On the Third Day Trivia Quiz

Answer: Plants

According to Genesis, God created plants, vegetables, trees, etc., on the third day. He also created dry land itself on the third day.

An interesting note: While the sky was created on the second day, God seemingly created water(s) on the first day. However, Genesis 1:10 states that God "called" the waters seas on the third day.

For the incorrect answers, stars, including the sun and moon, were created on the fourth day, sea creatures were created on the fifth day, and then both land animals and humans were created on the sixth day.

Answer: He gave the cupbearer his job back.

Genesis 40 states that Joseph was in prison with a cupbearer and a baker. Joseph was in prison because Potiphar's wife falsely accused him of trying to rape her. He actually refused to commit adultery with her (see Genesis 39). The other two were in prison because they angered the pharaoh.

The cupbearer told Joseph about a dream that he had and Joseph interpreted it to mean the pharaoh would give the cupbearer his job back in three days. Genesis 40:20 specifically states that on the third day, which was also the pharaoh's birthday, he gave the cupbearer his job back.

Regarding the incorrect answers, the pharaoh did give Joseph an Egyptian name and he did give Asenath to Joseph (Genesis 41:45), but these events took place at a later time. The Bible never mentions Potiphar or his wife getting executed.

Answer: Volcanic eruption

Exodus 19 tells of God speaking to Moses and the other Israelites on Mount Sinai.

As verse 16 proclaims in the New American Standard Bible,
"So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled."

Not only did this happen "on the third day", but it also occurred three months after the Israelites were released from slavery in Egypt.

Answer: Amalekites

The Amalekites were portrayed as some of the most wicked people in the Old Testament. They hated the Israelites. According to 1 Samuel 30, David came to the Hebrew town of Ziklag (unique name) and found that it had been burned. In addition, the Amalekites had kidnapped all of the Hebrew women and children. Verse 5 states that David's own wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, had been captured. For David and the Israelites, all of this meant war.

Answer: False

Most of this statement is true. However, the part about David praising the young man is false. Saul was a bad king, and Saul had even attempted to kill David before, but David said that Saul was still anointed by God. When the young man told David that he killed Saul, David asked him why he wasn't afraid to destroy the Lord's anointed. David told one of his men to strike the young man because of what he had done.

Ironically, the young man was an Amalekite. In 1 Samuel 15, God commanded Saul to kill all of the Amalekites for what they had done to Israel, but Saul kept Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive. The prophet Samuel rebuked Saul for his disobedience.

Answer: No name mentioned

The Bible doesn't include the names for either of the women. One prostitute gave birth to a boy and then the other gave birth to a boy three days after the first one did. The second woman's child died, so she stole the first woman's son and claimed him as her own. When Solomon suggested cutting the living baby in half, his true mother cried "no", while the false mother agreed to the suggestion, which would have killed him.

I don't believe that Solomon had any intention of actually hurting the baby. He just wanted to hear the women's reactions.

Answer: The Temple

The Jewish Temple was completed during the reign of Darius, but King Cyrus originally issued a decree to build it. According to Ezra 6:15, it was finished on the third day of the month of Adar.

This was the second Temple. Solomon built the first one.

Answer: She appeared before the king, unannounced.

The book of Esther tells of a Hebrew orphan named Hadassah who became Queen Esther of Persia. It is the foundation for the Jewish holiday Purim. Esther 5 states that on the third day, Esther put on her royal clothes and appeared before her husband, King Xerxes, unannounced. She broke Persian law by doing that, but she found favor with him. She informed the king of Haman's evil scheme to annihilate the Jews. The king then ordered that Haman be hung.

Interesting notes: Esther was a descendant of King Saul (Esther 2:5), while Haman was a descendant of Agag, the Amalekite that Saul didn't kill (Esther 3:1)!

Answer: False

Christ turned water into wine at a wedding, not a funeral. It did occur "on the third day", though. The wedding took place in the city of Cana.

There is no way of knowing who the bride and groom were, as the Scriptures don't reveal their names or their relationship to Christ. Given that Christ's mother was involved in the wedding, it's possible that a family member was getting married.

Answer: Christ's resurrection

According to the New Testament, Christ was crucified and then He resurrected or rose from the grave three days later. Numerous verses include predictions that He made about His own death and resurrection.

For example, Luke 9:22 from the New American Standard Bible states,
"'... The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.'"

The first person who saw the resurrected Christ was Mary Magdalene, a follower of His who loved Him deeply. Some people suggest that since John 2 uses "on the third day" to refer to the wedding at Cana, that it might mean that Mary Magdalene was the bride and she may have even married Christ. This view is highly controversial, partly because traditional Christianity teaches that Christ was celibate.

Others argue that Mary Magdalene wasn't the literal bride of Christ, but she was a symbol for the real Bride of Christ, which is the church, because of the possible allusions to the Song of Solomon in John 20. See John 20, which includes the resurrection story, for more details.