# Is there humor in the Bible?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-humor-in-the-bible/740514>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 15, 2015, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-humor-in-the-bible/740514 "2015-12-15T08:33:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-humor-in-the-bible/740514/61 "2015-12-28T10:48:50Z")

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> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> Is humor, after all, a relatively modern invention? 🙂

I already pointed out, about three years ago, that [the Sumerians invented the rap battle](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=669332&highlight=sumerian).

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-humor-in-the-bible/740514/62 "2015-12-29T05:16:34Z")

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> [@rowrrbazzle](#):
>
> How about wordplay?
> 
> Matthew 23:24 “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”
> 
> “Gnat” and “camel” in Aramaic are respectively “galma” and “gamal”, so there’s a bit of wordplay there.
> 
> I can’t find the reference now, but I believe there is another component to the statement that sharpens it. Apparently some Pharisees literally strained whatever they were drinking through cloth so they wouldn’t swallow gnats or other small insects, which are considered unclean as food. But camels are also unclean, so the metaphor is that they were avoiding tiny uncleanliness but accepting major uncleanliness.

I found the reference: _The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teachings_ (revised edition) by Robert H. Stein (Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), page 13.

Google Books (in a short section on puns): [The Method and Message of Jesus' Teachings - Robert H. Stein - Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=mRDCqEHDqDEC&lpg=PA13&dq=gnat%20camel%20gamla%20galma&pg=PA12#v=onepage&q=ceremonially%20unclean&f=false)

That contains a reference to note 14, given on page 156, which explains that camels are also unclean: [The Method and Message of Jesus' Teachings - Robert H. Stein - Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=mRDCqEHDqDEC&lpg=PA13&dq=gnat%20camel%20gamla%20galma&pg=PA156#v=snippet&q=effectiveness%20of%20this%20pun&f=false)

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