Divine Sarcasm

Is God funny? Does God tell jokes? Have you ever considered whether God has a sense of humor?

This may not be a topic that you’ve heard a preacher talk about during a church sermon, but is there something we can learn about God’s sense of humor?

I think God does have a sense of humor, and the biblical record shows it in surprising ways. While humor may not be listed as one of the traditional attributes of God, it certainly appears to be an important and effective tool that He uses to help us understand more about His will and wisdom. Humor, particularly sarcasm, is a way for God to disarm us, challenge our assumptions, and open our hearts to deeper truths that we might not otherwise be ready to hear. So, in this class, I want to explore with you the topic of divine humor, specifically the use of sarcasm, and how it functions as a profound teaching method.

Let’s start with The Story of Balaam:

Balaam was a non-Israelite prophet, a man who had the ability to bless or curse others, and he was sought by King Balak of Moab. Balak wanted to defeat the Israelites, who were encamped near Moab, and he thought that by hiring Balaam to curse the Israelites, he could ensure their defeat.

However, God told Balaam not to go with Balak’s messengers and not to curse the Israelites, because they were blessed. Despite this, after Balaam insisted, God allowed him to go, but with strict instructions to speak only what God told him. I will read the story in full, because it has a lot to teach us. We start with King Balak’s envoy to request that Balaam comes with them to see the king: 

⁷ The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.

⁸ “Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the Lord gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him.

⁹ God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”

¹⁰ Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: ¹¹ ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’”

¹² But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”

¹³ The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.”

¹⁴ So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

¹⁵ Then Balak sent other officials, more numerous and more distinguished than the first. ¹⁶ They came to Balaam and said:

“This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, ¹⁷ because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.”

¹⁸ But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God. ¹⁹ Now spend the night here so that I can find out what else the Lord will tell me.”

²⁰ That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”

²¹ Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. ²² But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.

²⁴ Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. ²⁵ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.

²⁶ Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. ²⁷ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. ²⁸ Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

²⁹ Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”

³⁰ The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

“No,” he said.

³¹ Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

³² The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.^[a] 33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”

³⁴ Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”

³⁵ The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.

It is easy to see the humor in this story. It is not just that the donkey spoke to Balaam, and the absurdity of Balaam’s having a heated argument with his donkey, it is also for the fact that the donkey was clearly more spiritually mature than Balaam.  This is where I thought the Divine humor is in this story, but that’s not where we find the sarcasm. Notice this interplay between God’s will and Balaam’s will in this story. God first says to Balaam not to go with the messengers. But when the highly distinguished officials came to invite Balaam for the second time, Balaam had to double check with God for what God wanted. It is funny that God tells him “yes” this time. Was it really God who told him yes, or did Balaam just hear what he wanted to hear? On the road with the donkey, the angel was blocking Balaam’s way three times, effectively telling him a strong “no” again. And then, once Balaam sees the angel, Balaam gets another “yes” to go. No, Yes, No, Yes. God was effectively playing yoyo with Balaam’s will. Why this confusion? Why this sarcasm? Why not just tell Balaam yes from the start? Although the story doesn’t say this outright, it does seem that what Balaam wanted was to go and meet with king Balak, it is a high honor after all. Instead of telling him “no” a second time, God allows Balaam to experience a series of back-and-forth responses, almost as if saying, “You want something, and you keep pushing for it, but are you really hearing what I am saying?” There’s a level of irony in the fact that Balaam has to keep asking God for clarification, even though God has already told him what He wants. It’s as if God is mocking Balaam’s stubbornness in a playful and sarcastic way.

It seems that God wanted to teach Balaam something. That something is that, in the end, it is only God’s will that will manifest, not ours. This is a very hard lesson for us to learn. What about our free will? What about praying harder? What about insistence and persistence? God was showing Balaam (and us, as readers) that human willpower and persistence will not override divine purpose. We can ask, push, or even insist, but in the end, God’s will will always be done, whether we understand it or not. What I hope you can appreciate in this story is the effectiveness of sarcasm as a divine tool to teach us this difficult lesson. 

Balaam goes on to meet king Balak, who takes him to three different places to try and curse the Israelites. All the places were significant in that Balak divined that the Israelites would sin in those places. But, instead of curses, the most wonderful blessings and praise came out from Balaam’s mouth for the Israelites. God’s will was done. 

Next, I would like to turn to the story of Job. There’s not enough time to recap everything in detail. Just quickly, Job and his friends had heated discussions about sin and tried to answer why these bad things had happened to Job. Job rejected his friends’ premise that he must have sinned, otherwise, how can this suffering have befallen him. Instead, Job said that if he gets a court hearing in heaven, he is confident he would win his case against God. Job just wanted to understand why he was suffering, since he clearly did not deserve it. 

God does answer Job in this instance.  Job 38:1 says Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. God answers from a whirlwind, a storm, a tornado.In the case of Elijah, God was not in the whirlwind, but in a still small voice. How God shows up in each story is highly significant. 

The first question that God asks was 38:2 “Who is this who darkens counsel with words without knowledge? This rebuke was most likely directed at Elihu, not Job. Elihu had given four speeches to Job (six chapters and 165 verses!), but these speeches contained no knowledge. They contained dark counsel. It was satanic counsel. 

The next thing God says to job is 38:3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform me! The Hebrew word for “man” is גָּ֫בֶר (gibor), means a strong man, mighty man, or a warrior. God was asking Job to get ready for the fight. Job challenged God and God answered the challenge. God was about to have a spiritual wrestling match with Job. God then proceeds to asks Job 77 rhetorical questions that are dripping with divine sarcasm. Let’s explore some of these and keep an eye/ear for the sarcasm.  

The first question is:

38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you possess knowledge!

38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of deepest darkness? 

38:18 Have you considered the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know it all!

38:19 “In what direction does light reside, and darkness, where is its place, 38:20 that you may take them to their borders and perceive the pathways to their homes?

38:21 You know, for you were born before them; and the number of your days is great!

38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go? Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

It is not difficult to find the sarcasm in these questions. There’s a heavy dose of mockery as well. But I think it is important for us to distinguish that God was not mocking the personhood of Job, as we tend to do with our human sarcasm. What God was mocking was Job’s understanding of the world. Job’s simplistic knowledge that gave him the confidence to challenge God to this dueling match. We tend to be overconfident in our knowledge, our understanding, and our ability to grasp the complexities of life, especially when things go wrong. But God’s questions reveal the humbling gap between our limited human understanding and His infinite wisdom. The sarcasm in God’s questions isn’t aimed at disrespecting Job’s dignity, but rather at highlighting how out of place Job’s challenge was in light of God’s supreme knowledge and control over the universe.

The divine sarcasm here strips away Job’s presumptions. God doesn’t just ask Job if he understands the world—He mocks the very idea that Job, as a finite human being, could possibly comprehend the vastness of creation. The tone is one of both humor and irony, a reminder that our human limitations often lead us to overestimate what we know and understand about life, suffering, and the world around us.

As we know, the story does not end with sarcasm. As in the case of Jacob after he lost his battle with God, Job also gets the blessing after the fight. Job then proceeds to pray one of the greatest prayers in the bible: “I know that You can do all things, and that no plan is impossible for You. ‘Who is this who darkens counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore, I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I do not know. ‘Please listen, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore, I retract, And I repent, sitting on dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1-6)

The blessing is that through his fight with God, Job was able to see God instead of just hearing about Him. It is a personal encounter. Job’s experience transforms him from an intellectual understanding of God to a deep, intimate revelation of God’s identity. This moment is not about having all the answers to Job’s suffering, but about recognizing God’s presence in the midst of it. Job goes from questioning and demanding explanations to submitting in awe of the Creator. The divine sarcasm serves as a catalyst for this transformation, stripping away Job’s pride and helping him realize that God is beyond human comprehension, but still intimately involved in his life.

Job’s humility after his wrestling match with God is the real victory. The fight aligned Job’s heart with God’s will. In that revelation, Job finds peace and restores his trust in God.

I’m genuinely surprised at how effective divine sarcasm is at invoking humility in us. I think God employs sarcasm in the lives of every one of us. Observing divine sarcasm in your life and having a laugh at yourself and your situation is a deeply humbling yet spiritually profound experience. It’s a moment where you share a laugh with God. Through sarcasm, God teaches us not to take ourselves too seriously. To be able to observe this sarcasm, and be humbled by it, is a divine gift. It is a spiritual blessing that helps us, like Job, to know God on an intimate level, and like Balaam, to be a blessing to those around us. 

What do you think of sarcasm as a divine teaching tool? Have you been able to see this sarcasm during some of your life challenges? 

(Sources:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3715894/jewish/Balaam-and-Balak-The-Full-Story.htm

https://yebc.net/yebc-study-bible/…/job/1090-job-38-39-god-s-77-questions)

Donald: I don’t know how God would not have a sense of humor, and we would. I mean, humor must be something that God understands and recognizes. There is value in it. But the idea of divine sarcasm is a little harder for me to swallow. According to ChatGPT, divine sarcasm speaks to the playful yet profound nature of the Divine, unafraid to use irony and wit to reveal truths it might be too uncomfortable to face head-on. 

If God has a sense of humor, it’s likely that divine sarcasm serves as a way to prod humanity toward greater self-awareness, humility, and spiritual enlightenment. What could be more divine than to call us out of our own absurdities with love and purpose through a little well-timed sarcasm?

So that helps me, no question about it. The story of Balaam’s donkey is kind of funny, talking back to its owner. It almost sounds like a cartoon. I think it’s worth exploring. I don’t know how we could think that we would have humor as part of who we are and what we’re about, and God not putting that in our human makeup.

It can be used in a negative way, too. Much humor involves making fun of something else, which is not too God-honoring, for sure. After Adam and Eve hid in the Garden of Eden, and God called out, “Where are you?” I think God knew where they were. He just wanted to hear what they would say.

Carolyn: I have always felt God had a sense of humor. But when it comes to the word sarcasm, I’ve always understood it as very negative—it was a sly put-down or a sly way of saying something that you wanted someone to get and didn’t have the courage to say outright. I’m trying to process what you said, but I fully have always believed that God has a sense of humor. I can smile during the day and think, “Oh my goodness, the Lord really has a sense of humor to put this in my life.”

Don: I think Michael made a distinction between God’s sarcasm and our sarcasm. Our sarcasm tends to have a personal aspect to it that is belittling, whereas God’s sarcasm comes in the form of rhetorical questions which have an educational value. So I think it’s not the sarcasm itself but what He is being sarcastic about that matters. It’s not a belittling of the individual personally, but is perhaps critical of the situation or the event in a sarcastic way.

David: I often have often said I’d like to rewrite the Bible and make it very, very short. The lesson from the stories of Balaam and Job has been said in six Chinese words at the very opening of the Dao De Jing, the Daoist “bible.” Translated, the words amount to a few more than six, but they are still far few than the word in the Bible stories: “The road that can be trodden is not the real road. The thing that can be named is not the real thing.” 

I think those words sum up the lesson of the stories of Balaam and Job. In either case, the end result is enlightenment, so both are valuable, but one just takes an awful lot longer to say.

Don: Over and over again in the scriptures we see educational value in God’s questioning of man. When God shows up, the questions start. I wonder if there’s as much value in the short declarative statement as there is in letting one come to conclusions on their own based on questions that prompt thinking and contemplation.

David: The Daoist approach is almost preemptive: “Don’t even ask, because you’re never going to understand it. So don’t even try.” Job was told, in essence: “You’ve tried and you’ve wasted your time because you’re never going to understand God.” The Dao De Jing is preemptive and the Bible is after the event, but that is the only difference I can see between them.

Donald: The value of humor is that it creates bonding. When people laugh together, they bond. Humor allows us to view the world in different ways. Laughter has numerous health benefits. It diffuses conflict; it makes life enjoyable. So certainly, those are some values that I think God would allow man to benefit from.

But I’ve never thought about God having a sense of humor. I’ve thought about animals having a sense of humor. In God creating those animals, you’ve got to have a sense of humor. When you look at them, it’s like, where—how did this come to be? But God himself having a sense of humor, that’s a good thing for us to explore. If you want to look at some examples, go on YouTube and explore two comedians who find themselves in church environments all the time: Michael Jr. and Mark Lowery. 

We don’t tend to think of church as a place of laughs. Smiles, yes, but not laughs, although preachers tell stories sometimes that make us laugh.

Carolyn: Humor is a wonderful way to make very hard situations more palatable to yourself and people around you. It makes them feel more at ease with whatever you’re going through, if you can find just a little spot. I call it sweet humor—it is not negative. And I love it. I don’t have a sense of humor, but I appreciate in others, who make me laugh. t I can see the health value in laughing and smiling.

Don: For sure, laughter is a good medicine.

Kiran: Is it helpful when scripture is almost poetic, as in Job? I understand the humor in the book of Job. Relating to what David said: I’ve spent time in India, and then here in America. Sometimes I listen to sermons given in India, as well as sermons given in America. In America, the sermons get straight to the point and are about 20 minutes long. But in India, they’re an hour long and boringly repetitive, yet the congregations laugh and get into them.

In America, there is a lot of stoicism. You get straight to the point; you don’t waste people’s time. But in India, you just have to keep going at it. The Sabbath lasts the whole day there. I understand that there are cultural differences in how we talk about different things. Probably, for an audience in America or Europe, you don’t need to repeat things several times. But certainly for an Indian audience, at least when and where I used to live there, a point had to be repeated three or four times for it to sink in.

Sometimes sarcasm and humor help understanding. In the earlier days of my Christianity, I used to like sermons that were funny. I remembered their messages better. But now I don’t really care about humor. I want them to just get to the point.

Maybe God uses sarcasm or jokes to not only humble us but also to make us remember the big point. I don’t know how, but culturally there is a difference.

Don: A talking donkey is strange enough, but it seems even stranger for a prophet to engage a donkey in conversation—which he does so with the assistance of the Bright Angel, which in this case is grace.

The path that Balaam is on is the metaphorical road of life. He’s confronting difficulty and hardship, and grace is not only enabling: it’s also disabling. In this case, it is disabling that which is going against God’s will. And so we see here that the Divine Light, which indicates grace, is a disabling factor in some cases, if we need to be disabled.

Kiran: Those of us who have pets think that they talk to us. We certainly talk to them, and they do communicate some things to us. In farming you also try to understand animals. So I wouldn’t really think it is so surprising for the prophet to talk with his donkey.

David: True prophets should have known that one day AI would interpret between animals and humans. There is serious work going on to do exactly that right now.

Donald: The illustration that we’re talking about here—to talk to a donkey is one thing; to talk to a lion is quite a difference. A lion, we think, is smart and intelligent, and there might be something gained by listening to the wise animal. But a donkey—that’s on the other end of the spectrum, for sure.

Anonymous: To understand Michael’s viewpoint, first of all, you have to be from the Aran background we share. We understand sarcasm and humor in a different way than here. That is so clear when we hear jokes from here and end up just wondering, “What’s funny about that?” And it’s the same the other way around.

When Michael started talking, the first thought that came to mind is that God, through the donkey, was telling Balaam, “What part of ‘No!’don’t you understand?” But not in a reprimanding way—rather, in a way that a loving father would tell his child: “I told you no, but I can see through your feelings, and you’re still not accepting this no. I don’t want to force it on you, so let me use another way. Maybe it’ll be easier for you to comprehend.” And then the donkey talked, and Balaam started to understand. He stopped saying no—or rather, he stopped saying, “I want to go. I wish you, Lord, would let me go, because it’s an honor for me. I like that. Let me go.” But God used a very simple, loving, and easy-to-understand way that led Balaam to the conviction that he should not go. By the time he was already on the way, there was now a different determination in his heart and a different understanding of God. He committed to saying only God’s word.

Michael asked if we’ve ever had this kind of experience. I remember many times while reading the Bible, in different frames of mind or thought. I would be a little bit burdened—maybe normal, maybe trying to get closer to God and understand what I was reading. But I remember bursting into out-loud laughter, just because I was reading something from God’s Word that made me really, really—what’s the word?—in good spirits. I wanted to laugh. I mean, with every meaning of the word. Laughing not sarcastically, but just the opposite. I felt like God had really told me something to make me feel great and laugh.

I don’t remember what verses led me to those situations. But bottom line, I would say it’s not about whether God is sarcastic or humorous. It’s about how we come to see Him. It comes out of the personal experience with God—when you’re sitting with Him, talking to Him, reading His Word, saying your thoughts, and He’s telling you from His Word. In that conversation, God is able to use every way to come close to His child. It’s always constructive, always good, always getting the point through. It’s always nice.

Some people may not see these things in God because they haven’t experienced them. It saddens me that we have to learn about God through the internet. When we have a question that’s bewildering us, we go directly to ask, “God sarcasm?” and we find the answer from AI telling us how we’re supposed to see God—telling us about God, as though all the experience we’ve had with Him didn’t even show us what God is or how God is. It’s sad.

Don’t we have any kind of human relationships we can compare to God? If someone you like or love, someone you’re in a good relationship with, makes you laugh, would you accuse them of being sarcastic or looking down on you? No, you would take it with happiness and joy. This person is your friend, someone you love. So they’re free to use any method to talk to you—whether to make you laugh, make you cry, confuse you for a while (for good reason, so you can find out later), or simply communicate with all loving graciousness.

I can see very clearly that those moments when I burst out laughing were 100% divine. God wanted to get His point through to me. Many times, even through tears—when I’m complaining, crying, or burdened—I’m overwhelmed. But at the same time, I’m talking to God, and out of nowhere, He makes me cry or laugh. Oh, praise God. Praise God for all the attributes of God that we see in Him as we grow with Him, as we come closer to Him, and as we come to know Him more. He’s got way more than we can understand about Him, but He always surprises us.

For Balaam, it was to construct him and change his heart. As for Job, I can see God talking with sadness. God is saddened that this human being, Job, whom He loves very much, cannot see His greatness. So God takes the time and lowers Himself to Job’s level of thinking, entering into a discussion with him. It’s very, very beneficial for Job to see the greatness of God, which is a privilege God wanted to share with Job. As a sad-hearted father would tell his son, “Don’t you still doubt my love? Let me show you. Answer the questions if you can.”

But He wasn’t completely sarcastic. Even if we see Him being sarcastic, I think there’s an underlying layer of sadness in God’s heart. As humans, sometimes we talk sarcastically or in humor while our hearts are heavy. It’s like spreading some sugar on top—we don’t want to show our real sadness, so we throw out some jokes. This is how I see God trying to bring something through to Job. And of course, He succeeded as always.

God always surprises us with ways to help us see Him, get closer to Him, and fall deeper in love with Him. He is always there for us.

Reinhard: In the Bible—the entire Bible—I don’t see any humorous verses. It’s interesting, but I think only Ecclesiastes 11:9 mentions laughter. The verse says to make a slow laugh; I think that’s what I can see here. Jesus and even Paul never have any story about having what you would call “fun.” But Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” I think the word “rejoice” can have a broad meaning.

Of course, in sermons, some pastors make us think a little bit, maybe not only smile but laugh, just to make the congregation pay attention. I think this is just part of our human nature—what you would call “things for us.” To me, there’s also the verse that mentions God frolicking with Leviathan. So that’s another mention of God playing with certain creations. We don’t know when that happened—before the creation of man or whatever.

All in all, I think the message we see during Jesus’ ministry is always a serious one. I would say the message of rejoicing in the Lord is most important. When God was talking to Job, I believe the sarcastic words and the questions He asked had a purpose. It’s interesting: the way I read Job again, I found that Job did not commit sin until chapter 3, after the second test. But once he had that company—those friends—his perspective changed. When we meet people, the conversations or their ideas can shift our own thinking.

I think that’s what happened with Job. When he started complaining about himself, saying he should not have been born and things like that, he began to undermine God’s power and sovereignty. He started claiming his righteousness. I think that was a slight sin he committed. When Elihu mentioned that Job complained, it was true. By complaining, Job undermined God’s justice. In Job 40:8, God said, “Would you discredit my justice?” So Job, early on, passed the tests without sinning. But later, he committed a small sin by discrediting God. It was forgivable, of course, which is why God restored his status, his wealth, and his family.

I think in our lives, the most important thing is to rejoice in the Lord. We shouldn’t question things to the point of discrediting God’s justice. That’s something we need to remember. Job’s life shows us this lesson.

As for humor, I think God gave it to us to help us socialize with our fellow humans. It’s important. Although God—and even Jesus—never showed humorous actions during His time on earth, humor is something we’ve been given to connect with others.

Don: In the book of Proverbs, it says, “A merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” So, we don’t want any dry bones around here. I think Michael has been very provocative in helping us think about these aspects of God that we don’t normally consider.

We’ll maybe answer some more questions on this topic next week, with further discussion. In the teachings and message of Jesus, I do think He uses humor, irony, and even divine sarcasm.

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