Something Old Trivia Quiz

Answer: Babel

At that time - as described in Genesis 11 - "the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech" (11:1). When the people of earth, working together, decided to build the Tower of Babel, God saw that "now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do" (11:6).

He therefore made the people speak different languages, so that they could no longer understand each other, and scattered them "upon the face of all the earth" (11:8) - ending the unity of the human race.

Answer: Job

The book of Job begins with a description of Job's various pious rituals, and then recounts an argument between Satan and God. Satan "said, Doth Job fear God for naught? . . . Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face" (Job 1:9-11). God agreed to let Satan torment Job, in order to prove that the man's faith was pure and sincere. It was; Job never cursed God. And in the end, he was rewarded for his perseverance: "the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before" (Job 42:10).

But of course, that is not the same as restoring what (and more importantly who) he had lost.

Answer: Enoch

Enoch's assumption is described in Genesis 5:23-24: "And all the days of Enoch were 365 years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." Elijah also rose into Heaven without dying first: "There appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted [Elijah and Elisha] both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings 2:11).

Answer: Sodom

Gomorrah was destroyed along with Sodom for the inhabitants' sins against the Lord, but it was Sodom where Lot had settled with his family. Lot's wife had been instructed not to look behind her; it was for disobeying this order that she was transformed. Lot and his two daughters - but, importantly, not his daughters' husbands (or fiancés, depending on the translation you use), who thought Lot was joking in Genesis 19:14 - survived.

The entire story may be found in Genesis 19.

Answer: A baby

The two women had borne sons at the same time; one child, however, had died. When they came before the king, each one claimed that her son was the one who had lived. King Solomon, in one of the most famous displays of his wisdom, called for his sword and said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other." One of the women agreed that this was fair, but the other cried out and said that the other woman could have the child, as long as it was not killed. Solomon thus knew that the real mother was the woman who had protested; she alone loved the baby enough to give up her claim for its sake.

The story is told in 1 Kings 3:16-28.

Answer: Hannah

Samuel, last judge of Israel and the anointer of Saul and David as kings, was a much longed-for child. Hannah was one of Elkanah's two wives; the other wife, Peninnah, had children, "but the Lord had shut up [Hannah's] womb" (1 Samuel 1:5). Finally, Hannah went to the temple, and "vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou ... wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head" (1 Samuel 1:11). She fulfilled her promise, and Samuel served the Lord all his life.

Answer: Zipporah

Jochebed was Moses's mother; Miriam was his sister. (Anah was the wife of Esau, many generations before the book of Exodus takes place.) Moses met Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, in the land of Midian while fleeing Egypt after killing an Egyptian. They were traveling back to Egypt in an effort to free the Israelites when Zipporah circumcised the child in order to appease God in accordance with the ancient covenant; she wasn't happy about the task, however. "Surely," she said to Moses, "a bloody husband art thou to me" (Exodus 4:25).

Answer: Joseph

Joseph's brothers, sons of Jacob's first wife Leah, were jealous of the favor Jacob showed to Joseph. They thus conspired to kill him when he was 17 - except for Reuben, who tried to save Joseph. It was Judah who had the idea of selling the boy into slavery instead of killing him; they took his coat, however, and tore it and covered it with blood so that Jacob would think his son slain by a wild animal. Benjamin, Joseph's full brother, was not yet old enough to play any role in the plot. Joseph, of course, gained a reputation for interpreting dreams and was able to rise to a high position in the Pharaoh's service; he forgave his brothers and brought his family to live in Egypt, as there was famine in Canaan.

The full story is told in Genesis 37 - 50.

Answer: Bathsheba

Michal, Saul's daughter, was the first of David's many wives. It was Bathsheba whom David loved, however. She was the wife of Uriah, a Hittite in David's army. To get Uriah out of the way, David instructed Joab, Uriah's commander: "Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die" (2 Samuel 11:15). Sure enough, Uriah was killed in battle, and David married Bathsheba - an act which so displeased God that He cursed David's house and killed the first child of David and Bathsheba.

Answer: David

Psalm 23, like most (but not all) other psalms, is identified as "a psalm of David." It describes comfort and security in the trust of God: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me ..." (Psalm 23:4).