Tales from Chapter Two Trivia Quiz

Answer: Genesis

The first four verses of Chapter 2 finish recounting the story of creation in Chapter 1; the balance of the chapter provides a second version of the events (generally considered to have been originally written by a different author). This account starts with the sixth day of creation, and provides much more detail about the Garden of Eden and the creation of the first humans than was contained in Genesis 1. Those who read Genesis only in English translation often see apparent contradictions between the two creation stories, but the original Hebrew allows some verb tense interpretations that make them complementary rather than contradictory.

Answer: Exodus

The story of Moses being placed in the Nile in a basket, to be found by Pharaoh's daughter and nursed by his natural mother (at the suggestion of his sister) is a staple of many Sunday school pageants. The next bit, where he kills an Egyptian who is beating a Hebrew worker and flees to avoid punishment, is often glossed over. Settling in Midian, he married Zipporah and had a son.

The chapter ends with a description of the woes of the Hebrews still in Egypt, presaging God's instruction to him to return and free his people, the events that fill the rest of the book.

Answer: Leviticus

Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are usually grouped together under the categorisation of Books of Law (along with Genesis and Exodus, they form the Torah in Hebrew Bibles.) Here you will find all kinds of instructions, many of which Christians are prone to ignore because they are viewed as pretty inconvenient.

In the view of most Christians, these detailed instructions of the Old Testament about how to perform religious rites and perform appropriate rituals in daily life have been replaced by the message of the New Testament, which presents a different vision of the relationship between humanity and God than is reflected here.

Answer: 1 Kings

1 Kings is one of the History books of the Old Testament/Tanakh. Chapter 1 describes how Solomon was chosen to be David's successor as King of Israel. Chapter 2 (verses 1-9) describes the conversation between a dying David and his son; the rest of the chapter describes how he consolidated power in the face of his opponents.

Answer: Ruth

Ruth, one of the ancestors of Jesus, was a Moabite widow who had travelled to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi. Boaz was one of Naomi's kinfolk, to whom Ruth was sent to ask for permission to gather food for the two women. In this chapter, Ruth and Boaz form a bond which eventually leads to their marriage. Their son Obed was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David.

Answer: Proverbs

One of the Wisdom books of the Old Testament (also called the Writings in the Tanakh), the Book of Proverbs has 31 chapters of advice, mostly focused on explaining how submission to the will of God is the beginning of wisdom. The title in Hebrew, "mashal", has a wider meaning than the English word proverb, which usually refers to pithy statements. Thus, the book also includes more lengthy poetic discourses than might be expected from its name in English.

Answer: Daniel

The Book of Daniel (set during the time of the Babylonian captivity) describes a number of visions, both historical and apocalyptic. In Chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that his wise men cannot interpret, but Daniel receives a vision form God that allows him to interpret the dream.

When Daniel is able not only to describe the dream, but also to offer an explanation of its significance, Nebuchadnezzar is most impressed, and gives Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Mesach and Abednigo positions of power in his kingdom.

Answer: Matthew

Most of the first chapter of Matthew's gospel is devoted to establishing the genealogy of Jesus, to establish for Matthew's Jewish audience that this was indeed the Messiah predicted in the Tanakh (Old Testament of the Christian Bible). Chapter 2 describes the visit of the Wise Men, or Magi, and the angelic message to Joseph advising him to take his family to Egypt to escape the coming murder by Herod of all the infants who could possibly be the Messiah.

At the end of the chapter, they return to Nazareth.

This conveniently allowed Matthew to point out that several more of the Messianic conditions described in the Old Testament had been fulfilled.

Answer: John

The first miracle which Jesus is described as performing was turning water into wine (and apparently wine of the finest quality) at a wedding feast, at the request of his mother. The second part of this chapter describes how Jesus cleansed the temple in Jerusalem at Passover, sending the sellers of animals and the money-changers out to ply their trades elsewhere.

Answer: Acts

The Book of the Acts of the Apostles, usually abbreviated to Acts, is usually considered to be the second half of the Book of Luke. It describes the early days of the Christian church as it began to establish itself in the time following the death and resurrection of Jesus. Chapter 1 recounts the ascension of Jesus and the selection of a new disciple to replace Judas. Chapter 2 starts with the disciples gathered at Pentecost (fifty days after the ascension of Jesus) and being visited by the Holy Spirit.

They are recorded as beginning to speak in tongues (which the crowd of onlookers interpreted as drunkenness). When Peter explains what is really going on, a number of them become amongst the first converts to Christianity.