and they can certainly all sound pretty boring unless you're a nerd like myself. Well, did you know that contained within these writings we call Scripture there is actually a great deal of humour?  That's right there are bathroom jokes and puns for days in your Bible! Yes, the Biblical text has the original Dad jokes.

In some sense I feel that I can't possibly do justice to the Biblical stories I want to examine here quickly and bring you the fullness of what they are as literary masterpieces, but we'll do our best. At the least you'll leave this blog with a bit more Bible knowledge to impress your In-Laws next time you visit. 

Jonah

First (and most commonly known) is Jonah. Yes, Jonah's story is contructed to us to be like a satirical comic strip! Maybe for some of you reading this you have never heard this before but bare with me and let us explore.

I want you to imagine for a moment what you think of when you think of a Prophet of God in the Bible. Obedient, loving, truth-telling, honest and loyal. Maybe you think of Moses or Jeremiah. They're pioneers and leaders, willing to risk their lives for God's people. In many ways they are the predecessors for the coming of Christ, who is the ultimate example of what a prophet might be like. 

Well.....Jonah is nothing like them. He runs from God, he does nothing a good Jew is supposed to do while the pagan sailors do what a good Jew would do, he gives the worst sermon ever and inspite of his attitude, God's plans still comes to fruition. Yet Jonah is still called a Prophet! He is the antithesis of what that word is typically depcited as meaning within the Scirptures. You're supposed to read Jonah and laugh at how ridiculous this character is! This barely scratches the surface. I encourage you to give Jonah a read and you'll quickly recognize how silly this character really is. As humourous as the story is, there is a serious note to it. That all of us can be like Jonah. Running from God, putting up a fight like children, yet God will still use us for good. As the Roman poet Horace said regarding satire "What are you laughing at? Change the name and you are the subject of the story" Ouch!

Ehud

Another story that is humourous is the story of Ehud the left-handed Judge of Israel. Well, he assassinated a tyrant. And that tyrant was really, really fat and gross according to the story... yeah, I'm not kidding. 

We find this story in Judges 3. Eglon is a ruler who dominates the land which Israel resides in. Long story short (you should go and read it!) Ehud, one of the Judges of Israel, assassinates Eglon in his own court to free Israel from his tyranny. That doesn't sound particularily funny, does it? Well for many Ancient Israelites this story is downright hilarious. Remember, we are separated by thousands and thousands of years from the composition of this story. Our understanding of funny has changed, certainly. Likewise Ancient Hebrew did not have punctuation, italics, Bold, or underlined words to show emphasis - but that does not mean we can't see the humour in this story.

First, remember that Ehud is described to us as left-handed (lefties are really awesome people, by the way) So why might that be signifficant? Well here is a subtle pun the Bible is throwing at us. Ehud is from the tribe of Benjamin, which in Hebrew means "Son of the Right (or South)" So yes, the left-handed Judge of Israel is from the Son of the Right/South tribe. Likewise, Ehud used a sword to assassinate Eglon. Well, if you were a right handed soldier - your sword is strapped to your left so that you can easily draw your sword. Being that Ehud is a lefty, his sword was strapped to his right, meaning Eglon's guards did not find it when searching him. 

Lastly, Eglon's name would have drawn attention to the reader. In fact the name Eglon's name comes from a root in Hebrew which means "fattened calf". Well, it is hard to miss the description from the Bible that Eglon was very very obese. Yes, the Biblical author did just call this man obese in a very cheeky way. The real kicker is that after stabbing Eglon, the sword would not come out due to the fat aound it. Whether or not this really happened that the sword was stuck inside Eglon is beside the point. The author is trying to over-emphasize that Eglon is fat! An Israelite living under the tyranny of this man would have been laughing hearing these jokes. We may not fully understand it, but we can fully appreciate it. 

I'll stop at these two examples for now, but know for certain the Bible is chalk full of jokes and humour. It is one of the ways I can come to fully appreciate its depth. 

So, are you struggling to read your Bible? As Christians we believe reading God's word is essential to living a Christian life. I find in times when I struggle with that exact thing, remembering these light hearted moments in the text are some of what continue to draw me in more and more. So, laugh a little! Lighten up and open your Bibles!

Pastor Alex