While baseball is generally considered a "modern" sport, there are references in the Bible that could lead one to deduce that, in fact, there were Giants in those days as well:
And Abner said to Joab, "Let the young men...arise and play before us" (II Samuel 2:14)
...[and] all the people rose up... (Exodus 33:8)
And Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; and Sheva was scribe... (II Samuel 20:24-25)
And they said unto Jephthah, "Come and be our [Captain]" (Judges 11:6)
...and he measured two lines... (II Samuel 8:2)
And he set the bases... (I Kings 7:39)
And they stood every man in his place round about the camp (Judges 7:21)
...behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher... (Genesis 24:45)
Ehud...the Benjamite, a man left-handed ... (Judges 3:15)
...the children of Israel ...said "Who shall go up for us first...?" (Judges 20:18)
...seek out a man who is a skillful player... (I Samuel 16:16)
...Judah [shall go up] first... (Judges 20:18)
[And] Judah took... (Judges 1:18)
Three times... (Exodus 23:14)
...and...it was good. (Genesis 1:10)
...and Abram went down... (Genesis 12:10)
...out at the base... (Leviticus 4:18)
And Moses...smote... (Exodus 7:20)
...and... [it] became foul... (Exodus 7:21)
And Moses went out... (Numbers 11:24)
...and none came in. (Joshua 6:1)
And there was not a man left... (Joshua 8:17)
And Miriam was shut out... (Numbers 12:15)
And the children of Benjamin went out... (Judges 20:31)
...and went into the field ... (Numbers 22:23)
And...Aaron waved... (Leviticus 9:21)
And he looked this way and that way... (Exodus 2:12)
...and [he] delivered up... (Numbers 21:3)
...and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand... (Joshua 8:19)
...and they fell on their faces to the ground... (Judges 13:20)
Get thee up; wherefore now art thou fallen upon thy face? (Joshua 7:10)
...for it was an error... (Numbers 15:25)
...second and third... (Genesis 6:16)
And Joseph [spoke]... (Genesis 45:3)
...concerning the error which he committed... (Leviticus 5:18)
...make [an] atonement for thyself... (Leviticus 9:7)
Thou shalt fan them... (Isaiah 41:16)
Then Joseph commanded to filltheir...sack[s]... (Genesis 42:25)
and...all the people saw it [and] they shouted... (Leviticus 9:24)
"Who can stand before the [Giants]?" (Deuteronomy 9:2)
and...Aaron waved... (Leviticus 9:21)
...and pitched on the other side... (Numbers 21:13)
...and suffered not a man to pass... (Judges 3:28)
...but...the seventh... (Exodus 31:15)
Gideon...smote... (Judges 8:11)
...Israel...at...first... (Jeremiah 33:7)
And Noah went in... (Genesis 7:7)
And there ran a young man ... (Numbers 11:27)
...he turned and went back... (Judges 18:26)
...unto the base... (Numbers 8:4)
...Noah walked... (Genesis 6:9)
Let us go and sacrifice... (Exodus 5:8)
And Moses lifted up his hand and smote... with his rod... (Numbers 20:11)
...the...hide... (Leviticus 20:4)
...a long blast... (Joshua 6:5)
...[outside] the camp... (Judges 7:17)
...[for] an 'omer... (Exodus 16:36)
And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted... (1 Samuel 17:52)
Hyman S. Baras, a baseball fan and religious scholar, died in 2003. His son Larry Baras granted permission to reprint this essay, which first appeared on the Israel Baseball League Web site.
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Comments (3)
My longtime baseball fanatic friend Pete Pepke in Pennsylvania faxed this to me. I've never seen anything more wonderful...certainly to be part of Christmas mailings.
Posted by Bill Knowles on November 17,2008 | 03:36 PM
I gave a copy to a Jesuit friend of mine and he regaled his fellow priest with it.
Posted by Don Wieman on October 28,2008 | 03:18 PM
Really funny! I brought this into my Sunday School Class and they laughed really hard!
Posted by Arielle Sanghvi on October 5,2008 | 10:43 AM
As a member of the Congregation of Moses Men's Club softball team, this could not be more timely. Our team won our league championship 2 weeks ago for the first time in the "modern (post-biblical) era". Also, I believe you left off the last two words of the last line: "Mazel Tov"!
Posted by Ken Goodman on July 4,2008 | 01:24 AM
Nice!!! Real Nice!!! LOL very funny !!! PUNNY 2!!!!
Posted by Sierra Kiper on June 3,2008 | 03:26 PM