Do You Want To Know A Secret? Trivia Quiz

Answer: One was murdered by the other

"Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, 'God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.'" (Genesis 4 v. 25)

Cain's punishment was to be exiled to a land "east of Eden" but with God's promise that anyone that harmed him would be avenged seven times over (Genesis 4 v. 15). This is developed later in the same chapter by Cain's descendant, Lamech, and it is probable that these words lie behind Jesus' subsequent teaching on forgiveness and the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18 v. 21-35):
"Lamech said to his wives, 'Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.'" (Genesis 4 v. 23-24).

Answer: Drunkard

"Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness." (Genesis 9 v. 20-23)

Interestingly, there are many theories and traditions which locate the origins of viticulture in the area that is modern day Armenia and which also contains Mount Ararat, the final resting place of Noah's ark.

Later tradition would see Noah's sons as establishing the populations of the three continents that touch upon the middle-eastern world - Europe (Japheth); Asia (Shem) and Africa (Ham).

Answer: The speaking of different languages

"Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan." (Genesis 10 v. 25)

The verse likely refers to the building of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) and the subsequent scattering of peoples throughout the earth, each with their own language. Whilst it would seem probable that there is a link between "Babel" and the English word "babble", no conclusive etymological bridge has, thus far, been established.

Answer: He offered his wife to another man

"Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, 'She is my sister.' Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her." (Genesis 20 v. 1-2)

Abraham wasn't being entirely untruthful. Sarah was his half-sister as they shared the same father (Genesis 20 v. 12).

As a side note to this question, the correct answer was originally drafted as "He pimped his wife", until I realised that the verb has taken on a different meaning to the MTV generation.

Answer: She sat on them whilst in the middle of a period

"So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah's tent, he entered Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel's saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing. Rachel said to her father, 'Don't be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I'm having my period.' So he searched but could not find the household gods." (Genesis 31 v. 33-35)

Jacob is responsible for one of the Bible's most dysfunctional families producing twelve sons and other daughters by four different women - his two wives and their servants. A novel which seeks to put flesh on these events is "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant but, remember, it is only a novel.

Answer: Tamar

It's a complicated story, found in Genesis 38, but summarised it reads like this:
1. Tamar married Judah's eldest, Er.
2. Er was wicked so God killed him!
3. Judah then asked Onan to fulfil his duty as oldest surviving brother and take Tamar as though he was her husband.
4. Onan was wicked so God killed him!
5. Judah then promised his next oldest, Shelah, when the boy reached maturity.
6. Judah was scared that God might kill Shelah and reneged on the pledge.
7. Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with Judah in order to fulfill her responsibility to bear a child to carry on the family name.
8. It turned out to be twins. Zerah was the first to push forth a hand (which was marked with a scarlet thread) but the hand was pulled back in and brother Perez won the race to the light and into our genealogy.

All of the answers are also rivers in the British Isles. The river Tamar forms the boundary between the counties of Devon and Cornwall.

Answer: She was a prostitute

Rahab kept mum about two Israelite spies whom she was hiding (Joshua 2). Curiously, having mentioned the scarlet thread tied around the hand of Zerah, son of Judah and Tamar, another scarlet cord makes an appearance in this story too. The spies give it to Rahab to tie to her house so that her family might be saved when the Israelites invaded.

It is extremely likely that Matthew understood this Rahab to be the woman named in the genealogy. He lists descent through the male line and has no need to mention mothers. The fact that he does so here suggests that he believed the name would be familiar to his audience. As there is only one Rahab documented in the Old Testament, the probability is that Matthew believed them to be one and the same person.

Answer: Exposing his genitals

One interpretation of this story is that it is essentially a blackmail plot cooked up by mother-in-law Naomi and executed by Ruth. Imagine the scene. It is harvest time and Boaz has retired to bed under the influence of alcohol. He wakes to discover that he is not alone.

There is an attractive, young woman beside him in an intimate position. Furthermore, Ruth's request to Boaz that he cover her with his cloak has been taken to infer that she, too, was naked. And Boaz can't remember anything that's happened! He, therefore, according to this version of events, does the honorable thing and marries the girl.

Answer: Through a story about a lamb

"The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveller came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveller who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."" (2 Samuel 12 v. 1-4)

When David became irate and demanded that the rich man be brought to justice, Nathan revealed, "You are the man!" (v. 7).

Answer: Sacrificing children by fire

"As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. (1 Kings 11 v. 4-5)

In the book of Leviticus, the Israelites are forbidden from sacrificing their children to Molech although another of the characters from the genealogy, King Ahaz, clearly ignored this prohibition:
"Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites" (2 Kings 16 v. 2-3).