Bible Passage 2-Packs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gideon

John doesn't say why Nicodemus came to see Jesus at night, but it might well have been out of fear of putting his position and/or popularity at risk: Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews (John 3:1) and Jesus did tend to be a controversial character among that group of people. Later on, after Jesus' death, Nicodemus seemed to take a stand for Jesus by bringing a mixture of aloe and myrrh to put on Jesus' dead body (John 19:39). Sources outside the Bible say that Nicodemus had lost his position as a ruler after giving evidence in Jesus' favor during His trial in front of Pilate (according to ISV Encyclopedia, entry on Nicodemus).

The book of Judges describes Gideon as being motivated by fear of his father's household when he waited until night to destroy his father's altar to Baal, replacing it with an altar to God. The men of the city did an investigation of the destroyed altar, and somehow figured out that Gideon was the one. They wanted to kill Gideon, but Gideon's father refused to hand him over, arguing that if Baal was really a god, he could punish Gideon's actions himself and didn't need the men to defend his own altar. Gideon's father then referred to him as "Jerubbaal," which is believed to mean "Let Baal contend against him." Gideon's attempt to hide his action had failed, but he had been saved because his father had defended him, something he couldn't have controlled. Reference: Judges 6:25-32.

Answer: S/he never has enough

There's some evidence that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, but since at least some believe it might have been someone else, here I'll nickname Ecclesiastes' author as "Solomon or whoever."

Solomon or whoever records in Ecclesiastes how he looked into different things on earth and found that everything was meaningless. One of the things he describes as meaningless is living for wealth: "The one who loves money is never satisfied with money. . . This too is futile" (Ecclesiastes 5:10 HCSB). Solomon or whoever reports that he had seen cases where wealth actually harmed the person who owned it. Paul is in agreement with Solomon or whoever that love of money is unhelpful: A desire for riches, Paul says, is a trap that can destroy people and has caused some people to walk away from the Christian faith. References: Ecclesiastes 5:10-14, 1 Timothy 6:6-10

Answer: Shechem

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel in Shechem and gave his speech, first reviewing the history of what the true God, Yahweh, had done for Israel, and then encouraging them to serve Him. Joshua's audience promised that they would, so Joshua put a rock down in the area as a witness of the people's decision. Reference: Joshua 24:1-28

Later on in Shechem a very different man named Abimelech came to power. Gideon had been a father to 70 sons from his many wives and his concubine, who lived in Shechem. Abimelech was Gideon's son from the concubine. After Gideon died, Abimelech took control of Shechem by having his mother's brothers convince the Shechemites that it was better for one man to rule them than 70, adding that he was a relative to the Shechemites. Abimelech then murdered his 70 brothers, apparently to keep them from being contenders for the kingdom, and the city of Shechem announced him the new king. Reference: Judges 8:30-9:6

Yahweh wanted to punish Abimelech for his murder, as well as the Shechemites who had supported him. So He sent a demon to create tension between Abimelech and the city of Shechem. This led up to a series of events that ended with Abimelech being hit on the head with a millstone that a woman had dropped from a tower, giving him a wound in his skull. Abimelech's life ended when he commanded his armor-bearer to kill him. Reference: Judges 9:22-57

Answer: humility

"God gives grace to the humble," according to Proverbs 3:34 and James 4:6. An example of this: Judah, under King Reheboam's leadership, had been unfaithful to God; therefore God had allowed Shishak, an Egyptian ruler, to invade them, telling them through a prophet that He was abandoning them to Shishak since they had abandoned Him. Reheboam and the other Israelites became humble and admitted that God was in the right. God saw this, so He relented and decided not to allow them to be destroyed. (However, He still left them to go under Shishak's authority so they would see that serving Him was better than being a servant to earthly, foreign kings.) Reference: 2 Chronicles 12:1-12

Thanks to the "Our Daily Bread" devotional of April 26, 2014 for inspiring this question.

Answer: A tree

Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17 compare "the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path of sinners, or join a group of mockers" and "the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord," respectively, to trees (HCSB). Both symbolic trees are near water and produce fruit. References: Psalm 1:1-3 and Jeremiah 17:7-8

Answer: salt

It's rather interesting in light of Jesus' well-know teaching about the "salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13) that the Jews were required in the book of Leviticus to add salt, referred to as "the salt of the covenant with your God", whenever they made an offering of grain to God (Leviticus 2:13 HCSB).

A footnote in the Holman Christian Standard Bible (on Leviticus 2:13) says that salt was used to preserve food, and that it was a symbol that the covenant was permanent and everlasting. The incense used in the temple followed a specific formula that also required salt (Exodus 30:35).

Answer: yeast

When Jesus told the disciples to "watch out and beware of the yeast [sometimes translated leaven] of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (HCSB), the disciples initially thought Jesus was complaining that they'd forgotten to take bread for their trip. Jesus told them that He hadn't meant bread, and then they realized it was the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees Jesus was warning against, not actually yeast. (Pharisees and Sadducess were two different classes of Jewish teachers that existed in Jesus' day.) Reference: Matthew 16:5-12

Yeast and honey were both no-nos for any Jew to put in a grain offering to God (Leviticus 2:11). Christian writer R.C. Sproul suggests that reason could be that both yeast and honey cause fermentation, which could symbolize corruption (Reformation Study Bible on Leviticus 2:11).

Answer: water

God complains in Jeremiah 2:13 (HCSB),
"[My people] have abandoned Me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that cannot hold water."

Of course this is comparable to Jesus' statement to the woman at the well: "Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again- ever!" (John 4:14 HCSB)

Answer: human flesh

Jesus says in Matthew 6:26 that God feeds the birds of the sky; and apparently it's true even while the Rider on the white horse whose name is "Faithful and True" is waging war on the Beast and the armies and kings of the earth. An angel who is standing in the sun calls the birds together to eat the flesh of the enemy armies.

The Faithful and True Rider then defeats His enemies on the earth. The Beast is thrown into the lake of fire, the rest are killed with the sword of the Rider, and the birds eat to their heart's content on the dead bodies. Reference: Revelation 19:11-21

Answer: break a bruised reed

Just thought I would end on a positive note after my "human flesh" question. God prophesies in Isaiah,
"This is My Servant; I strengthen Him,
this is My Chosen One; I delight in Him.
I have put My Spirit on Him;
He will bring justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or shout
or make His voice heard in the streets.
He will not break a bruised reed,
and He will not put out a smoldering wick" (Isaiah 42:1-3 HCSB).
(In the New Testament this is claimed to be about- you guessed it- Jesus [Matthew 12:16-20].) Hebrews explains that believers are privileged to have "not. . . a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin" (HCSB); therefore we can approach God boldly to find grace when we need it. Reference: Hebrews 4:15-16