Bible Quiz
003
A.K.A. (Also Known As)
1. Who received a new name after a wrestling match with an angel?
2. A name change was part of a covenant made between God and which 99-year-old Hebrew man and his wife?
3. Jesus was to be known by what from a prophecy of Isaiah?
4. Which disciple did Jesus rename?
5. Zaphenath-paneah, an officer of the Egyptian government, also had a Hebrew name. What was it?
6. What returning exile, saddened by the loss of her husband and two sons, exclaimed that she should be called “Mara”?
7. What was Esther’s original name?
8. Who were given the names Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego?
9. When Gideon tore down the altar of Baal, he was given what name?
10. A Christian preacher, originally named after a Benjaminite king, later was known by the name of a Roman, proconsul of Cyprus. What was this new name?
Prepared by Bill Ickes, of Berlin, Pennsylvania. BR’s most prolific quiz-master, Mr. Ickes has contributed six previous quizzes to this department.
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Answers
1. Jacob. Returning home from Haran, in upper Mesopotamia, with his wives and children, Jacob hesitated at the stream Jabbok. During the night, he struggled with an unidentified being who said, “ ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘l will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ And he [the unidentified being] said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then he [the unidentified being] said, ‘Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed’ ” (Genesis 32:26–28).
2. Abram and Sarai. God said to Abram, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the rather of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham … As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name” (Genesis 17:4–5, 15). The covenant also required circumcision and gave the promise of a son to be called Isaac.
3. Emmanuel. As Joseph pondered the cause of Mary’s pregnancy, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “[D]o not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus …” (Matthew 1:20–21). Matthew then says, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, a virgin shall be called and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:20–23).
4. Simon Bar-Jona. When Jesus asked his disciples, “[W]ho do you say that I am?” Simon Bar-Jona (son or John) replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Pleased by his answer, Jesus said to him, “[Y]ou are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church …” (Matthew 16:15–18). This play on words is best illustrated in the Greek text, where “Peter” is Petros and “rock” is petra. In the Palestinian Aramaic language that Jesus probably spoke, the same word, kepha, means both the proper name and the rock.
5. Joseph. Joseph was released from prison in Egypt to explain the Pharaoh’s dreams. After hearing Joseph’s warning about the coming famine, “Pharoah said to Joseph, ‘I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.’ And Pharoah called Joseph’s name Zaphenathpaneah [Egyptian for “God speaks; he lives,” or “creator of life”]; and he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt” (Genesis 41:44–45).
6. Naomi. In the Book of Ruth, Naomi returned to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law Ruth, but without her husband and sons, because they had died in a famine. When the townspeople greeted her excitedly, Naomi said to them, “Do not call me Naomi [Pleasant, call me Mara [Bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has afflicted me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” (Ruth 1:20–21).
7. Hadassah (Hebrew for “myrtle”) Nebuchadnezzar’s forces and settled in the Persian city of Susa, Mordecai “brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother” (Esther 2:7). We are not told why Hadassah received the Persian name Esther (meaning “star”), but it may have been to conceal her origin, because we are told that “Esther had not made known her people or her kindred, as Mordecai had charged her …” (Esther 2:10). King Ahasuerus chose her as his new queen.
8. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Nebuchadnezzar captured these four Israelite youths in his siege of Jerusalem. He told his chief eunuch to train some of the prisoners to serve in the palace, so the officer made the selection and “gave them [Babylonia] names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach and Azariah he called Abednego” (Daniel 1:7).
9. Jerubbaal. Obeying an order from God, Gideon destroyed an altar of Baal belonging to his father, Joash. The angry villagers said to Joash, “Bring out your son that he may die, for he has pulled down the altar of Baal.…’ But Joash said…, ‘If [Baal] is a god, let him contend for himself.…’ Therefore on that day he [Gideon] was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, ‘Let Baal contend against him,’ because he pulled down his altar” (Judges 6:30–32)
10. Paul. Saul and Barnabas sailed to Cyprus to preach the word of God. They traveled across the island from Salamis to Paphos, where they met “the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.” When Elymas the magician sought to “turn away the proconsul from the faith,” Saul struck him blind and thereby converted the proconsul. Saul was thereafter known as Paul (Acts 13:2–12).
A.K.A. (Also Known As)
1. Who received a new name after a wrestling match with an angel?
2. A name change was part of a covenant made between God and which 99-year-old Hebrew man and his wife?
3. Jesus was to be known by what from a prophecy of Isaiah?
4. Which disciple did Jesus rename?
5. Zaphenath-paneah, an officer of the Egyptian government, also had a Hebrew name. What was it?
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