So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.

• Ecclesiastes 9:1

Increase the days of the king’s life,
    his years for many generations.
May he be enthroned in God’s presence forever;
    appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him.

• Psalm 61:6-7

I have not done an acrostic puzzle in a while.  The first letter of each answer, except when the answer is “star” or “stars”, spells out a mystery message – that I personally hope is not a mystery to you.  The “star(s)” answers are used as an Asterix (*) to delineate the end of a word.  I had to add some complexity to it.

I tried to keep the questions easy this week.  There is one that may be obscure, but here is a hint for that one.  HINT: The answer to the question is a duplicate answer within the quiz, although the person is probably not the same person – a common name of the time.

An obscure hint would be that the Scriptures above hint to the mystery message.

The Questions:

#	Question	1st Letter or *
1	What is the first book of the Bible?
2	What is the only book of the Old Testament that is one chapter in length?
3	Nebuchadnezzar asked his chief official, Ashpenaz, to gather the best of the best among the exiles from Jerusalem.  They were to be groomed for service in the king’s palace.  We only know of four of these by name (both their Hebrew name and their Babylonian name).  Three were given the Babylonian names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  Who was renamed, Belteshazzar?
4	In one of Joseph’s dreams, Joseph dreamed that the sun, the moon, and eleven of these things bowed down to him.  Eleven what?
5	What is the second longest book, a book of prophecy, in the Bible based on chapters, second only to the Psalms?
6	Who was Hannah’s son, who has two books of the Old Testament named after him?
7	What did the Magi follow to worship the One born king of the Jews?
8	What book of the Old Testament was probably written by Jeremiah and follows the book of Jeremiah?
9	Who hid 100 prophets, 50 each in two different caves?  When Elijah approached, he was frightened, thinking Ahab would kill him as the messenger, but he eventually took the message to Ahab to go and meet Elijah – which led to the confrontation of Mount Carmel.
10	Fill in the blank in this Bible verse. “But thanks be to God!  He gives us the ______ through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  And for a hint, it is the same word that would complete this Southern Gospel song, _______ in Jesus.
11	For the last letter, there were two prophets that had this letter as the first letter of their names.  When one of those prophets was about to leave this earth, he asked the other what he wanted.  Who was it who asked for a double portion of the other’s spirit?

Ah, to think of obscure hints …

There are five books of the Bible that are one chapter in length.  Only one is in the Old Testament, but Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude are all in the New Testament.  I agree.  That does not provide much of a hint.

As for the length of books by chapter is concerned, there are three books longer than 50 chapters, all in the Old Testament.  Even if the five chapters of the answer to question 8 were added to Jeremiah, Jeremiah would still be the shortest of those three books.  As for the New Testament, Matthew and Acts both have 28 chapters, Luke has 24 chapters, Revelation has 22, and finally John has 21 to round out the top five long books of the New Testament.

The beauty of an acrostic is that as you get some of the answers, you can probably figure out the mystery message which then provides the first letter of the answers that you may not know for sure.

Bible References:

#	Question	1st Letter or *
1	It is followed by Exodus.
2	It is between Amos and Jonah.
3	(the answer to the question) 1:7
4	Genesis 37:9
5	The five longest (by chapters) books in the Old Testament are: Psalms (150), this book (66), Jeremiah (52), Genesis (50), and Ezekiel (48).
6	1 (the answer to the question) 1:20
7	Matthew 2:2
8	It is between Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
9	1 Kings 18:1-16
10	1 Corinthians 15:57, and the song was written by Eugene M. Bartlett, Sr.
11	2 Kings 2:9-10

Of course I could have added a question to end this quiz.  The mystery message does not have punctuation.  I could have asked what is the last punctuation in the NIV Bible?  It would be a period (.).  But I like to think of the mystery message with an exclamation point, used twice each in Revelation 22:9 and 22:12.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

#	Question	1st Letter or *
1	Genesis	G
2	Obadiah	O
3	Daniel	D
4	*	*
5	Isaiah	I
6	Samuel	S
7	*	*
8	Lamentations	L
9	Obadiah	O
10	Victory	V
11	Elisha	E

The mystery message should not be any sort of secret.  God is Love!!!!!

To answer Solomon’s question in the first Scripture, God is love and for those who are God’s elect, love awaits them.  This is part of God’s justice, because Jesus has washed our sins away.  But as for those who reject God, justice awaits them also, not hate, but those rejecting God will receive a final message from God “Depart from Me.  I never knew you.”

In the second Scripture from Psalm 61, David is asking God to provide God’s Love and Faithfulness, for David’s protection, and for any king that desires to remain in God’s presence, worshipping God Almighty.

And regardless of how you did, here is the song mentioned in question 10, sung by Carrie Underwood, Victory in Jesus.

And as for the mystery message, Chris Renzema provides a song by those words, God is Love.

And what of this song from We the Kingdom, For God So Loved …?

And a note about all these songs that I add at the end of each quiz (not counting several without videos in the beginning), I often listen to these songs for the first time before providing them here.  Even old folks can expand their horizons and learn new ways to worship God.  That’s a part of sanctification, I think.

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.