Those Biblical Stars Trivia Quiz

Answer: The fourth day

God did make light on the first day so that He might halt an existence of total darkness. However, He did not get around to making the sun, moon, and stars until the fourth day. According to Genesis 1:16:19, "Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.

He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day." The creation of light on the first day may be literal in that light is a separate thing from those heavenly bodies that are sources of light, or the creation of light may be figurative to a degree, similar to how the book of John begins with "In the beginning there was the Word."

Answer: Abram

After God initiated his covenant with Abram, He was trying to reassure him that he would have children who would inherit the land of Canaan, which God had given him. This promise is written in Genesis 15:5. Soon after this, God would alter Abram's name to Abraham, which means "father of many nations" (Genesis 17:5).

Answer: The Bear and Orion

Job 9:9-10 reads as follows: "He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, / And the chambers of the south; / He does great things past finding out, / Yes, wonders without number." "The Bear" is, of course, the constellation Ursa Major or the Great Bear, part of which is often referred to as the Big Dipper. Orion is the Hunter, who appears as an hourglass shaped constellation in the night sky.

The Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, is perhaps the most well-known open star cluster. Some Bible scholars believe that the book of Job is concerned with the life of a man who lived around 2000 BC; the fact that these star patterns or groupings were referred to in ancient times (the Pleiades were mentioned in Babylonian documents as early as the 23rd century BC) certainly allows for the possibility.

Answer: fingers

Psalm 8:3-4 reads as follows: "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, / The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, / What is man that You are mindful of him, / And the son of man that You visit him?" This particular Psalm is one of the many that are attributed to David, who began his life as a shepherd who spent a great portion of his time in nature.

Answer: Ezekiel

The quoted words are from Ezekiel 32:6-7. Ezekiel, a priest and prophet of Judah, boosts the morale of his people during their Babylonian captivity by prophesying that the neighboring nations who were gloating over Judah's destruction would be the next to be destroyed. Egypt appears to be an exception, only in that while the other nations were completely destroyed, Egypt would continue to exist as "the lowliest of kingdoms" (Ezekiel 29:15). Ezekiel ends with a prophecy that the people of Judah will be regathered and restored.

Answer: Their names have been sealed in "the book" until "the time of the end."

Many Christians hold on to the idea that the names of those people who will receive everlasting life are written in "the book." This idea most likely comes from Daniel 12:1-4. Daniel does not mention what "the book" in his vision is but only that "Every one who is found written in the book" "shall be delivered." Stars are consistently associated with glory and eternal life in various passages of the Bible.

In fact, the stars were considered so beautiful and awe inspiring that many writers of Old Testament books felt it necessary to warn of the dangers of worshipping the stars. Consider Deuteronomy 4:19: "And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them . . . ."

Answer: the eagle

Obadiah writes, "'Though you exalt yourself as high as the eagle, / And though you set your nest among the stars, / From there I will bring you down,' says the Lord." The people being compared to the lofty eagle are the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, whom Obadiah condemns for their refusal to aid the people of Israel, Jacob's descendants, during their tribulations. Apparently, the twin brothers Jacob and Esau are locked in a perpetual struggle, from the time they were in their mother's womb (remember Esau was born with Jacob clutching his heel) to after their deaths via the lives of their descendants.

The Edomites eventually moved into the area of southern Palestine and became known as the Idumeans from whom Herod the Great would arise, the very same king who wanted to destroy Christ after His birth.

Answer: Matthew

The quotation in the question is from Matthew 2:2. Matthew is the only one of the four gospels that mentions the visitation of the wise men and, thus, is the only one that mentions the Christmas star. Luke tells the story of the shepherds who are visited by angels on the night of Christ's birth. Mark and John do not tell a story about the birth of Christ.

After the wise men (Matthew never says there were three of them) come to Jerusalem asking about the birth of the King of the Jews, Herod helps the wise men on their journey so that he can secretly discover the infant's location and have him killed.

Then Matthew 2:9 says, "When they heard the king [Herod], they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was." However, after the wise men visit the Christ Child, they are warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they go back home via a different route.

Answer: Wormwood

Revelation 8:11 reveals, "and the name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood . . . " This part of Revelation is concerned with seven angels who sound seven trumpets. Each time an angel sounds a trumpet, a tribulation or catastrophe occurs on Earth.

Some individuals who search for signs of "the last things" have argued that these verses in Revelation refer to the nuclear catastrophe that occurred on April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, which was a part of the USSR at that time. Particularly meaningful to these people is the fact that "Chernobyl" translates in English to "Wormwood."

Answer: Jesus

John records the following words of Jesus: "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star." In Isaiah 14:12, Lucifer or Satan is referred to as "morning star" or "day star," but he is not referred to as a star in Revelation.