In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years.  Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.  He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.

• 1 Kings 16:29-31

So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.
Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon.  I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown.  Today you are witnesses!”
Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses.  May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel.  May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.  Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

• Ruth 4:8-13

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.  A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.  He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.  So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

• Luke 19:1-4

This quiz is inspired by some word puzzles that I have solved in the past.  You could ignore the chain links and just answer the questions, but the chain links provide clues.  The answer to the first question starts with the letter “A”.  The answer to the last question starts with the letter “Z”.  But each answer of a question in between the first and the last starts with the last letter of the previous answer.  Thus, that gives you the first hint in that the last letter of the next to last question (the penultimate question) in the letter “Z”.

As a short version of this quiz, just to explain the concept, we will look at three questions.  1) Who was the evil king of Israel (the northern tribes) who was married to Jezebel? 2) Who bought the right to become the guardian-redeemer for Naomi’s family and marry Ruth? 3) Who climbed a tree to see Jesus walk by?  The answer to the first question is Ahab.  That means that the second answer must start with a “B”, which it does: Boaz.  The third answer is Zacchaeus.

How this helps is that if you do not know the answer to a question, but you know the answers to the questions on either side of that question, then you at least know what letters are for the first and last letters of the unknown answer.  All the answers in this quiz are men’s names.

The Questions:

#	Question	First		Last
1	Who came from Ur of the Chaldeans to the Promised Land with his wife and a nephew who tagged along?	A
2	Who is the oldest recorded man in the Bible?
3	Who, along with Aaron held Moses’ arms aloft so that Joshua’s army could defeat the Amalekites?
4	Who was the eldest son of Jacob?
5	Who was king of Babylon who was cursed for not listening to God and became insane, eating grass in the field like an ox?
6	Who became king of all Israel after Solomon died, but listened to the wrong advisors, leading to the split between Israel and Judah?
7	Who was Esther’s cousin who took her in as his daughter?
8	Who was the son of Sarah, meaning laughter?
9	Who was the faithful spy, who along with Joshua, was allowed to enter the Promised Land?
10	Who was Jeremiah’s scribe and messenger?
11	Who is the prophet who wrote the 37th book of the Bible and prophesied and preached in the time of Ezra, while Darius reigned?
12	Who was the son of Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant?
13	Who was a physician who wrote two books of the New Testament, not mentioned in either of those books but mentioned in three of Paul’s letters?
14	Who was the first of Job’s friends to speak?  He was a Temanite.			Z
15	Who was the father of two of the disciples, who were also business partners with Simon Peter?	Z

Another hint, I reuse three starting letters.  In making this quiz about the chain links from last letters to first letters, it eliminates some common first and last letters.  There may be few men’s names starting with “Q”, but none ending in “Q”.  “W” names are rare, thus eliminating Matthew as an answer.  And I found no names ending in “J”, but oh, how there are so many that start with “J”.

Bible References:

#	Question	First		Last
1	Who came from Ur of the Chaldeans to the Promised Land with his wife and a nephew who tagged along?	A	Genesis 11:27-28
2	Who is the oldest recorded man in the Bible?		Genesis 4:33
3	Who, along with Aaron held Moses’ arms aloft so that Joshua’s army could defeat the Amalekites?		Exodus 17:10-12
4	Who was the eldest son of Jacob?		Genesis 29:32
5	Who was king of Babylon who was cursed for not listening to God and became insane, eating grass in the field like an ox?		Daniel 4:33
6	Who became king of all Israel after Solomon died, but listened to the wrong advisors, leading to the split between Israel and Judah?		1 Kings 11:43-12:20
7	Who was Esther’s cousin who took her in as his daughter?		Esther 2:7
8	Who was the son of Sarah, meaning laughter?		Genesis 21:1-4
9	Who was the faithful spy, who along with Joshua, was allowed to enter the Promised Land?		Deuteronomy 1:34-36
10	Who was Jeremiah’s scribe and messenger?		Jeremiah 32:12-16
11	Who is the prophet who wrote the 37th book of the Bible and prophesied and preached in the time of Ezra, while Darius reigned?		Ezra 5:1 and Ezra 6:14
12	Who was the son of Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant?		Genesis 16:1-16
13	Who was a physician who wrote two books of the New Testament, not mentioned in either of those books but mentioned in three of Paul’s letters?		Colossians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:11, and Philemon 1:24
14	Who was the first of Job’s friends to speak?  He was a Temanite.		Job 2:11 and 4:1	Z
15	Who was the father of two of the disciples, who were also business partners with Simon Peter?	Z	Luke 5:10

The Bible references in Ezra mention two prophets, question 11, but since we are not at the end of the quiz, I chose the one not named Zechariah, descendant of Iddo.

This was a fun challenge to put together.  I may return to the concept in the future.

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The Answers:

#	Question	First		Last
1	Who came from Ur of the Chaldeans to the Promised Land with his wife and a nephew who tagged along?	A	Abram, later Abraham (It works either way.)	M
2	Who is the oldest recorded man in the Bible?	M	Methuselah	H
3	Who, along with Aaron held Moses’ arms aloft so that Joshua’s army could defeat the Amalekites?	H	Hur	R
4	Who was the eldest son of Jacob?	R	Reuben	N
5	Who was king of Babylon who was cursed for not listening to God and became insane, eating grass in the field like an ox?	N	Nebuchadnezzar	R
6	Who became king of all Israel after Solomon died, but listened to the wrong advisors, leading to the split between Israel and Judah?	R	Rehoboam	M
7	Who was Esther’s cousin who took her in as his daughter?	M	Mordecai	I
8	Who was the son of Sarah, meaning laughter?	I	Isaac	C
9	Who was the faithful spy, who along with Joshua, was allowed to enter the Promised Land?	C	Caleb	B
10	Who was Jeremiah’s scribe and messenger?	B	Baruch	H
11	Who is the prophet who wrote the 37th book of the Bible and prophesied and preached in the time of Ezra, while Darius reigned?	H	Haggai	I
12	Who was the son of Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant?	I	Ishmael	L
13	Who was a physician who wrote two books of the New Testament, not mentioned in either of those books but mentioned in three of Paul’s letters?	L	Luke	E
14	Who was the first of Job’s friends to speak?  He was a Temanite.	E	Eliphaz	Z
15	Who was the father of two of the disciples, who were also business partners with Simon Peter?	Z	Zebedee	E

And since you did so well, how about a little video about Abraham and a couple more answers in the quiz.

And for a music interlude, how about Josh Williams bluegrass song, Mordecai.  Josh has a surprise guest in the middle of the song.

And even though the story of the song is a bit jumbled, and definitely made up, but the point being made is beautiful.  We can all be touched by Jesus.  The song is My Name is Lazarus.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.