“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?

• Job 38:2

The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.

• 1 Timothy 5:24-25

The silver obtained from those of the community who were counted in the census was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel—one beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone who had crossed over to those counted, twenty years old or more, a total of 603,550 men.

• Exodus 38:25-26

Moreover, you are to take with you the silver and gold that the king and his advisers have freely given to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, together with all the silver and gold you may obtain from the province of Babylon, as well as the freewill offerings of the people and priests for the temple of their God in Jerusalem.

• Ezra 7:15-16

This quiz is about three words beginning with “OB”.  For you golfers out there, “OB” is short for “Out of Bounds.”  If your ball lands OB, you have a one stroke penalty and you return to the spot where you hit the ball to take the next shot, in short “stroke and distance” penalty, which is essentially a two-stroke penalty depending on what you do on the next shot.  I was playing in a tournament one time and a friend of mine hit his ball OB, into the highly manicured lawn of the plant manager.  The plant manager came onto the front porch and encouraged the young engineer to forget about the penalty and hit the ball where it lay.  My friend always took huge divots.  A divot is a hunk of grass, grass roots, and dirt as the club face slices through the ground beneath the ball.  He was afraid to scar the plant managers lawn.  This lawn looked like one of the plant manager’s “servants” got out there with a straight edge and a pair of scissors – one of THOSE lawns.  So, my friend did what they call a “chili dip.”  He barely made contact with the ball, but he got the ball back into play.  The plant manager said, “Disappointing” and went back inside his house.

No, the three words beginning with “OB” are obscure, obvious, and obtain.  “Obey” and its derivatives, like obedient, can get its own quiz.  Hmmmm, another idea for a future quiz!

Have you ever noticed how obscure and obvious are opposites, but they start with the same two letters?  Interesting.  Actually, the prefix “OB” means toward, and that could mean an approach toward any extreme, including opposite extremes.

I wanted a quiz with just obscure and obvious, but obviously neither of these words are mentioned that often in the NIV.  Thus, I obtained a third “OB” word.

As for “Gobs,” in North American slang, it means “a lot,” but living in the Pittsburgh area, it means a Whoopie Pie.  You know, those pastries that look like giant cream filled cookies.  They are made with what looks like the top of a burger bun on the top and bottom but made from chocolate cake.  And then there is a mountain of sweet whipped cream between the two cakes.  While eating a gob, if you hear a noise that sounds like leather rubbing against leather, you might want to loosen your belt.  You might be gaining weight so fast, your belt might blow!  But they are good, even the gluten free variety.

The Questions:

#	Question	Bible Reference	Answer
1	In Numbers 27, Moses is about to commission someone to be a leader.  He will have some of the Spirit that Moses had and Eleazer the high priest can obtain decisions for him using the Urim before the Lord.  Who is getting commissioned?
2	In the “obscure” verse above in the Scriptures, God uses the word “obscure.”  Job repeats those words and then confesses what?
3	God condemns those that devise wicked schemes, but good people obtain what?
4	What are we supposed to do in private, unseen by all except the Father, who will reward us?  The point being, most people do this and make it obvious.
5	Plans are established by seeking guidance.  That may be obvious, but in the verse that starts with those words, it says to obtain guidance when you are about to do what?
6	In Isaiah 33, the prophecy says we will not see what type of people anymore, giving three specifically?
7	In Pisidian Antioch, Paul’s sermon says that we, by believing in Jesus, can be set free from all our sins, something that we cannot obtain under what?
8	If the sins of the flesh are so obvious, what are they?  Hint: Paul lists three that in certain ways relate to one another.
9	When Paul is arrested in Jerusalem, he is allowed to address the crowd.  He gives a testimony about how he was taught by Gamaliel, persecuted those of the Way, and obtained something to take to Damascus.  What did he obtain?
10	In a way, Ezekiel 3 relates to Isaiah 33.  Ezekiel is told to talk to the people of Israel.  If Ezekiel talked to the people of obscure speech, meaning the captors who held the Israelites in exile, they would have done what?

I hope that these questions were not obscure, that some questions were obvious, and that you obtained the correct answers.

I have thought about it and the thought for this quiz is rather obscure, but not really.  I was thinking of all the questions that I have written that are obscure.  Then it dawned on me that nothing could be more obscure than a quiz about “obscure.”  Then, in doing a search for “obscure” in the NIV, I found only five mentions of the word.  Well, is it not obvious that I need another word to combine with obscure.  Well, if it is that obvious, why not “obvious?”  I asked myself, obviously.  But then, with only four mentions of the word “obvious” in the NIV, I needed to obtain a third word.

The odd numbered questions are about verses containing the word “obvious” in one form or another.  Of the other five questions, I have three verses using obscure and two verses using obvious.

Bible References:

#	Question	Bible Reference	Answer
1	In Numbers 27, Moses is about to commission someone to be a leader.  He will have some of the Spirit that Moses had and Eleazer the high priest can obtain decisions for him using the Urim before the Lord.  Who is getting commissioned?	Numbers 27:12-23
2	In the “obscure” verse above in the Scriptures, God uses the word “obscure.”  Job repeats those words and then confesses what?	Job 42:3
3	God condemns those that devise wicked schemes, but good people obtain what?	Proverbs 12:2
4	What are we supposed to do in private, unseen by all except the Father, who will reward us?  The point being, most people do this and make it obvious.	Matthew 6:18
5	Plans are established by seeking guidance.  That may be obvious, but in the verse that starts with those words, it says to obtain guidance when you are about to do what?	Proverbs 20:18
6	In Isaiah 33, the prophecy says we will not see what type of people anymore, giving three specifically?	Isaiah 33:17-19
7	In Pisidian Antioch, Paul’s sermon says that we, by believing in Jesus, can be set free from all our sins, something that we cannot obtain under what?	Acts 13:39
8	If the sins of the flesh are so obvious, what are they?  Hint: Paul lists three that in certain ways relate to one another.	Galatians 5:19
9	When Paul is arrested in Jerusalem, he is allowed to address the crowd.  He gives a testimony about how he was taught by Gamaliel, persecuted those of the Way, and obtained something to take to Damascus.  What did he obtain?	Acts 22:5
10	In a way, Ezekiel 3 relates to Isaiah 33.  Ezekiel is told to talk to the people of Israel.  If Ezekiel talked to the people of obscure speech, meaning the captors who held the Israelites in exile, they would have done what?	Ezekiel 3:5-6

So, how do we move toward (the meaning of the prefix “OB”) to find less obscurity in our faith?  How do we obtain a stronger faith?  We can first look through our believing eyes and see the obvious signs of Jesus and God the Father in everything on earth and in the universe.

As we look out, we see more.  The new telescope images from NASA are amazing, and all I see if that God made the universe thousands of years ago with the foreknowledge that we would not have a telescope powerful enough to see these recent photographs until now.

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The Answers:

#	Question	Bible Reference	Answer
1	In Numbers 27, Moses is about to commission someone to be a leader.  He will have some of the Spirit that Moses had and Eleazer the high priest can obtain decisions for him using the Urim before the Lord.  Who is getting commissioned?	Numbers 27:12-23	Joshua
2	In the “obscure” verse above in the Scriptures, God uses the word “obscure.”  Job repeats those words and then confesses what?	Job 42:3	Job confesses that he does not understand things that are too wonderful to be understood.
3	God condemns those that devise wicked schemes, but good people obtain what?	Proverbs 12:2	Favor from the Lord
4	What are we supposed to do in private, unseen by all except the Father, who will reward us?  The point being, most people do this and make it obvious.	Matthew 6:18	Fast
5	Plans are established by seeking guidance.  That may be obvious, but in the verse that starts with those words, it says to obtain guidance when you are about to do what?	Proverbs 20:18	Wage war.
6	In Isaiah 33, the prophecy says we will not see what type of people anymore, giving three specifically?	Isaiah 33:17-19	Arrogant people who speak with obscure language, but specifically the king, the chief officer, and the officer in charge of the tower
7	In Pisidian Antioch, Paul’s sermon says that we, by believing in Jesus, can be set free from all our sins, something that we cannot obtain under what?	Acts 13:39	The Law of Moses
8	If the sins of the flesh are so obvious, what are they?  Hint: Paul lists three that in certain ways relate to one another.	Galatians 5:19	Sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery
9	When Paul is arrested in Jerusalem, he is allowed to address the crowd.  He gives a testimony about how he was taught by Gamaliel, persecuted those of the Way, and obtained something to take to Damascus.  What did he obtain?	Acts 22:5	Letters from the High Priest and religious leaders to their associates in Damascus – basically providing authority for Paul to carry out such persecutions
10	In a way, Ezekiel 3 relates to Isaiah 33.  Ezekiel is told to talk to the people of Israel.  If Ezekiel talked to the people of obscure speech, meaning the captors who held the Israelites in exile, they would have done what?	Ezekiel 3:5-6	Those of obscure speech would have listened.

Whether you did well on this quiz or, not so well, here is It is no Secret What God Can Do sung by the Babbie Mason and Jake Hess, backed up by the Gaither Homecoming Crowd.

And then we have the Brian Free and Assurance, Say Amen.

Or maybe Then I Met the Master, sung by three Southern Gospel greats, Jake Hess, James Blackwood, and Glen Payne.  Elvis Presley once said that Jake Hess was the best lyricist he’d ever worked with.  In this video, Jake had tears in his eyes.

Here is The God who Moves the Mountains sung by Corey Voss.

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.