HUMOR. Humor may be defined as constituting a facetious turn of mind that issues in jocularity. It involves a perception of the incongruous or comic elements of life, and an ability not merely to appreciate them but to communicate them so that others may perceive the amusing factors also. It is generally less subtle than wit, which is marked by the full expression of the intellect in terms of some minor issue to produce a result that can be incisive, caustic, or merely amusing. Humor is normally more genial, sympathetic, and pleasant than wit, for since the latter is primarily an intellectual exercise, it is frequently of a keen, cold, analytical character, and lacks the saving grace of being able to laugh at itself. Humor and wit are alike, however, in being frequently associated with such moral values as truth and virtue. Humor is one of the principal antidotes to personal pride.
Outline
1. The English term. The origin of the word is in the Lat. umor, which in a general sense meant “moisture” or “vapor.” In medieval physiology, the word was used of the four cardinal fluids (blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile), whose relative proportions in the body were thought to determine the physical and mental qualities, as well as the disposition, of the individual concerned. Black bile (black choler) produced melancholy, whereas yellow bile resulted in a brighter disposition. In the sense of caprice or whim, the term humor was commonly found in 16th cent. writings, though from the next cent., the meaning was broadened to include both the quality of action, speech, or writing that excited amusement and the faculty of perceiving and conveying what was ludicrous or comical. In its most developed form, the word was applied to the jocular treatment of a topic, whether in oral or written form.
2. Oriental humor. As in so many other areas of life, the oriental attitude toward a matter such as humor is quite different from that of Western countries. Judging from the lit., life in the ancient orient seems to have been a depressingly insecure affair, and if ever circumstances produced anything parallel to the modern occidental situation-comedy, it was not given prominence in written records. Yet such things are bound to have happened periodically, and to have produced a purely comic, if perhaps rather unintentional result. One of the oldest jokes known to man is thought to have originated in Mesopotamia before the prosperous third dynasty of Ur (c. 2150-2050 b.c.), and perpetuated in something approaching the following conversation: “Who was that lady I saw you out with last night?” “That was no lady, that was my wife.” In general, the conditions of ancient life seldom admitted of sheer gaiety, and much of the laughter doubtless occurred under the influence of alcohol, when indelicate subjects and allusions would provoke raucous amusement.
In his days of prosperity, Job appears to have been a buoyant, cheerful individual (Job 29:24, ASVmg.), but aside from the joy of childbirth (Gen 21:6) and the merry laughter of children at play, scorn and derision seem to have been widely conveyed in laughter (Job 22:19; Pss 22:7; 52:6, etc.). Thus when God was spoken of as laughing, it invariably involved ridicule (Pss 37:13; 59:8, etc.).
Because there was nothing of the occidental self-consciousness evident in the oriental malefemale relationship, jokes about sex had little place in oriental humor, though indelicate comments on sexual functions would inevitably occur in conversation periodically. In general, the Hebrews had a curious modesty about sex, often referring to the male genitalia by such euphemisms as “hands” or “feet.” For the orientals, sex was meant to be indulged in, and precisely the same held true of religion. To the superstitious Mesopotamians, there could be no thought whatever of humor being associated with religion, and this stands in forcible contrast to the modern western attitude as represented in a cartoon that showed two angels, one of which was saying to the other, “I don’t mind being ignored so much; it’s the awful stories they tell about us that I dislike.” Because humor and wit have been linked in western thought with certain absolute values, it is inevitable that such religious matters as God, the saints, heaven and hell should be mentioned in a jocular context. For the orientals, however, and not least the Hebrews, religious beliefs, customs, duties and the like simply did not admit of anything but the most sober of interpretations.
3. Humor in the OT and Apocrypha. Oriental humor seems to come most properly into the category of wit, since there is usually a degree of intellectual subtlety present in the situation. Probably the most common literary form conveying wit is paronomasia, or wordplay, which was a favored device of poets (see Hebrew Poetry), though not exclusively so. According to one estimate there are more than 500 word plays in the OT, and obviously only a few examples can be given. The force of paronomasia lies in the seriousness with which oriental peoples normally treated words. Thus in Genesis 2:7, man (’ādām) was formed from the ground (’adāmāh), a pun on his earthy nature, whereas in Genesis 2:23 the name “woman” (’ishshah) was given to the creature taken out of man (’îsh). The “rib” supposedly used in the process, which itself had provoked many humorous remarks, is actually a misunderstanding of the Heb. şēlā, which should be rendered “an aspect of the personality.” In Genesis 3:20 is a play on the name of Eve (hawwāh), the mother of all living (ḥāy). The Tower of Babel (bābel) narrative related the name to the babble (bālal) occasioned by the confusion of tongues (Gen 11:9), and similar puns on names occurred in the patriarchal narratives. Thus Abram and Abraham were based on “father” (’āb); Esau suggests “hairy” (25:25); Edom is similar to the word “red” (25:30); Manasseh may indicate “forgetfulness” (41:51), and Ephraim may be a play on the verb “to be fruitful” (41:52). The narratives of Sarah have comic aspects also, as, for example, in the embar rassment of her being caught eavesdropping (18:10) and subsequently experiencing geriatric conception, which must have produced knowing grins, and perhaps even snide remarks about virility. The son of Sarah was given a name that would remind her of her premature laughter (18:12), and if Isaac (“laughter”) could be dubbed by the modern slang name of “Joker,” the laugh was clearly upon Sarah in the end. However, if Isaac was a delicate, hypertonic infant, as is often the case with children born to elderly parents, the experience of rearing him even to the point of weaning would be far from amusing.
The pun was most forcefully developed by the prophets, who used it with deadly effect to proclaim the destiny of a disobedient Israel. Thus Amos (5:5) spoke of Gilgal going into exile (gālāh), and an eschatological note was struck in the play on “summer fruit” (qayiş) and “the end” (qeş), where the literary figure was sharpened even more by the thought of the fruit being overripe (8:2). Hosea (8:7) also used paronomasia effectively to show that the “standing grain” (qamāh) would actually yield no “fruit” (qemah). The highly literary style of Isaiah lent itself admirably to wordplay (Isa 5:7) where the Lord looked for judgment (mishpāt) but found bloodshed (mispāh), and for righteousness sedāqāh) but discovered only a cry (se’aqāh). Again, Isaiah (34:14) spoke of wild beasts (siyyîm) meeting hyenas (iyyîm), and of a wife bereft (’azubāth) and grieved (’asûbath) (Isa 54:6). A stern note was sounded (Jer 2:12), “Be appalled (sommû), O heavens (shāmayim),” while pathos was the basis of the plea (3:22), “Return (shûbû), faithless (shôbhābhîm) sons, I will heal your infidelity (meshûbhôth).” Because of the similarity between some forms of the Heb. verse “to see” and “to fear,” a number of word plays resulted (Zech 9:5), “Ashkelon shall see (tēne’) it and fear (têrā).”
From the foregoing it is evident that comparatively few of the puns in the OT accord with the modern understanding of humor, although all of them are undeniably witty. Satire, an applied form of humor that usually has a didactic or moralistic objective, can be seen in the remark in Job 12:2, “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you,” which is timeless in its implications. Other OT passages that can be interpreted humorously include the bargaining of Abraham with God (Gen 18:22, 23), the stabbing by Ehud of the portly Eglon (Judg 3:15-27), the death of Abimelech at the hands of a woman (9:50-54), the sarcastic and satirical ridicule by Elijah of the Baal prophets on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:26-29), the irony of Haman being unwittingly the cause of his enemy’s promotion (Esth 6:1-11), Haman’s retribution in being hanged on his own gallows (5:14-7:10), the scolding wife (Prov 21:9; 25:24), the mockery of Micah (Mic 2:6-7, 11), and the taunts of Nahum over Nineveh (Nah 3:1-19).
Paronomasia in the Apoc. has been largely lost in the tr., although in Susanna two pungent wordplays related the fate of the lying elders to the names of the trees that they had supplied in giving evidence, as follows: “A mastic tree (schinôn)...God will split (schisei) you” (vv. 54, 55), and “a live oak tree (prînon)...God is waiting to saw you (prisai) in two” (vv. 58, 59). Other instances of humor are seen in the beguiling of Holofernes by feminine wiles (Judg 12; 13), the discovery of priestly deception (Bel 19-22), and the bursting open of the great dragon (Bel 23-28).
4. Humor in the NT. As can be expected, Sem. concepts of wit, as opposed to the more earthy and coarse characteristics of Gr. humor, are found periodically in the NT, although as with the Apoc. they have tended to suffer through being rendered in Gr. form. Thus the Aram. preserved a play on words not found in the Gr. or the VSS: “You shall call his name Jesus (yehôshûa’), for he will save (yāsa’) his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). Certain witty forms, however, are reflected by the Gr., as with a humorous pun (6:16), which can perhaps be rendered: “They dispose (’aphanizousin) their appearance so as to put on a pose (phanōsin) in public of fasting.” A more familiar wordplay (16:18) involved Peter (Petros) and rock (petra). The name of Christ (“the Anointed”) was reflected (2 Cor 1:21) in the verb chrisas (“has commissioned”). What was obviously intended as a genuinely humorous remark, and one which is the only example in the NT of the “little woman” joke, was the mention by Christ of the man who had “married a wife,” and therefore could not go to the feast when invited (Luke 14:20). This comment, when accompanied by a smile, must have brought a touch of comic relief to an otherwise deeply serious situation. Other examples of NT passages with humorous implications include the ridiculous contrast between the speck and the beam (Matt 7:3-5), the way in which Christ outwitted the Pharisees in the matter of Caesar’s superscription (Mark 12:13-17), and the Sadducees on the question of a much-married woman and her husbands in the resurrection (12:18-27), the ludicrous procedure of straining out a small insect from wine and swallowing a camel (Matt 23:24), and dou ble entendre in Paul’s remark that “it is better to marry than to burn” (1 Cor 7:9 KJV), in which he may have been quoting a popular proverb. As opposed to modern custom, the mother-in-law was treated with respect and kindness (cf. Mark 1:30, 31), and was never the subject of humor in the Bible.
Bibliography D. Zuver, Salvation by Laughter (1933); F. Rosenthal, Humor in Early Islam (1956); W. F. Stinespring, IDB, II, 660-662.