Biblical Philosophy of Humor: Genesis 18:12-15

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In this week's post, I want to cover the apparently second occurrence of the term "laughter" in the Bible. Well, technically, the second, third, fourth, and fifth occurrences of "laughter," because they all cover the same instance of laughter.

The text reads: "Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh" (KJV). So, what induces Sarah's laughter here? The text is obvious, and the situation is the same as with the first occurrence of laughter in the Bible, which occurrence we covered in the previous post of this series on a Biblical philosophy of humor: Sarah hearing that, at her old age (when she is past her natural child-bearing phase), she will bear a child to Abraham. So, the comedic principle here is the same as that of the last post in this series: laughter is induced by an absurd scenario (people perceiving absurdity based on their respective standards of reality and truth). Therefore, the application for how to make God-glorifying comedy is the same as well: construct absurd scenarios for your audience in such a way where the absurdity shows the truth of how great God is!

A short, concluding note: this series will most likely be repetitive in SOME other posts, because this series won't be topical, but rather a look at each time "laugh" or related words are used in the Bible.