Ancient hunters used four different trapping devices to catch game animals and birds: the pit trap, the snare, the entangling net, and the fowler’s net. In the case of the pit trap, the hunters dug a hole on a game trail that was big enough to hold the animals and deep enough to prevent its escape once it had fallen in. A net was stretched over the top of the pit and disguised so that it looked like solid ground. When an animal stepped on the net, the apparently solid ground collapsed, tripping the animal (Psa 35:7; Jer 18:22). The snare was also set along a game trail. It consisted of a cord with a loop on one end that could tighten around an animal’s foot. The
Continue reading EVERYDAY LIFE IN BIBLE TIMES (TRAP/SNARE PT 1 OF 3)Tag Archives: games
DEFINITION OF THE DAY (SPORTS)
The Hebrew verb “make sport” is used to indicate ridicule (e.g. Gen 21:9) but also sport in the sense of entertainment (Jug 16:25,27) or play (Exod 32:6; 104:26; Zech 8:5).
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (SPORTS)EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE BIBLE TIMES (RUN PT1)
Walking was the most common way for people living in Bible times to get from one place to another on a daily basis. Given the fatigue that discourages sustained running, those who ran were either special people with unique vocations or ordinary people who were responding to unique situations. Those expected to run included athletes, couriers, and royal guards. The Greeks introduced the world to athletic contests that were the precursor to our Olympic games. The ancient games included running events of various distances in which athletes could
Continue reading EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE BIBLE TIMES (RUN PT1)BIBLE CUSTOMS AND CURIOSITIES (SAMSON’S RIDDLE)
In an age without television or other leisure-time pursuits, the people of Bible times often used riddles as a form of entertainment. Like Samson, they would pose a puzzling or mystifying question or problem and see who could figure it out.
Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS AND CURIOSITIES (SAMSON’S RIDDLE)DEFINITION OF THE DAY (LOTS)
Objects of unknown shape and material used to determine the divine will. Often in the ancient Near East people, especially priests, made difficult and significant decisions by casting lots on the ground or drawing them from a receptacle. Several times Scripture mentions the practice. We do not know exactly what the lots look like. Nor do we know how they were interpreted. We do know that people of the OT and NT believe God (or gods in the case of non-Israelites or non-Christians) influenced the fall or outcome of the lots (Prov 16:33). Thus, casting lots was a way of determining God’s will. Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (LOTS)
SHOULD PEOPLE BE TALKING ABOUT THESE KINDS OF THINGS IN PUBLIC?
SONG OF SOLOMON 3:1- By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
Continue reading SHOULD PEOPLE BE TALKING ABOUT THESE KINDS OF THINGS IN PUBLIC?
MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF THE BIBLE (SPORTS)
Athletic Sports
Entertainment and spectator/participatory sports did not develop until Greek and Roman times. Races had been run in Israel (Jeremiah 12:5), but they were not for entertainment. It was the promotion of sports in the Greek fashion in 170 BC that led to the division among Jews between Sadducees and Hasidim.