games
  博奕
  Games
     (1.) Of children (Zech. 8:5; Matt. 11:16). The Jewish youth were
     also apparently instructed in the use of the bow and the sling
     (Judg. 20:16; 1 Chr. 12:2).
       (2.) Public games, such as were common among the Greeks and
     Romans, were foreign to the Jewish institutions and customs.
     Reference, however, is made to such games in two passages (Ps.
     19:5; Eccl. 9:11).
       (3.) Among the Greeks and Romans games entered largely into
     their social life.
       (a) Reference in the New Testament is made to gladiatorial
     shows and fights with wild beasts (1 Cor. 15:32). These were
     common among the Romans, and sometimes on a large scale.
       (b) Allusion is frequently made to the Grecian gymnastic
     contests (Gal. 2:2; 5:7; Phil. 2:16; 3:14; 1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim.
     2:5; Heb. 12:1, 4, 12). These were very numerous. The Olympic,
     Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games were esteemed as of great
     national importance, and the victors at any of these games of
     wrestling, racing, etc., were esteemed as the noblest and the
     happiest of mortals.