Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

jonah-moses-noah

2015-08-28 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
jonah-moses-noah
Votey panel for jonah-moses-noah
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

The Joke

Two kids decide to play a biblical version of Rock-Paper-Scissors called "Jonah-Moses-Noah." The rules are: Jonah beats Noah because Jonah survived inside a whale during the flood; Noah beats Moses because Noah can flood out Moses' parted sea; and Moses beats Jonah because Moses can part the sea under the whale. They play, but both throw the same hand gesture (an open palm), and one declares "Immune to all water attacks!" The other asks "What's that?" and the answer is "Jesus" -- because Jesus could walk on water.

The Humor

The comic works on several levels. First, it's a clever parody of Rock-Paper-Scissors where the three biblical figures are chosen specifically because their most famous stories all involve water (Jonah and the whale, Noah and the flood, Moses parting the Red Sea), creating a circular logic of who beats whom, just like rock-paper-scissors.

Second, the punchline introduces Jesus as an overpowered "move" that breaks the game -- since Jesus walked on water, he's immune to all water-based attacks. This is the equivalent of a kid on the playground declaring they have an invincible shield, which is both theologically cheeky and true to how children actually play made-up games.

The humor also comes from treating biblical narratives as a competitive power-ranking system, reducing profound religious stories to a children's hand game.

References

The comic references three Old Testament narratives: Jonah being swallowed by a great fish (Book of Jonah), Noah's Ark and the great flood (Genesis 6-9), and Moses parting the Red Sea (Exodus 14). The punchline references Jesus walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33).

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