Baidarka

When looking at comic strips from old news papers I have noticed that I very often don’t get the jokes. Many of Shakespeare’s best jokes need to be explained by experts.
The Hebrew Bible contains many puns. Written Hebrew is made for word play because it lacks vowels so many written words can have multiple interpretations.

Here is a link to a site about humor in the OT
<a href="http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/friedman/bibhumor.htm" target="_blank">http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/friedman/bibhumor.htm</a>


I think that the Cain and Abel story was written as a kind of rough humor:

Ancient people were very familiar with fire. How to build fire, how to feed fire, and what kind of fuel makes what kind of flame. People who didn’t understand fire would be considered extremely stupid and could easily be viewed as the objects for ridicule.
In the story God accepts Abel’s sacrifice and rejects Cain’s Sacrifice.
The Bible doesn’t say how Cain knows this. I think that when the fire burned hot and the smoke rose skyward it was believed that God was accepting the sacrifice but if the fire was weak and the smoke was heavy then God was rejecting the sacrifice.
If we read the story with this in mind then it could be that Abel’s burnt offering of fat burned hot and its smoke climbed skyward while Cain’s grain offering actually smothered the fire causing its cold heavy smoke to spread out and hang low.
I think that Cain is supposed to be the ancestor of the Canaanites and that his dirt farming, his inability with fire, his stupidity and his murderous rage are all contrived as to ridicule the Canaanites.
I realize that an objection could be raised here since ancestry would have to be funneled through Noah’s family but I think that, that objection assumes that both stories come from the same tradition, an assumption which I think would be incorrect.

Other possible comical stories:
1- The death of Onan
2- The blessing of Jacob
3- The story of Judah and Tamar
4- David and Saul- 1 Samuel 24

3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. 4 The men said, "This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said [1] to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.' " Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe.
5- The story of Balaam”s ass.

The NT also seems to contain humor especially in the Parables. It is also probable that the Parables were originally written in Aramaic and that the Puns that could be in the Parables can only read in Aramaic.
1- The camel that wouldn’t fit through the eye of a needle (not only is the image ridiculous but the Aramaic word for camel and the word for rope are very similar, adding another level to the joke).
2- The mustard seed (I have read one interpretation (maybe Sanders?)which claimed irony here because the mustard plant is actually quite wimpy and not in any way majestic)


There are of course many other Biblical stories with comical intentions.
IT seems that this is an avenue of study that has been largely ignored.
I would be interested in the thoughts of others on this topic and other verses which could be mined for ancient humor.