Christmas bible joke: Santa Claus is biblical!

Zechariah 2:6
Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord.

While this bible joke seems funny in our culture, in Zechariah’s time [about 410-403 B.C.], it wasn’t so humorous.

According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs concordance, [Definition of Ho] the word ho comes from the Hebrew word “hoy” and usually expresses dissatisfaction and pain, the opposite of Santa Clauses’ HO HO HO.

This word is used 51 times in the bible, and is translated “woe” 34x, “alas” 11x, “ho” 2x, “ho there” 2x and “ah” 2x.

This verse also has the figure of speech epizeuxis, which literally means duplication.   Its the use of the same word in the same sense in the same verse.  Its purpose is to emphasize what is being said by repeating it twice, repeating it twice.

British Dictionary definitions for ho
interjection
1. Also ho-ho. an imitation or representation of the sound of a deep laugh
2. an exclamation used to attract attention, announce a destination, etc: what ho!, land ho!, westward ho!

What’s an interjection?

British Dictionary definitions for interjection
noun
1. a word or remark expressing emotion; exclamation
2. the act of interjecting
3. a word or phrase that is characteristically used in syntactic isolation and that usually expresses sudden emotion; expletive interj.

British Dictionary definitions for alas
sentence connector
1. unfortunately; regrettably: there were, alas, none left

interjection
2. an exclamation of grief, compassion, or alarm

The important point is that we properly understand the verse and that we are just having a little fun for the holidays with a bible joke.

Happy Holidays everyone!