A life in letters: Evangelical humour

I always thought that Joshua owned the first motor-bike in the Bible, since we were quite confident as church teenagers that there was a verse recording that ‘Joshua's Triumph was heard throughout the land’, but on checking I discover to my chagrin that the translations seem to prefer ‘So the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country’ (Joshua 6:7)  

However, there is no doubt that the first ice-cream manufacturer in the Bible was a firm called Walls of Jericho (no doubt a distant forerunner of the company which, facing up to its competitor Lyons was a bigger player in the ice-cream marketplace in my childhood than it is today.) We used to amuse ourselves with harmless jokes like these. 

And I know I came across some elderly members of the Brethren in the 1960s who, without any sensitivity to the nauseous mental image which a misinterpretation of their words could produce prayed kindly, and with trembling intensity for ‘those who are lying in beds of sickness.’

I also remember the fun that could be had from deliberate misunderstandings of lines from hymns. We loved the thought of the ursine creature, of a cheerful disposition despite being visually challenged which was conjured up by the words ‘Gladly the cross I’d bear.’ Sadly, as in the case of Joshua’s bike, research does not confirm the authenticity of this quotation, although one of Fanny Crosby’s hymns, Keep thou my way (which I can’t recall us ever singing) has the lines

Kept by Thy tender care

Gladly the cross I’ll bear

In Brethren circles, the word ‘meeting’ was used to denote the members of a brethren fellowship, the regular services they held, and even the building where they met. It was therefore inevitable that a line from George Foot’s hymn Come to the Saviour, make no delay included in Sankey’s Sacred Songs and Solos was interpreted as referring another cheerful member of the community of God’s creation, a buzzing male insect enthusiastically joining in the worship.  For didn’t the hymn’s chorus, anticipating heavenly reunion of the saints start with the line ‘Joyful, joyful will the meeting be'?

Speaking of bees, there was a story about two Old Testament examples, which would only really 'work' in Scotland. One was a 'diseased bee' the other 'a bee deceased.' Our awareness of their sad condition arose from the fact that one possess Nahum while the other had Nehemiah.