Pass the Pillar of Salt: Meals in the Bible Quiz

Answer: Eve

"Genesis 3:6, KJV: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Some translations use the words "and then gave to her husband"; this translation is slightly vague, but it is generally accepted Eve was the first to eat.

It is not documented in Genesis 3 that the serpent had anything to do with eating the fruit. Eve told him (it?) that only this tree was forbidden to partake of, and the serpent stated that if she did eat of it, she would be knowledgeable of all good and evil, just like God.

Answer: Esau

Esau stated in Genesis 25, "Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?" and Jacob made him swear to it that the birthright change hands. Jacob would later trick his father, Isaac, into blessing him instead of the firstborn Esau, which essentially was a last will and testament of all of his father's possessions.

Answer: Lamb

"Exodus 12:5-6, KJV: Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats. And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." Those who did not perform this ritual witnessed their firstborn perishing.

Answer: Ravens

"I Kings 17, 5-6, KJV: So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook."

Later in the same chapter, Elijah would be summoned by God to take shelter with a widow, and through her generosity, Elijah and God blessed her with unending grain and oil to cook with, as her cupboard was bare upon Elijah's arrival.

Answer: Job

"Job 1:18b-19, KJV: ...there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee."

This was one of several things to happen to Job in a short span of time; it is no wonder the phrase "Patience of Job" is still in our vernacular today.

Answer: Purim

"Esther 9:26, KJV: Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur." Purim is celebrated now on the 14th day of the month of Adar in the Hebrew calendar, and the 15th day instead in some areas, most notably Jerusalem, as the towns "within protective walls" celebrated a day later.

Answer: Belshazzar

"Daniel 5:5, KJV: In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote." Belshazzar, on the very night he got the words of God translated, was dead by morning.

William Walton, a 20th C. composer, wrote a cantata entitled "Belshazzar's Feast", detailing the happenings of this event. It remains a very popular choral piece to this day.

Answer: John the Baptist

"Mark 6: 22,24, KJV: And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist." Herod could not go back on his word, so he ordered the beheading of John, and served his head to the girl on a platter.

The phrase "head on a platter" comes from this event in the Bible.

Answer: Seven

"John 6:9-10, KJV: There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand."

Matthew also has a similar story where Jesus fed four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and "a few fishes". The number of fishes is not specific enough to create a math problem with.

Answer: His body and blood

"Matthew 26:26-29, KJV: And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." Paul's letter to the Corinthians is the first mention of the Last Supper as a sacrament, one that many Christians still observe regularly today.

The Last Supper, as this event is most commonly called today, was immortalized on canvas by Leonardo DaVinci. However, it is highly unlikely all the disciples sat on the same side of the table, as DaVinci portrayed.