Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Thursday Quiz LIX

The Thursday Quiz!

The Thursday Quiz is an "Is It or Isn't It" game. From the list of twelve items, your job is to determine whether each IS or ISN'T a true example of the week's category.

Remember always the moral authority of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition:

No research, Googling, Wikiing, or use of reference books. The Thursday Quiz is a POP quiz. Violators will be unclean until morning.
This Week's Category will smite you but good!

Big Names of the Old Testament

Which of the following are more or less accurate profiles of figures from the Hebrew Bible? And which are entirely apocryphal -- in the sense of, I made them up?

1. Basaam -- Second-in-command to Moses. Leads Israelites to victory in several battles during the flight from Egypt, but blows it by talking Israelites into worshipping a Golden Calf while Moses is away.

2. Cain -- First son of Adam, he is murdered by his brother Abel in a fit of jealousy.

3. David -- Military prodigy, composer, bandit warlord, serial adulterer, and King of Israel, bane to Philistines and the husbands of his lovers, he receives special favor from God for his devotion and piety.

4. Elijah -- King of Babel. Conquers the whole world in the time when there is still only a single language. Commands the construction of a great tower, for which he and his kingdom are punished.

5. Elisha -- Eldest son of the king of Edom. Sacrifices old, sick goats to God so he can keep his healthy, valuable cattle. Is punished by blindness and by the conquest of the Edomites by the Assyrians.

6. Esau -- The grandson of Adam and Grandfather of Abraham. God promises him that his descendents will be the Chosen People.

7. Isaac -- Tricks his elder brother into surrendering his birthright, and tricks his dad into making him heir. But then gets tricked by his father in law, who makes him work for seven years and then gives him the less attractive daughter. Father of Joseph.

8. Jezebel -- The Queen of Sheba. Visits King David and exchanges lavish gifts with him. A romantic liaison between the two of them is hinted at, but never spelled out.

9. Joseph -- Sold into slavery in Egypt by his older brothers, he works his way up the ladder from slave to high government official. Has the whole family move down to Egypt, from where they will have to escape a few generations later.

10. Sarah -- An Israelite leader during the time of the Judges. Allows herself to be "lured into" a Moabite general's tent, then bludgeons him to death with his own idol of Baal.

11. Saul -- First king of the Israelites. Successful on the battlefield, but angers God by ignoring details of religious practice. Falls on his sword when it all goes wrong.

12. Solomon -- Father of King David. Unites the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Receives the code of religious and civil laws from God. Killed in battle against the Philistines.

Post your answers in the comments.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty sure cheating/googling is perfectly acceptable in the Christian tradition. But, in order not to tempt any quiz takers who may be Jewish or Islamic, I will use invisible ink such that my answers appear only to Michael5000.

1 /
2 /
3 /
4 /
5 /
6 /
7 /
8 /
9 /
10 /
11 /
12 /

Dan Nolan said...

My long since abandoned catholic faith is mocking the end of my quiz roll.

1. apoc
2. accu
3. accu
4. accu
5. apoc
6. accu
7. accu
8. accu
9. apoc
10. accu
11. apoc
12. accu

I will now go do a rosary.

Cartophiliac said...

So, showing off all that fancy bible reading you've been doing, eh?

1. isn't
2. is
3. is
4. isn't
5. is
6. isn't
7. is
8. is
9. is
10. isn't
11. is
12. isn't

Christine M. said...

Hmmm. A test to see if my parents wasted money on that Children's Bible way back when.

1. no
2. yes
3. yes
4. no
5. um, yes?
6. Esau...isn't that the sound a donkey makes? mmm, I'll say yes
7. no
8. no
9. yes
10. no
11. yes
12. yes

d said...

ha ha. that's all i'm gonna say about my biblical knowledge.

1n
2y
3y (didn't he also slew goliath?), 4n (i don't think he was the king of babel, but i could be terribly horribly wrong)
5n
6y (just because i like the name) 7y
8n (there was definitely a jezebel, but i don't think she was a queen, unless whores can be queens)
9y (is he the one that had the multicolored coat?)
10y (i don't know if this is true or not, but it sounds biblical and also like something that needed to be done)
11n (wasn't he the good samaritan)
12y

Anonymous said...

Nice.

1. nope
2. true
3. true
4. nope
5. nope
6. nope
7. true
8. nope
9. true
10. nope
11. true
12. nope

Rebel said...

1 nope

2 I'm pretty sure Cain killed Abel, not the other way around. nope

3 yup - looks pretty hot sculpted out of marble too.

4 ok - the story's right but does it go with the person? I'll guess yes.

5 doesn't sound familiar, but it does sound plausible - sure.

6 Esau is the son of Rebecca and Isaac, the brother of Jacob & grandson of Abraham. Jacob is the one whose decendants will be the Chosen People - nope.

7 Nope - Jacob again. Isaac was Jacob's father.

8. I'm pretty sure all of David's adulteries are spelled out pretty clearly. Nope

9 Yep... my favorite story of the OT if you couldn't tell.

10 Nope, Sarah was the wife of Abraham... she thought she was too old to have children, God had other plans.

11 Urgh.... The only Saul I can think of is Saul/Paul from the new testament... but that doesn't mean there wasn't a Saul in the OT. I *almost* wish I'd been keeping up with your bible blog. I'm going with nope.

12 - Ok, he was a king of Israel, and he got the plans for the temple from God... but I'm thinking the 'code of religious and civil laws' is more Moses' territory. So I'll say no.


Rebel exits wailing and gnashing her teeth... unsure of her answers although she's spent more time than she cares to admit with her nose in a bible.

Anonymous said...

God is smiting me for not spending more time with Michael Reads the Bible. . .
1 I think of Aaron as #2, so no.
2 Murderer, not murderee. No.
3 Yes.
4 Prophet, no tower. No.
5 Uh, yes.
6 No, Abe's grandkid, and Jacob dupes him out of his inheritance.
7 No, Jacob's pa.
8 Uh, uh, no.
9 You bet. This is about as far as we ever seemed to get in Sunday school, except for the baby Jesus part.
10 Uh, no.
11 Yes.
12 No.

Ben said...

1. F
2. F--other way around, I think.
3. T
4. F
5. T
6. F
7. F
8. T
9. T
10. F
11. F
12. F

Anonymous said...

It's been a long time since I've taken a Thursday quiz. Let me dust off the keyboard.

1. No
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. No
6. Yes
7. Yes
8. Yes
9. Yes
10. Yes
11. No
12. Yes

If I win, it will be through a random act of bizarre luck. Aside from a few excerpts required by a high school history class, I have never, ever, ever read the Bible (old or new testament). Nor do I plan to--kind of creeps me out.

Anonymous said...

1 apoc
2 accu
3 accu
4 apoc
5 apoc
6 accu
7 accu
8 apoc
9 accu
10 apoc
11 accu but didnt he die by another method in a different verse?
12 apoc
2

Anonymous said...

1. Isn't
2. Isn't
3. Is
4. Isn't
5. Isn't
6. Isn't
7. Isn't
8. Isn't
9. Is
10. Isn't
11. Is
12. Isn't

Whew. I knew a few of these. We just finished a portion of the OT and a new student wanted to talk about some of the folks in it. He found a website about Saul for his hotlist so I do hope I got that one right at least.

Michael5000 said...

Stop. Put down your pencils.

1. Basaam -- NO. Basaam is the guy with the talking donkey.

2. Cain -- NO. Cain's the one who murders Abel.

3. David -- YES.

4. Elijah -- NO. Elijah's a prophet; no "King of Babel" is identified.

5. Elisha -- NO. Elisha's a prophet; I just made that story up.

6. Esau -- NO.

7. Isaac -- NO, that's Jacob.

8. Jezebel -- NO, the Queen of Sheba and Jezebel are different characters.

9. Joseph -- YES.

10. Sarah -- NO, made it up.

11. Saul -- YES.

12. Solomon -- NO, made it up.

So, I realize that that's a whole lot of NOs... but man, they were fun to concoct. Forgive me?

Michael5000 said...

It looked like several people with 9/12 answers correct were going to get Stars this week, until Boo ducked in late with a perfect slate of answers to grab the TQIL Gold and knock them out of contention. It's just gonna kill Rebel. But congrats to Boo, back for her second Gold Star, her ninth Star overall.

The lovely, talented, and extremely patient Mrs.5000 takes the Silver, her eigth. With 19 Stars overall, she's tied with DrSchnell again for the second spot on the all-time leaderboard.

And taking the Blue this week is In Media Res. She's been putting in consistenly strong entries for several weeks, but this is her first TQ Star. She is the 44th person to place in the Thursday Quiz.

Congrats all round!

Rebel said...

Man!!!! Too much second guessing on my part. I was thinking way too hard, then I realized I probably knew more about the bible than you, so should go with my gut, but then there were so many nos that I went back and changed my answers. This quiz is the bane of my existance!!!!

Michael5000 said...

@karma: I held my monitor over the toaster for several minutes, but the letters did not appear. I don't think you used enough lemon juice.

@dan: I'm glad I could bring you back to your faith.

@Carto: Well, yeah. I guess I'm showing off the fancy Bible reading. Or maybe just leveraging my synergies!

@La Gring: I wouldn't call 8/12 wasted.

@d: Slewing Goliath falls under "bane to Philistines." And yes, he had the amazing technocolor dreamcoat. Sweet. And, there's two Sauls, or so I'm told. I haven't got to the other one yet.

@Rebel: Don't know what to tell ya, buddy...

@MDIC: It's very exciting for us to have a celebrity Quiz taker this week!

@al: Hi, al! Welcome to the show....

@Boo: You was SMOKIN' tonight! Didn't know you had the OT skillz. You didn't get any help from the monkey, did you?

Michael5000 said...

@Rebel: All the work I put into this thing is suddenly all worth while, when I hear a happy reader declare that one of my Quizzes is the "bane of their existence...."

The Calico Cat said...

Dammit - I could have rocked that quiz...

Oh well, for what it is worth, if I have a boy, his name made it onto your list... (In a round about way, since the question was a NOPE!)

Michael5000 said...

@Calico: I hope you're going to name your son "Jezebel."