Biblical Alphabetics -- The Letter 'X' Quiz

Answer: Exodus

Exodus is the correct answer. It's the second book in the Bible, appearing after Genesis. Exodus tells of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and traveling to Canaan.

Answer: Sixth

The answer is 'sixth'. The first chapter of Genesis, of course, tells of God creating the world and the 31st verse tells of Day Six. Genesis 1:31, in the NKJV, states: "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day."

Answer: Xerxes

In the NIV Bible, King Ahasuerus is known as Xerxes. According to Esther 1:1, Ahasuerus/Xerxes ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. The book of Esther begins with the account of the king dumping Queen Vashti during the third year of his reign.

It would put things in motion for Esther to become queen and play a pivotal role in preventing the extermination of Jews in the immense area ruled by Ahasuerus/Xerxes. Of course, when the king appointed Esther queen, he did not know she was a Jew.

Answer: Artaxerxes

Artaxerxes is the correct answer. The second chapter of Nehemiah tells of King Artaxerxes giving permission to Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall around it. Nehemiah, of course, is the central figure in the Book of Nehemiah which tells of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.

Answer: 12

The correct answer is 12. Out of the 12 spies, only two -- Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh -- came back with upbeat reports about conquering the land of Canaan.

The other ten came back with pessimistic reports and according to the 14th chapter of Numbers, all died of a plague before the LORD.

The ten who died were: 1.) from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur; 2.) from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; 3.) from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; 4.) from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; 5.) from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; 6.) from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi; 7.) from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; 8.) from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; 9.) from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; 10.) from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. Their names can be found in Numbers 13:4-15.

Numbers 13:16 states Moses gave Hoshea, son of Nun, the name Joshua at the time the spies were sent to check out the land in Canaan.

Answer: 2 Samuel

The verse is from 2 Samuel 22:16. The imagery in the verse conjures up thoughts of the miraculous parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14), notes in the NKJV Study Bible suggest. The 22nd chapter of 2 Samuel is largely about praise for God's deliverance.

Answer: The Good Samaritan

The passage is from the Good Samaritan, a parable that appears in only the Gospel of Luke. (Actually, the parables involving the Prodigal Son, The Rich Man and Lazarus and The Lost Sheep also appear in only Luke.) In Biblical times, Jews and Samaritans did not associate with each other and were often bitter adversaries.

However, Samaritans are often painted in a good light in the Gospels with the parable of the Good Samaritan being a prime example. An incident that leaps to mind is Jesus meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well. And here's another example: In the case of the ten lepers being healed by Jesus and only one returning to give thanks, Scripture indicates the one who returned was a Samaritan. (Luke 17:16.)

Answer: Babylon

Babylon is the correct answer. Revelation is an extremely complex book and difficult to understand. As a result, there are so many different views on Revelation and what it "really means." However, one way to simplify the book is to look at it as a tale of two cities -- Babylon and the New Jerusalem.

As indicated in the 18th chapter of Revelation, Babylon has a horrific future. However, the 21st chapter of Revelation is about the glorious future for the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem.

Answer: Philippians

The passage is from Philippians 4:8. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, wrote the book which was addressed to members of the early church in Philippi. Among the people who attended the church were Lydia and her household and the Philippi jailer and his household. Details about the conversion of Lydia and the jailer are found in Acts 16:11-34. Philippians 4:8 is one of my favorite Bible verses and I suspect many other Christians feel the same way.

Answer: True

True. This topic can be extremely controversial with many evangelical Christians strongly opposed to using the letter 'X' to denote Christ.

However, use of the term 'Xmas' is nothing new. According to Wikipedia, 'Xmas' is found in a letter from George Woodward in 1753 and Lord Byron used the term in 1811, as did Samuel Coleridge in 1801 and Lewis Carroll in 1864.

In 1898, Canada issued a special postage stamp with a map of what was then the British Empire and the words 'Xmas 1898' at the bottom.

"The word 'Christ' and its compounds, including 'Christmas', have been abbreviated in English for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern 'Xmas' was commonly used," Wikipedia reports. "'Christ' was often written as 'XP' or 'Xt'; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as AD 1021."

However, many evangelical Christians, of which I am one, look upon the word 'Xmas' with disdain.

For example, Wikipedia quotes Franklin Graham as stating the following in an interview on CNN: "For us as Christians, this is one of the most holy of the holidays, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. And for people to take Christ out of Christmas. They're happy to say merry Xmas. Let's just take Jesus out. And really, I think, a war against the name of Jesus Christ."