The High Priest's Personal Bingo Board
An Ancient Bingo Reference
Although Bingo is always seen as a game that was developed fairly recently, I discovered that there is a reference to what may really have been one of the original bingo games of all times. This discovery is based on a number of assumptions. The first is that in ancient days, various forms of lotteries were used in order to divine the will of G-d (this is true today too - in certain cultures). Now I will describe to you avid readers what I have discovered.
The Biblical High Priest
The Bible describes the clothes of the high priest which officiated in the Tabernacle which was built by the Israelites in the desert. One particular item that was worn by the high priest was known as a "Hosen". The hosen is depicted as a vest like item of clothing which had twelve precious stones embedded in it. I recently saw a picture of this item of clothing and the resemblance to a bingo board was incredible (although with less rows and lines - of course). I later learned that according to ancient traditions the hosen was used to divine G-d's will at various occasions. King Saul and King David who followed after both used this method of communication extensively (in particular King David who asked advice from G-d very often). The hosen was supposed to have had all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet on it in order to enable the writing out of messages.
My Conclusion
My conclusion from all this is that the hosen was obviously some sort of letter lottery which involved scoring on a bingo board which was part of the dress code of the officiating high priest. Of course, other interpretations are possible (like describing the function of the hosen as a sort of Ouija board for example). Nonetheless, I like bingo, my blog is a bingo blog and I think it is fun to imagine high priests playing bingo games with King David and King Saul.
