Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

• Exodus 31:1-2

David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people. Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;

• 2 Samuel 8:15-16

When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
“At your service,” he replied.

• 2 Samuel 9:6

These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

• Matthew 10:2-4

I thought of having a quiz about names in the Bible that do not have a “B” in them, according to the English spelling of the name, but then, that sounded dumb to me.  Then, I made it a nasty quiz to dream up – okay all the pairs within about 20 minutes of searching.

Here is the premise.  There are ten questions.  The answer to each question is a name of someone in the Bible with no “B” in the English spelling of the name.  For example, Adam, the first man.  But, each of these “No B” people had someone in their sphere or influence, or the “No B” person was in the sphere of the other’s influence and that person had a “B” in their name, anywhere from the first letter to the last letter or somewhere in between.  Thus, for our example of Adam, the “B” would be Abel, his son, specifically the son that was killed by Cain.

The question is strictly about the “No B”, then a hint is given regarding the “B.”  It the “B” is hinted in the question, it is a bonus hint.

To illustrate the example in a question form with the Adam and Abel combination, the question might be “Who is the first man? (B-son, 2)

To decipher the “B” person hint, the “B” name is a son of the answer, and the “B” is the second letter.  If there were three “B” letters in the name, all three numbers would be listed.

The example combinations in the Scriptures above would be: Moses or Hur and Bezalel; David and Joab; Jonathan or David and Mephibosheth; James or John and Zebedee; any of the disciples/apostles and Bartholomew.  (two combinations in the last set of verses above)

I know, this sounds weird but run with it.  The questions are in biblical order.  All ten questions come from the Old Testament.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	She laughed when they said she would give birth in her old age and her name was changed to this when her husband was given the covenant of circumcision. (B- husband and half-brother, 2)
2	He had his father’s servant go to his uncle’s home to find a bride.  At first meeting, they were married and she went into his tent. (B – wife, 3)
3	First born of twins who sold his birthright to his brother, (B – twin brother, 5) Note: Name before it was changed.
4	She was the daughter of a man with a “B” in the middle of his name and her father tricked the groom into marrying her instead of her younger sister.  She eventually gave birth to six boys and a girl, the first and last boys having a “B” in their name. (B – first son, 4)
5	She was the younger sister of the “No B” answer of question 4, married to the “B” answer in question 3.  She had been barren, but she eventually had two sons, giving birth to the second just before she died.  The father changed the boy’s name. (B – second son, either name, 1)
6	She was the daughter-in-law of a woman who needed a kinsman-redeemer to marry her daughter-in-law so that there would be someone to inherit her late husband’s property. (B – her husband, 1)
7	He was a Hittite, who led part of the king’s army, and after the king made his wife pregnant, this dutiful soldier would not sleep with his wife while his men were at the battlefield. (B – his wife, 1 and 8)
8	He was a prophet, a Tishbite, who prophesied that the land would have a drought due to how evil the king and queen were, and then after defeating the prophets of Baal, he announced that the drought would be over. (B- the king, 4)
9	This great emperor of the Persian-Mede empire was filled with the spirit to send Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.  The first group who returned was led by someone in the line of king David. (B- the leader who returned to rebuild the temple, 5, 6, and 8)
10	He was a prophet in exile.  He interpreted a dream for the king of Babylon, and the king fell on his knees before this prophet. (B, the Babylonian king, 3)

When I came up with this quiz idea, I had only one or two ideas for the combination of names.  At one point, even with Dietrich Gruen’s Who’s Who in the Bible before me, I panicked.  This was so absurd.  How do you find such combinations?

Then, a sudden calm came over me.  If this was God’s idea, I would find the combinations.  If this did not work out, I would have to dream up another idea for a quiz, and not too much time would be lost anyway.

Then, I not only found ten fairly well-known combinations (question 9 maybe being the exception), but I found several as examples to illustrate how these questions worked.

It goes to show you that God helps you, even in what some might think as a trivial way.  Many of the ideas that we dream up that are for God’s glory are not dreamed up in a vacuum.  God is working through us to make it happen.

For this quiz, I have to give God all the credit.  I would have probably stopped at that panic point and dreamed up an easier topic, one less convoluted.  But something inside me said to not give up.  That notion, the Holy Spirit, knew my mind would think clearly and find the answers to the quiz.  And as previously mentioned, I found ten combinations in about twenty minutes.

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	She laughed when they said she would give birth in her old age and her name was changed to this when her husband was given the covenant of circumcision. (B- husband and half-brother, 2)	Genesis 17:15
2	He had his father’s servant go to his uncle’s home to find a bride.  At first meeting, they were married and she went into his tent. (B – wife, 3)	Genesis 24:64-67
3	First born of twins who sold his birthright to his brother, (B – twin brother, 5) Note: Name before it was changed.	Genesis 26:34
4	She was the daughter of a man with a “B” in the middle of his name and her father tricked the groom into marrying her instead of her younger sister.  She eventually gave birth to six boys and a girl, the first and last boys having a “B” in their name. (B – first son, 4)	Genesis 24:32
5	She was the younger sister of the “No B” answer of question 4, married to the “B” answer in question 3.  She had been barren, but she eventually had two sons, giving birth to the second just before she died.  The father changed the boy’s name. (B – second son, either name, 1)	Genesis 35:4
6	She was the daughter-in-law of a woman who needed a kinsman-redeemer to marry her daughter-in-law so that there would be someone to inherit her late husband’s property. (B – her husband, 1)	Ruth 4:13
7	He was a Hittite, who led part of the king’s army, and after the king made his wife pregnant, this dutiful soldier would not sleep with his wife while his men were at the battlefield. (B – his wife, 1 and 8)	2 Samuel 11:3
8	He was a prophet, a Tishbite, who prophesied that the land would have a drought due to how evil the king and queen were, and then after defeating the prophets of Baal, he announced that the drought would be over. (B- the king, 4)	1 Kings 17 through 1 Kings 18:44
9	This great emperor of the Persian-Mede empire was filled with the spirit to send Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.  The first group who returned was led by someone in the line of king David. (B- the leader who returned to rebuild the temple, 5, 6, and 8)	Ezra 1:7; Ezra 2:2
10	He was a prophet in exile.  He interpreted a dream for the king of Babylon, and the king fell on his knees before this prophet. (B, the Babylonian king, 3)	The name of the prophet with chapter and verse, 2:46

I think Shakespeare wrote “To Be or not to Be.”  With all these experts that say “Shakespeare” never existed just because they cannot imagine one writer could write in more than one style…

But anything is possible with God.  They think that the “B” answer in question nine never completed his assigned task of building his temple.  Some scholars say that the temple never was finished, but I would like to know what they dedicated in Ezra 6 if it was not the completed temple?

The next thing you know, the experts will throw out question nine because if the temple was not completed, then the person that built the temple did not exist.

But faith is a gift from God.  With that faith, we can believe that God would not have allowed Ezra to dedicate a temple that was never completed.  It does not record when the “B” answer to question 9 died.  The last reference to this man is in Ezra 5, working away at the assigned task.  Then Ezra dedicates the temple in the next chapter, a completed temple, maybe not with the majesty of Solomon’s temple, but the work was done.

To Be(lieve) or not to Be(lieve)…  Now that really is the question.

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The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	She laughed when they said she would give birth in her old age and her name was changed to this when her husband was given the covenant of circumcision. (B- husband and half-brother, 2)	Genesis 17:15	No B – Sarah B – Abraham
2	He had his father’s servant go to his uncle’s home to find a bride.  At first meeting, they were married and she went into his tent. (B – wife, 3)	Genesis 24:64-67	No B – Isaac B – Rebekah
3	First born of twins who sold his birthright to his brother, (B – twin brother, 5) Note: Name before it was changed.	Genesis 26:34	No B – Esau B – Jacob
4	She was the daughter of a man with a “B” in the middle of his name and her father tricked the groom into marrying her instead of her younger sister.  She eventually gave birth to six boys and a girl, the first and last boys having a “B” in their name. (B – first son, 4)	Genesis 24:32	No B – Leah B – Reuben But a lot of “B” people here, father, Laban, husband, Jacob, last of her six sons, Zebulun
5	She was the younger sister of the “No B” answer of question 4, married to the “B” answer in question 3.  She had been barren, but she eventually had two sons, giving birth to the second just before she died.  The father changed the boy’s name. (B – second son, either name, 1)	Genesis 35:4	No B – Rachel B – Benjamin Her name for him was Ben-Oni (Gen. 35:18)
6	She was the daughter-in-law of a woman who needed a kinsman-redeemer to marry her daughter-in-law so that there would be someone to inherit her late husband’s property. (B – her husband, 1)	Ruth 4:13	No B – Ruth B – Boaz
7	He was a Hittite, who led part of the king’s army, and after the king made his wife pregnant, this dutiful soldier would not sleep with his wife while his men were at the battlefield. (B – his wife, 1 and 8)	2 Samuel 11:3	No B – Uriah B – Bathsheba Then again, the question might be for David as the “No B”
8	He was a prophet, a Tishbite, who prophesied that the land would have a drought due to how evil the king and queen were, and then after defeating the prophets of Baal, he announced that the drought would be over. (B- the king, 4)	1 Kings 17 through 1 Kings 18:44	No B – Elijah B – Ahab, but I could have made it Jezebel, Ahab’s wife
9	This great emperor of the Persian-Mede empire was filled with the spirit to send Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.  The first group who returned was led by someone in the line of king David. (B- the leader who returned to rebuild the temple, 5, 6, and 8)	Ezra 1:7; Ezra 2:2	No B – Cyrus the Great B – Zerubbabel
10	He was a prophet in exile.  He interpreted a dream for the king of Babylon, and the king fell on his knees before this prophet. (B, the Babylonian king, 3)	The name of the prophet with chapter and verse, 2:46	No B – Daniel B – Nebuchadnezzar Note: This question would not have worked using Daniel’s Babylonian name of Belteshazzar.

I think I am just going to have hymns that start with “B”.

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here is the Red Army Chorus singing Battle Hymn of the Republic.  Cliff Barrows remarked how emotional this made Billy Graham and the others on the team.  The choir members did not know English, in front of an audience that did not know English.  You can tell by their saying “Lie-Lees” instead of “Lilies” and “Bow-Zoom” instead of “bosom”, but God was there.  And the Holy Spirit was definitely present.  This was in 1992 and the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.

Here is Eclipse 6 singing Be Still My Soul.  If my mother turned to this hymn during the worship service, I knew that I would get a beating from my Dad (because she said to do so).  All I had done was shift my weight on the hardwood pew.  These days, if there are pews, they are padded, and the children seem to climb over the pews and their parents like the combination formed a jungle gym.  Times have changed.  This a capella version almost helps me forget those days.

Here is the Gaither Homecoming gathering singing Because He Lives.  Mark Lowry and Guy Penrod have solos.  I nearly got in deep trouble one day at work.  I was working, but I put a video on to play of a preschool girl, I think she was Asian, who was belting out the song.  I had my headphones on, but my boss came up to me and said, “I kind of like that song, but if you want to keep your employment here, plug your headphones in.

Here is the Gaither Home4coming Gathering led by Cliff Barrows singing Blessed Assurance.  The one verse that Cliff Barrows leads is done in “Crusade Style” and if they do not do anything else when I have my memorial service, I would want Blessed Assurance done Crusade Style.

And here is Acapeldridge singing Break Thou the Bread of Life.

I tried to go for different words that begin with “B”.  The first four of these hymns brought back memories, some sweet, some not so much, but my eyes are well lubricated at the moment.  But I did not realize how many hymns, among my favorites start with “B”.  I could have doubled the offerings here.

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.