Games: 1. Of children
(Zechariah 8:5; Matthew 11:16) The Jewish youth were also
apparently instructed in the use of the bow and the sling(Judges 20:16; 1 Chronicles 12:2)
2. Public games, such as were common among the Greeks and Romans,
were foreign to the Jewish institutions and customs. Reference,
however, is made to such games in two passages
(Psalms 19:5; Ecclesiastes 9:11)
3. Among the Greeks and Romans games entered largely into their
social life.
a. Reference in the New Testament is made to gladiatorial
shows and fights with wild beasts
(1 Corinthians 15:32) These were
common among the Romans, and sometimes on a large scale.
b. Allusion is frequently made to the Grecian gymnastic
contests
(Galatians 2:2; 5:7; Philippians 2:16; 3:14; 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 2:5)
(Hebrews 12:1,4,12) These were very numerous. The Olympic,
Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games were esteemed as of
great national importance, and the victors at any of these
games of wrestling, racing, etc., were esteemed as the
noblest and the happiest of mortals.
