Wit and Humor of the Bible

PREFACE.
While "many have taken in hand to set forth in order" the pathos and
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Wit and Humor of the Bible
sublimity of the Bible, those literary elements comprised under the
title
of this book have rarely been mentioned. Feeling that here was a field
untraversed, the author of this little volume began an investigation
whose
results were originally embodied in an article published some years
ago in
an Eastern review. That article is given in "Poole's Index" as the
only
one extant upon the subject. Since its publication, additional study
has
brought to light other examples of the use of Wit and Humor by the
writers
of the Bible. These later results were embodied in a course of
lectures
delivered last winter before the students of Lombard University,
Galesburg, Ill. They are now given to the public in the present
volume. It
would be presumptuous to claim that these few pages exhaust the
subject.
Such a claim the author does not wish to make. Further research would
no
doubt bring to light instances that have escaped him. It is hoped,
however, that these studies may be sufficiently complete to awaken
interest in a long-neglected side of our sacred literature.
MARION D. SHUTTER.
Minneapolis, Minn., Dec. 24, 1892.
First Universalist Church.
INTRODUCTORY.
"There is still one question before us. If humor be what we have
claimed
for it, not a mere farce, but the depicting of the whole of human
life,
then we should expect that the highest literature should be found to
contain it. We should expect to find it everywhere; that it should
satisfy
all that desire which a reading in theology, or philosophy, or
science, or
history, or a study in art, has created in man. Are there, then, any
great
books, or still more any great forces in human life which seem devoid
of
it? Is there any humor in the gospels? This is a dilemma that must be
faced; for if humor be life itself, how can human life in its highest
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Wit and Humor of the Bible
development dispense with it?"--_Shorthouse._
INTRODUCTORY.
"Even St. Paul could invent and enjoy a humorous pun; the proof of
which see Galatians V:12, in the original; so there is high
authority
for jesting."--_Kirke._
The title of this book will no doubt affect many persons unpleasantly
at
first. "Flat blasphemy!" I can hear some one exclaim, "We have already
had
the authority of the Bible undermined by critics, and here is a
flippant
rogue who goes still farther, and assures us that it is nothing more
than
a jest-book! This is the very climax and culmination of godless
folly."
The author makes haste, therefore, to disclaim any intention of
irreverence. To cheapen or degrade sacred things, to "depreciate the
moral
currency," is at the farthest remove from his intention. It is easy
enough
to take the language of Scripture and use it for coarse and vulgar
purposes, and such use deserves the severest censure. It is not to be
tolerated. Passages that have been light and guidance to multitudes,
that
have brought strength to the tempted, certainty to the doubting and
consolation to the bereaved; that have been bread of life to those who
have hungered for righteousness, inspiration to the purposeless and
help
to the needy,--have been turned into sources of merriment to freshen
exhausted wit, and season the insipid discourse of stupidity. Persons
whose brains are barren of pleasant conceits find no difficulty in so
perverting a Scriptural expression as to make the "groundlings" laugh.
In
no such motives has this volume originated. The title has been chosen
and
the work which it covers has been done in the spirit of one who loves
the
Great Book, and who would secure for it an additional claim upon human
affection. The studies of the writer have led him into fresh fields
and
pastures green, where he has gathered many things out of the ordinary
that
have given the Bible a larger place in his own heart.
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Wit and Humor of the Bible
No; the Bible is not a collection of jests; nor do we characterize it
as a
jest-book when we say that it contains Wit and Humor. These elements
are
in the Bible, and with good reason. They are not introduced to amuse.
They
are not intended to dissipate the weariness of an idle hour. They are
not
designed to produce convulsions of laughter. They are subsidiary to
the
main theme. They are incidental to the development of religious
history
and religious thought. They help reveal in their true light the
characters
who from time to time appear; they show the absurdity of the opposing
error and sharpen the arrows with which folly is