Picturing the Old Testament Trivia Quiz

The image depicts Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, per Exodus chapter 14. Moses had returned to Egypt, and enlisting the help of his brother Aaron, obeyed God's commands for approaching Pharaoh to set the Israelites free from slavery, with ten plagues inflicted upon Egypt each time Pharaoh defied God's command via Moses and Aaron. By Exodus chapter 14, Pharaoh, in despair, had let the Israelites leave.

Moses and the Israelites had reached the Red Sea, seemingly trapped, with Pharaoh's army approaching from behind after Pharaoh had second thoughts. God told Moses to hold his staff over the sea and the water parted, allowing the Israelites to cross on dry land, while the sea came crashing back down upon the Egyptian army in pursuit.

The image depicts Adam and Eve per Genesis Chapter 3, which describes Adam and Eve and the fall of mankind, or the estrangement from God. In the Garden of Eden, a serpent tempted them to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, in defiance of God's command. The serpent is often interpreted as a manifestation of Satan. Though the forbidden fruit is not named in the scriptures, it is traditionally depicted as an apple. Some interpret the story of Adam and Eve literally, while others interpret it allegorically.

The image for this quiz shows Adam and Eve fully clothed, an inaccuracy from the Biblical text, but appropriately for a family site.

The image depicts Jacob's Ladder, found in Genesis 28. Jacob, the grandson of Abraham and son of Isaac, was on the road and stopped for the night at Bethel. He laid down with stones for a pillow and had a dream. He dreamed of a stairway that led to heaven, with angels ascending and descending what became popularly termed as Jacob's Ladder. God spoke to Jacob from above the stairway, telling him that his descendants would be numerous, they would inhabit the land on which he was lying, and that all humanity would be blessed through his offspring. Jacob was later renamed Israel, and the descendants of his twelve sons became the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

The image depicts Moses and the Ten Commandments. Exodus chapter 20 lists the Ten Commandments, which God had verbally given Moses while he was on the top of Mount Sinai. Moses carved the Ten Commandments over two stone tablets, per God's instructions. The Ten Commandments are also listed in chapter 5 of the book of Deuteronomy.

After Moses had led the Israelites in their escape from slavery in Egypt, they had been wandering through the desert. God called Moses to the top of Mount Sinai, while Moses received instructions over the course of forty days and nights, inclusive of the Ten Commandments. When Moses returned, he found that the people had built a golden calf and were worshiping it as an idol. He smashed the original stone tablets out of anger and frustration, and then went back up Mount Sinai to recreate them.

The image depicts the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls, per Nehemiah chapter 3. The account of rebuilding Jerusalem's walls is the major theme throughout the book of Nehemiah, but for this quiz, chapter 3 was chosen as being especially representative.

The book of Nehemiah is a unique historical account, as it was written in the first person. Nehemiah was an Israelite exile, serving as a high ranking official in the court of Persian king Artaxerxes I. Thirteen years prior, Cyrus the Great of Persia had decreed that the exiles would be allowed to return to Jerusalem, but Nehemiah learned that the city was still in poor shape. The city walls remained in ruins, leaving the returning exiles exposed to outside threats. Nehemiah received permission from Artaxerxes to leave the king's court in the Persian capital of Susa and go to Jerusalem on temporary assignment, where he would oversee the rebuilding of the city's walls.

The book of Nehemiah records that all people of all trades pitched in, listing the names and occupations of people who worked on specified sections of the walls. Throughout the process, Nehemiah and the builders faced scoffers and enemies trying to destroy their work. They resorted to building while armed. With everyone pitching in, the city's walls were completed in just 52 days. This allowed further exiles to return to Jerusalem in safety as a newly refortified city.

The image depicts Ruth gathering grain per the book of Ruth chapter 2. The book of Ruth tells the story of three widows, Naomi and her daughters in law, Ruth and Orpah, two Moabite women who had married Naomi's deceased sons. Orpah returned to Moab, while Ruth went with Naomi to Bethlehem, where Naomi's relatives resided.

As an impoverished young widow, Ruth began to gather the grain left behind in the field, a field that turned out to be owned by Boaz, a relative of Naomi's deceased husband. While Ruth frequently scavenged grain from the field, Boaz fell in love with Ruth, and they married.

They became great grandparents to David, who became King of Israel, making Boaz and Ruth ancestors of the royal lineage.

The image depicts Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, per the book of Joshua chapter 6. Joshua was Moses's successor, tasked with leading the Israelites into the Promised Land. Claiming the land that God had promised them was often through military conquest of the inhabiting Canaanites and other tribes. Jericho was a walled Canaanite city. God told Joshua to take his army and on six consecutive days, march around the walls of Jericho, along with priests carrying trumpets and the Ark of the Covenant.

Then on the seventh day, as God instructed, the army marched around the city seven times, and when the priests sounded the trumpets, the army was to shout in unison, and the walls of Jericho would come crumbling down.

The image depicts Moses and the Burning Bush per Exodus chapter 3. At the start of Exodus, the Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt for generations. Moses had been born an Israelite but was adopted as an infant by Pharaoh's daughter. Having grown, Moses became conflicted between his royal upbringing and loyalty to his blood relatives, and he killed an Egyptian slave master who was beating a Hebrew. Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he found a wife, had a son and started to grow old.

In Exodus chapter 3, while Moses was out tending to his father in law's flock of sheep, God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush, telling him to return to Egypt to stand up to Pharaoh and demand that he free the Israelites from slavery.

The image is of Samson using his might to cause the Philistine temple to collapse, per Judges chapter 16. After the death of Joshua, Israel was periodically ruled by judges, who were more akin to military heroes and warlords. Samson was among the judges of Israel. Samson was a man of tremendous muscular strength.

As described in Judges chapter 16, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who tricked Samson into giving up the secret to his strength. Thus, with Delilah's betrayal, Samson was captured by the enemy Philistines. The Philistines took Samson to their temple, where they goaded him to perform tricks as entertainment. While in the Philistine temple, Samson stood between two pillars, and he summoned his great strength, pushing against the pillars and causing the temple roof to collapse, killing Samson and everyone else there.

The image depicts David and Goliath, per 1 Samuel 17. The books of Samuel chronicle the end of the judges and the installation of the kings of Israel, starting with Saul. Saul was unfaithful to God, and God told Samuel that he had chosen someone from outside Saul's lineage to succeed him, which turned out to be a young shepherd boy, David, the youngest son of Jesse. During Saul's reign, Israel was plagued by their enemies, including the Philistines.

The Philistines sent Goliath, a giant of a man, to challenge Israel's finest in one on one combat to settle the outcome of the war between the two nations. The loser would become subjects to the other. Goliath's height was described as being six cubits and a span, which would make Goliath over nine feet or close to three meters tall. David, as a young man and most certainly smaller, took up the challenge, knowing that he had God on his side. David ended up overcoming Goliath with nothing but a sling and a stone to the head. As God had told Samuel, David later became the second king of Israel after the death of Saul.

The image depicts Noah and the Ark during the flood, per Genesis chapter 7. In Genesis chapter 6, God warned Noah of a coming flood to rid the land of corruption. But God considered Noah to be a righteous man, and God ordered Noah to build an ark, with specific instructions.

He was to take with him a male and female of every known animal, along with his family, his three sons and their wives. In Genesis chapter 7, the floodwaters came, with 40 days of rain and the flood covering the known world. The waters did not recede for 150 days.

The story proceeds in Genesis chapter 8 with the ark landing on Mount Ararat, and God giving a rainbow as a sign of a covenant with Noah.

The image depicts Daniel in the Lion's Den per Daniel chapter 6. During the reign of King Solomon's successor, Rehoboam, Israel split into two, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Israel was taken captive by the Assyrian Empire. The Babylonian Empire then conquered the Assyrians, as well as the Kingdom of Judah, which included Jerusalem.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, ordered his chief to find among the Israelites intelligent young men to serve in his court, among them Daniel and his three companions. Daniel prophesied the downfall of Nebuchadnezzar, and Babylon was then conquered by the Medes and Persians. Daniel found favor with Darius, the new ruler, and he was given a high rank in the conquering empire's government.

Darius was persuaded to issue a decree that all should only pray to himself, worshiped as a God. Anyone caught praying to any other god would be thrown into a den of lions. Daniel, despite his high ranking in Darius's government, refused to pray to anyone other than the God of Israel.

Darius's men told him that Daniel was caught disobeying the order, continuing to pray three times per day to the God of Israel. The Bible records that Darius was greatly distressed, since Daniel was one of his favorites, and he made every effort to save Daniel. But he couldn't go against his own decree. Daniel was thrown into the den of lions, but God had sent an angel to keep the lions from harming Daniel. When Daniel was found safe the next morning, Darius was overjoyed. The men who had accused Daniel were then thrown to the lions and were instantly devoured.