the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, a descendant of Levi, who was born to the Levites in Egypt. To Amram she bore Aaron, Moses and their sister Miriam.

• Numbers 26:59

Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife,

• Esther 5:10

“Therefore this is what the Lord says: “‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”

• Amos 7:17

This quiz is about the word “wife.”  My wife would have had her 73^rd birthday this month, and I just finished a Bible study series that used her answers to questions in a Bible study guide, the “with a little help” series.  With her firmly intrenched in my thinking and bracing myself for the upcoming holidays, I thought a “wife” quiz was appropriate.

And the questions all pertain to the word “wife.”  There are over 100 references to “wives” in the NIV, but they do not figure into any of the questions.

The quiz will be in three parts.  The first part will be off-the-wall questions that make the Bible Reference section not applicable.  A few of the answers might be intuitive answers, but at least one should be a familiar chapter of the Bible.  The second half of the quiz will be about verses with the word “wife” in them.  The third part of the quiz will be basically “Who is the wife of …?”

The questions in parts two and three are in biblical order.  They are in chronological order in part three, but the nature of two of the questions in part two make it obvious that they are not in chronological order.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible Reference	Answers
	PART ONE
1	Which word is mentioned more often in the NIV “husband” or “wife”?
2	Which of the two testaments has more than four times as many references to “wife” as the other?
3	In one testament, the word “wife” is mentioned in 61.5% of the books while only 37.0% in the other testament.  Which testament mentions “wife” in the higher percentage of books?
4	Is ”wife” mentioned in any epistle other than the Pauline epistles?
5	Which chapter of Proverbs contains the description of a Wife of Noble Character?
	PART TWO
6	In the first reference to wife in the NIV, a man becomes united to his wife and what happens?
7	When the wife of Phinehas learned her husband was killed and the Ark of the Lord captured, what did she do before dying in despair?
8	When Herod married the wife of his brother Philip, who was arrested for saying the marriage was unlawful?
9	Who was the priest whose barren wife was Elizabeth – eventually the mother of John the Baptist (Baptizer)?
10	When the angel tells John that he will be shown the wife of the Lamb, what comes down out of heaven?
	PART THREE – Who is the wife of …
11	Abram
12	Isaac
13	Boaz
14	Uriah the Hittite
15	Joseph (of the NT)

“Don’t neglect your wife. She needs what we all need: understanding, affection, gratitude, support, and appreciation. For sure, she doesn’t get these from the kids when they’re small. So if she doesn’t get them from her husband either, then she doesn’t get them at all.”

• Debbie Macomber, God’s Guest List

At the end of each chapter in this Debbie Macomber book, she writes an RSVP.  Why not?  She is putting together a guest list that God is guiding her in developing.  I think I could write a post about the RSVP of each chapter, but in this chapter, chapter eight, A Stuffed Teddy, A bread Truck, and A Tin Box in the Attic, ended with such an RSVP that each bullet point could be the theme of a post.  The chapter was talking about the influence of a father.

But here, she is talking to the father of the family.  We should never neglect our wives.  I never realized what a gem I had.  Each wife has her warts, but most of the warts are figurative.  One of my wife’s greatest attributes and one of her greatest failures was in her servant’s heart.  She poured out her soul each day in caring for whatever family there was within reach.  While she spoiled them, she worked so hard that she neglected herself.

So, if I neglected my wife due to her always doing this, that, and the other thing, and the children neglected her because they grew up learning that Mommy just did these things, you have total neglect when she neglects her own needs when she neglects herself.  I doubt if her life would have been lengthened by taking care of herself and doing less spoiling, but she may have felt better on some of those days.

And when I say “spoil” I mean that she naturally jumped up to do things and we expected her to do it.  We never demanded, but we just knew it would be done.  When the boys grew older, she and I both taught them things like cooking and cleaning and yard work.  The boys even know how to change the oil in the car, but these days the environmental issues make it much easier to have someone else do it.  And at my age, I might crawl underneath there, but I might need help getting back out.  But the point is that when the boys had families of their own, their wives did not do a tenth of what their mother had done.  It was a good thing that we trained them well.  The tenth comment may be a bit of exaggeration, and at times in either direction, but when they announce, “I will not be Super Mom,” do they even put in an effort at all?  My wife hated being called Super Mom, but she was.  And even superheroes have their kryptonite.

When my wife got sick late in life, I started doing everything.  The menu shortened a bit, okay, a lot.  How can you make this dish or that when my wife went by feel rather than by a recipe?  Some things did not get thoroughly cleaned as often as they used to be.  And I did all this falling short of her standard after I was retired.  She did what she did, and half the time she had a fulltime job.

So, Debbie Macomber is right.  Do not neglect your wife.  Do not take anything that she does for granted.  Even if she does not do a lot.  With love, encouragement, understanding, and appreciation, she might just do more and do a better job.

But might I add one thing to what Debbie Macomber wrote?  Listen to your wife, even when she is not speaking.  My wife was great at bearing the pain of her illnesses with no complaint.  Teach yourself to look for other hints when something like that happens.  The old joke is the Mommy is the only one that does not get sick when the “bug” hits the family.  After all, someone has to stay healthy to nurse the rest of the family back to health.  But sometimes, Mommy is just as sick, she just hides it while she is helping everyone else get better.  She had me deal with a stomach virus that both boys had at the same time.  She was probably sick in the master bathroom at the same time, but she would never have let me know.

Bible References:

	Question	Bible Reference	Answers
	PART ONE
1	Which word is mentioned more often in the NIV “husband” or “wife”?	N/A
2	Which of the two testaments has more than four times as many references to “wife” as the other?	N/A
3	In one testament, the word “wife” is mentioned in 61.5% of the books while only 37.0% in the other testament.  Which testament mentions “wife” in the higher percentage of books?	N/A
4	Is ”wife” mentioned in any epistle other than the Pauline epistles?	N/A
5	Which chapter of Proverbs contains the description of a Wife of Noble Character?	N/A
	PART TWO
6	In the first reference to wife in the NIV, a man becomes united to his wife and what happens?	Genesis 2:24
7	When the wife of Phinehas learned her husband was killed and the Ark of the Lord captured, what did she do before dying in despair?	1 Samuel 4:19
8	When Herod married the wife of his brother Philip, who was arrested for saying the marriage was unlawful?	Matthew 14:3
9	Who was the priest whose barren wife was Elizabeth – eventually the mother of John the Baptist (Baptizer)?	Luke 1:13
10	When the angel tells John that he will be shown the wife of the Lamb, what comes down out of heaven?	Revelation 21:9
	PART THREE – Who is the wife of …
11	Abram	Genesis 11:29
12	Isaac	Genesis 24:67
13	Boaz	Chap. 4, v. 13
14	Uriah the Hittite	2 Samuel 11:3
15	Joseph (of the NT)	Matthew 1:24

There is one question in part one of the quiz about the wife of noble character.  Many women’s libbers might rip the page from the Bible, but I had a wife of noble character.  When you live in a marriage where each partner thinks they do half of what is necessary, there is a wide gulf of undone things left in the middle.  But when you each strive to do much more than your half, you come much closer to meeting each other in the middle.

Since the Bible Reference is the answer to question 5 of part one, you can look there for the source:

A wife of noble character who can find?
    She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
    and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax
    and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships,
    bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still night;
    she provides food for her family
    and portions for her female servants.
She considers a field and buys it;
    out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She sets about her work vigorously;
    her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable,
    and her lamp does not go out at night.
In her hand she holds the distaff
    and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor
    and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
    for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She makes coverings for her bed;
    she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected at the city gate,
    where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them,
    and supplies the merchants with sashes.
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
    she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
    and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women do noble things,
    but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Honor her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

• The answer to question 5, verses 10-31

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

	Question	Bible Reference	Answers
	PART ONE
1	Which word is mentioned more often in the NIV “husband” or “wife”?	N/A	Wife, nearly three times as often
2	Which of the two testaments has more than four times as many references to “wife” as the other?	N/A	The Old Testament with 264 mentions of “wife” compared to 61 in the New Testament.
3	In one testament, the word “wife” is mentioned in 61.5% of the books while only 37.0% in the other testament.  Which testament mentions “wife” in the higher percentage of books?	N/A	The Old Testament.  Oddly, the first five books of each testament mention “wife” but the sixth book, Joshua and Romans respectively do not mention “wife”, although Joshua mentions “wives” once.
4	Is ”wife” mentioned in any epistle other than the Pauline epistles?	N/A	No.  The Apostle Paul mentions the word “wife” 19 times, nearly a third of all New Testament references, but the author of Hebrews, James, Peter, John, and Jude never mention wife.
5	Which chapter of Proverbs contains the description of a Wife of Noble Character?	N/A	Proverbs 31, the last 22 verses of the book of Proverbs.
	PART TWO
6	In the first reference to wife in the NIV, a man becomes united to his wife and what happens?	Genesis 2:24	They become one flesh
7	When the wife of Phinehas learned her husband was killed and the Ark of the Lord captured, what did she do before dying in despair?	1 Samuel 4:19	Went into labor and gave birth to a son named Ichabod.
8	When Herod married the wife of his brother Philip, who was arrested for saying the marriage was unlawful?	Matthew 14:3	John the Baptist (Baptizer) which led to John the Baptist being beheaded.
9	Who was the priest whose barren wife was Elizabeth – eventually the mother of John the Baptist (Baptizer)?	Luke 1:13	Zechariah
10	When the angel tells John that he will be shown the wife of the Lamb, what comes down out of heaven?	Revelation 21:9	The New Jerusalem, the last reference to wife in the NIV.
	PART THREE – Who is the wife of …
11	Abram	Genesis 11:29	Sarai (Sarah), after Sarah died, Abraham married Keturah, but as Abram, Sarai was his only “wife”
12	Isaac	Genesis 24:67	Rebekah
13	Boaz	Chap. 4, v. 13	Ruth
14	Uriah the Hittite	2 Samuel 11:3	Bathsheba
15	Joseph (of the NT)	Matthew 1:24	Mary

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, … Here is Drew Jacobs, singing Jesus and You.  And this was a hard one for me.

Here is Cade Thompson with Dear Future Wife.

And here is A Woman: Faithful sung featuring Amy Grant and Ellie Holcomb.

And although the song does not have the word “wife”, here are the Asidors, with In His Time.  It sure looks like some wives have passed on good teaching to their children.

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.