Biblical Numbers -- 51 to 60 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Commiting adultery with Bathsheba

According to the introductory notes to Psalm 51 in the NKJV Bible, David wrote the prayer of repentance after he was confronted by Nathan the prophet about his committing adultery with Bathsheba and his subsequent actions.

The notes at the beginning of Psalm 51 state, "To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba."

David committed adultery with Bathsheba after her husband Uriah was away at war. However, when she became pregnant things spiraled out of control with David orchestrating the death of Uriah and then taking Bathsheba as his wife. (See 2 Samuel 11)

Here's how Psalm 51 reads in the NKJV:
"Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your loving kindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight --
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart --
These, O God, You will not despise.
Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar."

Psalm 51 has been set to modern music and it is sung in various churches today.

Answer: Jeremiah

Jeremiah contains fifty-two chapters. For the record, Genesis has fifty chapters, Psalms has hundred and fifty chapters and Ruth has four.

"The Book of Jeremiah perhaps more vividly than any other book of the Bible, reveals the inner struggles of a prophet of God," notes in the NKJV Study Bible state. "In 'confessions' such as those in 15:10-21; 20:7-18, Jeremiah candidly reveals his inner turmoil concerning his call to prophetic ministry."

The study notes go on to state: "Indeed the prophet's anguish over the message of judgment upon his people and the coming destruction of the land was at times overwhelming (4:19-22). Yet despite his anguish, Jeremiah fulfilled his ministry of proclaiming God's judgment against the people of Judah for their idolatry, their unfaithfulness to the covenant and their obstinate disobedience of His will. Long acknowledged as one of the great prophets of the Old Testament, Jeremiah serves to this day as an example of someone who remained faithful to the word of God despite countless hardships."

Answer: They believe it fortells the suffering of Jesus

Many Christians, myself included, believe the 53rd chapter of Isaiah contains prophecy about the life and suffering of Jesus Christ.

Notes in the NKJV Study Bible explains things this way: "Amidst a declaration of the Lord's coming salvation (see 52:7-12; 54:1-10), Isaiah places a portrait of a Suffering Servant (52:13 - 53:12). Despised and rejected (53:3), wounded and bruised (53:5), this unattractive Servant would know heartache and sorrow. What was the reason for His suffering? His life could not be the cause, for He was blameless, speaking only the truth (53:9). Yet the Servant would be led to prison and then to death for our sins (53:6-11).

Here's how Isaiah 53 reads in the NKJV:

"Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked-
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors."

Answer: Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead

The verse is in reference to Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead.

Jairus, according to Luke 8:41 and Mark 5:22, was one of the rulers of a synagogue. According to notes in the NKJV Study Bible, Jairus was likely a lay leader charged with supervising services at the synagogue.

The raising of his daughter from the dead is one of more popular stores in the New Testament. As morbid as it sounds, there was laughter after the little girl's death. In the accounts Luke 8:49-56, as well as in Mark, it tells of people weeping for the dead girl outside her home. However, when Jesus appeared and stated the girl was not dead but was simply sleeping, the 'mourners' laughed at him. In other words, they saw Jesus as someone who was demented, with no concept of reality. A few moments later, however, their laughter turned to total amazement when Christ raised the girl from the dead.

Luke 8:64-56, in the NKJV, states: "But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, 'Little girl, arise.' Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened."

Answer: Manasseh

Manasseh became king at the tender age of twelve and, according to Scripture, ruled for fifty-five years, until he was sixty-seven. Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:21) and Hephzibah (2 Kings 21:1).

Make no mistake about it, Manasseh was extremely brutal. 2 Kings 21:16, in the NKJV Bible, states Manasseh "shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another."

Verse 6 in the NIV in the same chapter states: "He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD..."

According to Wikipedia, the name Manasseh means "causing to forget."

Answer: Ezra

Ezra tells of the Israelites returning to Jerusalem to build a wall around their beloved city. The second chapter of the book is largely a census regarding the captives who took part in the project. According to Ezra 2:22, fifty-six of the men were from Netophah.

According to Wikipedia, Netophah was a city, or group of villages, near Jerusalem.

"Netophah is mentioned in 2 Samuel 23:28-29 as a home of some of David's finest men," Wikipedia states. "Although it is certain that the place was near Bethlehem, the modern site cannot be identified."

Answer: John the Baptist

The correct answer is John the Baptist. His father was Zecharias in the KJV and NKJV (Zechariah in the NIV) and his mother was Elizabeth.

According to Scripture, Zecharias was rendered speechless by an angel until John the Baptist was born. Scripture states Zecharias was a priest who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah and Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron, as per Luke 1:5.

Luke 1:11-25 tells of the angel Gabriel appearing before Zecharias and telling him of the upcoming birth of their son, who would become John the Baptist. When Zecharias doubted Gabriel's claims, he was rendered speechless as per Luke 1:20. There's a happy ending to the story, however. After the baby was born, Zecharias wrote on a tablet that the infant was to be called John and, according to Verse 64, "immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he spoke, praising God."

Answer: Joseph of Arimathea

Joseph of Arimathea is the one who went to Pilate after the crucifixion and asked for Christ's body. According to Scripture, Joseph placed Christ's body in his own tomb.

Matthew 27:57-60, in the NKJV, states: "Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed."

Answer: James

In the order the books appear in the English Protestant Bible, the fifty-ninth book is James. As stated in the question, there are thirty-nine books in the Old Testament and twenty-six in the New Testament. So, in other words, the fifty-ninth book of the English Bible has to be toward the back. With Matthew being first book of the New Testament and Revelation being the last, those two are automatically ruled out.

So then, the choice comes down to James and Philippians. Philippians is too close to the front of the New Testament, making James the obvious choice.

Answer: Rehoboam

Rheoboam, the son of Solomon and the grandson of David, is the correct answer.

In addition to having eighteen wives, 2 Chronicles 11:21 states Rehoboam had sixty concubines. The same verse states he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Despite his large harem, Scripture states Rehoboam "loved Maachah the granddaughter of Absalom more than all his wives and his concubines".

Absalom was the son of David and would've been Rehoboam's uncle.