Bible Quiz
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Biblical Geography
1. Where did the Pishon, Gihon and Hiddekel rivers flow from?
2. What function did Bezer, Ramoth, Golan, Kedesh, Shechem and Hebron have in common?
3. What was the first piece of real estate to be sold in the Bible?
4. Where in Samaria did Jesus meet the Samaritan woman?
5. This mountain, jutting into the Mediterranean Sea, witnessed a dramatic confrontation between the prophets of Baal and Asherah on the one hand and a lone prophet of Yahweh on the other.
6. In what city did the town clerk quiet an unruly mob that feared that the goddess Artemis would be discredited?
7. Fleeing Joshua, five wicked kings hid themselves in a cave at this place.
8. The Israelites found bitter water at this location, the name of which means “bitter.”
9. Where did Jesus meet Simon/Peter and Andrew?
10. Over what land did Eglon reign as king?
Prepared by Eugene Lincoln, former editor of The Sabbath Sentinel and president of the Bible Sabbath Association, of Fairview, Oklahoma. He lives in Hagerstown, Maryland.
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Answers
1. The Garden of Eden. “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers” (Genesis 2:10). These four rivers were the Pishon, which flowed around the land of Havilah, “where there is gold”; the Gihon, which flowed around the land of Cush; the Hiddekel, another name for the Tigris, in Mesopotamia; and the Euphrates, also in Mesopotamia. The Pishon and Gihon have not been identified.
2. Cities of refuge. In Deuteronomy, as Moses gave his final addresses to the Israelites, he designated Bezer, Ramoth and Bashan, east of the Jordan, to be cities of refuge “that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might save his life” (Deuteronomy 4:42). Then, in the book of Joshua, God commanded Joshua to “appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses” (Joshua 20:2). “So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah” (Joshua 20:7).
3. Ephron’s field and cave in Machpelah. When Sarah died, Abraham went to the Hittites, whom the Bible calls “the people of the land” of Canaan at that time, and asked for some land on which he could bury his dead. Ephron the son of Zohar offered to give him his field in Machpelah and the cave that was in it, but Abraham insisted on paying for it. Ephron then asked the high price of 400 shekels of silver, which Abraham paid, and so “the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave which was in it … was made over to Abraham as a possession …” (Genesis 23:17–18). Abraham then buried Sarah in the cave.
4. By Jacob’s well in Sychar. Traveling from Judah to Galilee, Jesus passed through Samaria. Tired from his journey, he stopped by “Jacob’s well” in the city of Sychar (John 4:5–6). When a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13–14).
5. Mount Carmel. In 1 Kings the prophet Elijah, offended and enraged by Israel’s apostasy, challenged 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah to meet him at Mount Carmel. There he devised a test to demonstrate that the God of Israel was the only true God. Elijah instructed, “Let two bulls be given to us; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; and I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, and put no fire to it. And you will call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, he is God” (1 Kings 18:23–24) As Elijah expected, Baal did not answer the prayers of his followers. (The text says nothing more about Asherah’s prophets.) Elijah then poured water on his own offering, called on Yahweh and miraculously “the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering” (1 Kings 18:38).
6. Ephesus. After Paul preached in Ephesus, a silversmith named Demetrius gathered together the Ephesian craftsmen. At this meeting he argued that Paul’s teachings were dangerous for the artisan community. He said to them, “Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable company of people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods” (Acts 19:26). This gathering of disgruntled craftsmen eventually grew to include other Ephesians who worried that Artemis, the city’s chief divinity, would be devalued by Paul’s teaching. The result of Demetrius’ meeting was a riot, but an anonymous town clerk calmed the angry crowd.
7. Makkedah. The kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon hid in vain from Joshua. “And it was told Joshua, ‘The five kings have been found, hidden in the cave at Makkedah.’ And Joahua said, ‘Roll great stones against the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to guard them’ ” (Joshua 10:17–18). After winning the battle of Gibeon, Joshua returned to the cave and killed the kings.
8. Marah. After crossing the Red Sea the Israelites found no water for three days. Finally, they found some water when they reached Marah, but could not drink it because it was bitter. “And the people murmured against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ And he cried to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet” (Exodus 15:24–25).
9. Sea of Galilee. “As [Jesus] walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Matthew 4:18–20).
10. Moab. King Eglon of Moab, in alliance with the Ammonites and the Amalekites, defeated Israel and took possession of Jericho. After the Israelites had spent 18 years in servitude to Eglon, “the Lord raised up for them a deliverer” (Judges 3:15), Ehud the Benjaminite. Ehud brought the Israelites’ tribute to Eglon and then pretended to have a special message for the king. When Eglon had dismissed his attendants, Ehud told him, “I have a message from God for you” (Judges 3:20) and stabbed him in the belly with a concealed sword. Then Ehud escapeda and led the Israelites to victory over the leaderless Moabites.
Biblical Geography
1. Where did the Pishon, Gihon and Hiddekel rivers flow from?
2. What function did Bezer, Ramoth, Golan, Kedesh, Shechem and Hebron have in common?
3. What was the first piece of real estate to be sold in the Bible?
4. Where in Samaria did Jesus meet the Samaritan woman?
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Footnotes
See Baruch Halpern, “The Assassination of Eglon—The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery,” BR 04:06.