My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
    see, it descends in judgment on Edom,
    the people I have totally destroyed.
The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood,
    it is covered with fat—
the blood of lambs and goats,
    fat from the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah
    and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
And the wild oxen will fall with them,
    the bull calves and the great bulls.
Their land will be drenched with blood,
    and the dust will be soaked with fat.

• Isaiah 34:5-7

When you hear the phrase “under the knife,” you usually do not think of God’s judgment, but you think of having surgery.  About nine days ago, my wife was again “under the knife.”  She was diagnosed with end stage kidney failure during the summer of 2020.  She was given catheters in her shoulders with tubes tied to the carotid artery and the jugular vein in her neck.  They removed blood from her body and add filtered blood back to her body through those tubes, but since those tubes are so close to the heart and the brain, she can never get wet.  She takes sponge baths.  She bundles up when it rains.  She must be very careful.  And in time, scar tissue will build up around the catheters and it will restrict blood flow to and from the brain.

But there is a permanent solution, installing a fistula, a connection between an artery and a vein, usually in the arm.  She had that done in mid-January 2021.  Ever since it was put in, she has had the surgeon say that it is viable and working well and the dialysis center complain that there is nothing there – it’s too deep – the fistula is too small – the blood vessels are too thin and easily missed, etc. – with monthly invasive procedures to “fix” the problems.  This latest surgery was to install a graft just beneath the skin.  This will eliminate at least three of the excuses. We just got a call yesterday that the appointment to see if the surgical area has been healed is postponed. It will be after Thanksgiving before we will know whether the surgery did any good. I thank you in advance for your prayers.

As I sat in the waiting room during the lengthy procedure, arriving at 5:30am and going home with my wife about noon (but some of that time was prep and some was recovery), I prayed that God would inspire me for a quiz.  I was bone dry.  No ideas that I came up with seemed viable.  Why ask about the offspring of Esau (Edom) when I do not know if I recognize any of those names?  That is just an example of the things that came to mind.  But then, it came to me to write about what was going on right then.  God inspires in many ways.  There are six mentions of the word “knife” in the NIV.  There are 13 mentions of the word “kidneys” in the NIV.

You can call this one quiz or two five-question mini-quizzes, but this quiz looks at those two words.  There will not be a question about the Isaiah 34 reference to kidneys, but that reference might give you a bit of a hint on at least one question.

The first five questions of the quiz are about the word “knife.”  Two of the six uses are within a few verses of each other.  The usage of kidneys is kind of different.  Thus, the questions are a bit different.

The Questions:

?	Bible Verse	Bible Verse(s)	Answer
1	Why is it recorded that Abraham carried a knife to Mount Moriah?
2	Why did Zipporah need a knife when Moses’ son was born?
3	What did the Levite do with a knife after his concubine had been raped all night long in Gibeah by Benjamites and eventually died?
4	A wise saying of Solomon says that if you are at a royal luncheon, where do you place a knife if you are prone to gluttony?
5	Jeremiah prophesied.  Baruch wrote the prophecy on several scrolls.  Then Jehudi suggested that Jeremiah and Baruch hide themselves while he read the scrolls to the king.  But what did Jehudi do with a knife?
6	Is the word “kidneys” ever mentioned in the NIV in the singular?
7	Of the 13 uses of the word “kidneys,” nine are from one book of the Bible, which one?
8	Considering those nine references and a couple from another book, why are the kidneys mentioned?
9	In Job, kidneys are mentioned once.  Since the book of Job is a conversation, who is speaking when kidneys are mentioned?
10	And who does the speaker “claim” has pierced his kidneys?

In the first question, I made a wordy attempt at equivocation.  Abraham probably had a knife nearby all the time.  As a shepherd, a sheep can become entangled in a bit of brush and get stuck.  Some type of tool similar to a knife would be needed, and a good shepherd is prepared for his wandering sheep.

With that in mind, God knows that we will wander.  He is patient.  My mother was very patient.  She rarely touched me in punishment, but once, she took out a knife and went to our shrubbery and cut a branch from the privet hedge.  I was decidedly frightened, and I “ran away from home.”  Since I was about five years old, I had no other place to go, so I ran around the house, countless times.  My mother, rather than chase me, stood next to the back door and waited for me to get tired and thirsty.  When I finally stopped running, she swatted me with the switch several times and then gave me a glass of water.  No consolation.  I had been bad.  Okay, I remember the punishment, but I have no idea what I had done to deserve it, other than it was bad and my father was away on a business trip.

Note:  Privet hedge switches are probably listed by name in the Geneva conventions as being the most inhumane switch to use for punishment.  The classic hickory switch, a smooth reed, is more durable and much more humane in comparison.  The privet hedge is like a cat-of-nine-tails.  The knots and barbs of the privet hedge remove tiny bits of flesh with each swat from the switch.  Again, no consolation or first aid.  I had been bad.  And now you know why I do not remember what I did wrong.  All I could think of was to never let Mommy ever get that angry ever again.  Never!  Never!  Never!

In the telling of this memory, I speak of a different place and a different time, even a different century.

God is patient, but He is waiting for us to come to our senses so that He can show us some love.

Bible References:

?	Bible Verse	Bible Verse(s)	Answer
1	Why is it recorded that Abraham carried a knife to Mount Moriah?	Genesis 22:6-10
2	Why did Zipporah need a knife when Moses’ son was born?	Exodus 4:25
3	What did the Levite do with a knife after his concubine had been raped all night long in Gibeah by Benjamites and eventually died.	Judges 19:29
4	A wise saying of Solomon says that if you are at a royal luncheon, where do you place a knife if you are prone to gluttony?	Proverbs 23:2
5	Jeremiah prophesied.  Baruch wrote the prophecy on several scrolls.  Then Jehudi suggested that Jeremiah and Baruch hide themselves while he read the scrolls to the king.  But what did Jehudi do with a knife?	Jeremiah 26:23
6	Is the word “kidneys” ever mentioned in the NIV in the singular?	N/A
7	Of the 13 uses of the word “kidneys,” nine are from one book of the Bible, which one?	N/A
8	Considering those nine references and a couple from another book, why are the kidneys mentioned?	Chapter and verse, 3:4 as an example.
9	In Job, kidneys are mentioned once.  Since the book of Job is a conversation, who is speaking when kidneys are mentioned?	Job 16:13
10	And who does the speaker “claim” has pierced his kidneys?	Job 16:6-14

My wife emerged from the surgery, and she is doing fine.

When a loved one gets this kind of disease or malady, like kidney failure, you need to pack all the patience that you have and then go by the neighbor’s house to see if they have some to spare.

She is fine for now, but kidney dialysis is, at its best, only about 10% effective.

And as for the multitude of uses of the word “kidneys”?  It is in connection of the associated fat in many of those references.  There is a different type of dialysis that they have not suggested for my wife, thinking it might not be effective with her.  You do it at home, every night, usually while sleeping.  It is called peritoneal dialysis, taking the peritoneal fluid from the abdomen, the “fat” around the kidneys, and filtering it instead of the blood.  There are a variety of reasons why they are not considering it, but it would free my wife’s daily schedule – if it worked.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

?	Bible Verse	Bible Verse(s)	Answer
1	Why is it recorded that Abraham carried a knife to Mount Moriah?	Genesis 22:6-10	To follow God’s command and sacrifice Isaac.
2	Why did Zipporah need a knife when Moses’ son was born?	Exodus 4:25	To circumcise their son in the Israelite fashion.
3	What did the Levite do with a knife after his concubine had been raped all night long in Gibeah by Benjamites and eventually died.	Judges 19:29	He cut her into twelve pieces and sent those pieces to each area in Israel to let them know what had happened.
4	A wise saying of Solomon says that if you are at a royal luncheon, where do you place a knife if you are prone to gluttony?	Proverbs 23:2	Place the knife to your throat.
5	Jeremiah prophesied.  Baruch wrote the prophecy on several scrolls.  Then Jehudi suggested that Jeremiah and Baruch hide themselves while he read the scrolls to the king.  But what did Jehudi do with a knife?	Jeremiah 26:23	As usual, the king was not pleased with any prophecy that came from Jeremiah, and after reading each segment, Jehudi took the scroll, cut it up and threw it into the fire.
6	Is the word “kidneys” ever mentioned in the NIV in the singular?	N/A	No.  All references are of the plural, kidneys.
7	Of the 13 uses of the word “kidneys,” nine are from one book of the Bible, which one?	N/A	Leviticus
8	Considering those nine references and a couple from another book, why are the kidneys mentioned?	Chapter and verse, 3:4 as an example.	Kidneys, with the fat on them are prepared for various sacrifices.  Thus, the references in Exodus and Leviticus all refer to sacrifice preparation.
9	In Job, kidneys are mentioned once.  Since the book of Job is a conversation, who is speaking when kidneys are mentioned?	Job 16:13	Job
10	And who does the speaker “claim” has pierced his kidneys?	Job 16:6-14	God

And regardless of how you did, here is a comedy routine by Mark Lowry, Watching Open-Heart Surgery on the Discovery Channel.  Since he mentions kidneys and open-heart surgery in this roughly nine-minute video.  My retirement years started with my wife’s open-heart surgery, and they continue with kidney dialysis, so this video fits.  My wife thinks it is hilarious, but when Mark Lowry says the word “Rip” and makes the necessary motions, she cringes.

And a song by Dr. G., Dialysize.  Cute, but it is not this much “fun.”  But then listen to the “Do not” list.  That is not fun either. My wife refuses to watch this one.

This next song is sung by Jamie Wilson, Ain’t No Grave.  Life on dialysis three days each week, with no week off, is for many not much of a life, but we have hope.  People could come forward to be a living donor, and we are a long way from thinking of the actual end.  But when that comes, “There ain’t no grave that can hold my body down.”

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.