What did the ancient Israel do for entertainment?

Answer 1

We know from the Tanakh (Bible) about Musical Instruments, dance, wine and song. Beyond that, not much is said, since unlike the ancient Greeks, the Israelites (until mid-Second Temple times) did not build theaters or arenas.

Answer 2

For the most part there was not a lot of entertainment for persons in the Old Testament. Most of the population was very poor and had small farms or herds of sheep and cattle, which took up most of their time just trying to eke out a living. These endeavors took most of the family members helping also. Perhaps there were some kind of family games that helped the family in keeping a balance, but there would have not been any outside entertainment to speak of, as there was no ball games to go see, or amusement parks, and of course no movies or TV.

For the next class up there probably was fishing, hunting, neighbor get to gathers and small parties if there was the time.

For the ultra rich they could afford more entertainment probably of their own making plus they could afford to travel to closer towns and villages. Their servants could also entertain the children with things that would entertain them.

For the more baser sort of people there was drinking, houses of prostitution and other things of that sort.

It is hard to think of not having any entertainment as we have so much extra time and things to do today, but if you look just a short period back in history in America entertainment was also hard to come by.

Back in the late 30's when I was born children played outside with neighbor children making up games and things to do. For the older folks, some played games also, cards, bingo, horse shoes etc, fishing, reading, and on a special occasion a movie.