PLAY, to Play. The Hebrews use the Word to Play, to express all Kinds of Diversions, as Dancing, Sports of Exercise, Toying, and Amusements proper for Recreating the Mind, and to give Pleasure to it. The Hebrew Word Zachak, which signifies to Play, is also commonly us’d for Laughing, Mocking, Jeering, Insulting. When Sarah saw Ishmael play with her Son Isaac, she was offended at it: It was a Play of Mockery or Insult, or, perhaps, of Squabbling, as in the Second Book of Samuel. Surgant pueri & ludant coram nobis; Let the young People, or Soldiers, get up, and play before us; Let them Fight, as it were, by way of Play. But the Event shews, that they fought in good 1 Samuel xviii. 6, 7.Earnest, since they were all kill’d.
We see another Kind of Play in Exodus: When the Israelites had set up the Golden Calf, they began to dance about it, and to divert themselves: The People sate down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. When Samson was deliver’d up by Dalilah into the Hands of the Philistines, they bored out his Eyes, put him into Prison, and some time after made him come into their Presence, to divert them by the Tricks they Judg. xvi. 25.play’d him, and by the Motions he was forced to make, to avoid them, and to skreen himself from their Insults: Præceperunt ut vocarent Samson, & ante eos luderet; qui adductus de carcere, ludebat coram Tob. iii. 17. Jer. xv. 17.iis.
The Women that came out to meet David and Saul, when they returned victorious from the Slaughter of Goliah, danced and play’d upon Instruments, and shew’d their Mirth after a thousand manners: Egressæ sunt mulieres cantantes choroque ducentes —— in tympanis lætitiæ & systris, & præcinebant ludentes, &c. In the Procession that was made, when the Ark was removed from the House of Obed-edom to the Palace of King David, he danced with 2 Sam. vi. 5, 22.great Alacrity, play’d upon Instruments, and testify’d his Joy before the Lord; David autem & omnis Israel ludebant coram Domino. And when Michal upbraided him, for not observing that Gravity and Decency that was suitable to his Rank, he answer’d; Et ludam, & vilior fiam; I will play, and be still more vile in my own Eyes.
Sarah the Daughter of Raguel, opening her whole Heart before the Lord, said to him; I have never associated my self with those that play: Nunquam cum ludentibus miscui me. And Jeremiah; Non sedi in concilio concilio ludentium; I have never haunted the Assemblies of those that are given to Play and Diversion. And the same Prophet, speaking to the Daughter of Siou, tells her, That the Time shall come, in which she shall be rebuilt, and that she shall divert Jer. xxxi. 4.herself again in Dancing with her Equals: Adhuc ornaberis tympanis tuis, & egredieris in choro ludentium. Solomon represents Wisdom, as playing before the Lord, Prov. viii. 30, 31.and takes her Pleasure in living among Men; Ludens coram eo omni tempore, ludens in orbe terrarum. Baruk seems to point at the Diversion of Fowling, by the Name Baruk iii. 17.of Play; Where are the Princes of the Nations, who domineer over the Beasts of the Earth, and play with the Fowls of the Air? Qui in avibus cœli ludunt.
I cannot perceive, in Scripture, any particular Sorts of Plays; neither Games of Hazard, nor Plays or Theatrical Representations, nor Races either of Horses or Chariots, nor Combats of Men or Beasts. Solomon speaks of nothing like this; tho’ he frankly owns, that he had indulged himself in all Kinds of Pleasure: He mentions only fine Buildings, Gardens, Vineyards, Orchards, Fish-ponds, good Eating and Drinking, heaping up Gold and Silver, Singing-men and Singing-women, &c. In their Descriptions of Prosperity and profound Peace, they speak neither of Games, or Shows, but only of well-cultivated and fruitful Fields, wherein every one may enjoy his Repose under his own Vine, and his own Fig-tree, partaking of the Fruits of his Labours in Security; where the old Men, sitting in publick Places, may deliberate about their Affairs in common, and where the young People may cloath themselves in glorious Apparel, and in Ornaments proper for going to War. The Israelites were a laborious and warlike People, who confin’d almost all their Plays and Diversions to the Pleasures of the Country, and to those which they found in the Festivals of the Lord, in their Religious Journeys, and in the Meals they eat in the Temple.
I speak of the Times in which the Observation of the Law was kept up, and of the old Times of the Hebrew Republick. For when they grew irregular, they gave in to the utmost Excesses of idolatrous Nations, and deliver’d themselves up to their wicked and shameful Sports and Diversions. From the Time of the Reign of the Grecians, I mean, after the Death of Alexander the Great, and the Government of the Kings of Syria in Judea, they began to take an Inclination to the Sports and Exercises of the Grecians. There were Gymnasia, or Schools of Exercise, to be seen in Jerusalem, and Places where they put in Practice all the Exercises 1 Mac. v. 16. 2 Mac. iv. 13, 14, 15.of the Greeks, Wrestling, Racing, Quoits, &c. And when the Romans succeeded the Greeks in their Government there, Herod built Theatres and Amphitheatres in the Cities of Palestine, and caused all Sorts of Games to be represented there. Josephus may be consulted on this Head; and the Dissertation composed by Mr. Vagenseil, concerning the Sports of the Hebrews.