BIBLE QUIZ
November 2023
When it comes to understanding the Bible, something that helps is knowing the timespan a book covers. For example, when you read the gospels of Matthew and Luke, they both start with the birth of Jesus and end with His resurrection – that’s a span of about 30 years. When you read the book of Exodus, it starts with the birth of Moses and ends with the building of the Tabernacle – that’s a span of about 80 years. But what about the book of Leviticus, the book that comes after the book of Exodus but before the book of Numbers?
The Bible actually gives us two clues of how long the events of Leviticus lasts. The first clue is found in Exodus 40:17, right before the book of Leviticus, “So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year,” meaning it’s been one year since the Israelites left Egypt. The next clue is found in Numbers 1:1, right after the book of Leviticus, “The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year.” So between the ending of Exodus and the beginning of Numbers (which is where the book of Leviticus is located), it’s been one month.
After Paul’s third missionary journey, he arrived in Jerusalem. But his presence in the capital city caused a stir…the Jewish people accused him of defiling the Temple by bringing Gentiles (non-Jewish people) into its courts (Acts 21:28). This led to Paul’s arrest and his subsequent trials before Governors Felix and Festus and King Herod Agrippa II (Acts 24-26). Because Paul appealed to Caesar he was sent to Rome (Acts 25:12). Along the way, he went through a shipwreck where he landed on the island of Malta (Acts 27-28). He finally made it to the capital city of Rome where he was placed under house arrest in rented quarters (Acts 28:16).
But how was he able to pay for these rented quarters? Scholars believe a church collected an offering and sent it to Paul. But which church? During Paul’s house arrest, he wrote four letters which we call Prison Epistles (epistles is another name for letter): the letters to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and a personal letter to Philemon. In his letter to the Philippian believers, Paul wrote, “You sent me aid more than once when I was in need…I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent” (Philippians 4:16, 18). It was the believers in Philippi who helped Paul pay for his rented quarters.
The judge known as Gideon is best known as a military leader who originally questioned God for choosing him. At one time Gideon asked God to make a wool fleece wet when the ground was dry, and then the next day asked God to make a wool fleece dry when the ground was wet. God reduced Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 10,000 to 300; and these 300 men defeated an enemy army of 135,000. But what was Gideon’s other name?
Jehoiakim was an evil king in the nation of Judah; he burned the scroll Jeremiah the prophet had dictated to his secretary (Jeremiah 36:23). Jephthah was a military leader who defeated the Ammonites but also made a rash vow he later regretted (Judges 11:30-40). Jeroboam was the leader who took ten tribes and created the nation of Israel during the divided kingdom period (1Kings 12:20). Gideon destroyed his father’s false altars to Baal and replaced it with an altar to God, thus he was nicknamed Jerubbaal which means “let Baal contend” (Judges 6:32).
