Deck 2: The Old Testament

Question 1

What does the term canon refer to?

A) Passages or verses in the Bible that are particularly important
B) Dynamic passages or verses that are intended to explode in the reader's soul
C) Authoritative collection of texts in a religious tradition
D) Texts and teachings that are true.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

What is the Jewish Bible is called?

A) Torah
B) Books of Moses
C) Tanakh
D) Nevi'im.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What is the Documentary Hypothesis?

A) A theory that Jews documented their history in the Bible
B) A theory that Jewish history could not be documented but was maintained in oral telling
C) A theory that argues against the divine inspiration of the Old Testament
D) A theory that argues for four main sources for the Old Testament.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

How did the author explain the discrepancy between Jesus' ascension on Easter Sunday in the Gospel of Luke and Jesus' ascension forty days later in Acts of the Apostles?

A) They represent two different theological aims
B) Jesus could have ascended twice
C) They were written by two different witnesses
D) One of them has to be historically false.

Question 5

What does cosmogony refer to?

A) How the universe is structured
B) How the universe was made
C) The story of Adam and Eve
D) The nature of the heavens.

Question 6

In the Story of Adam and Eve, why did God expel them from the Garden of Eden?

A) They sinned
B) They would ruin the Garden
C) They might eat of the tree of knowledge again and thus become gods
D) They might eat of the tree of life and live forever.

Question 7

Initially, Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel as their children. What happened to them?

A) Cain taught Abel how to worship God, and God blessed Cain
B) Abel rebelled against God and lost his birthright to Cain
C) Cain was jealous of Abel and killed him
D) Both Cain and Abel fell into a pit and died.

Question 8

What is an anthropomorphism?

A) Attributing human characteristics to nonhumans
B) Striving to find ways to become more human
C) Humans trying to become like God
D) The study of humanity from a theological point of view.

Question 9

Who was the first patriarch?

A) Moses
B) Jacob
C) Abraham
D) God.

Question 10

Israel is another name for whom?

A) Moses
B) Jacob
C) Abraham
D) God.

Question 11

What was the binding of Isaac about?

A) Isaac was forced to be a slave
B) Isaac was attacked, bound, and killed by his brothers
C) Abraham bound him as a sacrifice to God
D) It was actually Jacob who bound himself, but this was misunderstood by the text.

Question 12

According to the Book of Exodus, why were Jews enslaved in Egypt?

A) Pharaoh was afraid they would join Egypt's enemies in war
B) Pharaoh demanded that they leave, which they refused
C) Pharaoh wanted to adopt Moses and the Jews refused
D) Pharaoh needed workers.

Question 13

Which of the following did God give as his own name to Moses?

A) THE LORD
B) I AM WHO AM
C) ALMIGHTY
D) MASTER.

Question 14

Where did Moses receive the Law of God and make a covenant with his people?

A) Jerusalem
B) Egypt
C) Sinai
D) Moses did not do this.

Question 15

How long did the period of the Judges last?

A) 50 years
B) 100 years
C) 200 years
D) 500 years.

Question 16

What best characterizes Israel's society during the time of the Judges?

A) It was local and egalitarian, with little centralized power
B) It was united but often brutal under a universal judge
C) It was deeply religiously faithful, but socially weak
D) It was structured under universal laws which the judges oversaw.

Question 17

What was the reason that Israel became a monarchy?

A) The elders of Israel believed that this was the people's destiny
B) The elders of Israel were afraid of other nations' gods
C) The elders of Israel wanted the community to be like other nations, and Samuel's sons were untrustworthy
D) The judge Samuel demanded it because the people were unmanageable.

Question 18

Who was the first king of Israel?

A) Abraham
B) David
C) Moses
D) Saul.

Question 19

What was the great promise God made to David?

A) His dynasty would last forever
B) He would be remembered forever as God's favored son
C) He would defeat the dreaded Philistines
D) His temple would last forever.

Question 20

Which foreign dynasty was the first to conquer and control Judah and Jerusalem?

A) Assyrian
B) Babylonian
C) Persian
D) Greek.

Question 21

What is Hellenization?

A) The first belief in an afterlife
B) Taking up Greek culture
C) Rejecting Satan in ancient Israel
D) Forming a hatred for outsiders.

Question 22

Who were the Hasmoneans?

A) Dynasty from the East that ruled over Israel
B) Family of prophets who reinvigorated Jewish worship
C) Jewish family who reclaimed Israel from the Greek dynasty
D) Overlords from Syria who controlled Israel.

Question 23

According to the author, what was the typical role of a prophet?

A) Predicting the future under God's inspiration
B) Calling the people and leaders to greater fidelity to the covenant
C) Performing miracles, for example, healing, to show God's present power
D) Offering sacrifices at the temple.

Question 24

According to the author, which two issues dominated the prophets' concerns?

A) Future telling and right sacrifices
B) Future telling and challenging the king
C) Authentic worship and social justice
D) Ensuring the people heard the word of God and predicting the future.

Question 25

Which of the following does not reflect the meaning of the term Torah?

A) Law
B) First five books of the Bible
C) Teaching
D) Piety or devotion.

Question 26

What does Sheol refer to?

A) A place where every soul rests after death
B) The first and last official tabernacle devoted to God
C) God's ancient rival
D) Jerusalem's temple.

Question 27

What does the literal term Satan mean?

A) The destroyer
B) The steadfast one
C) The accuser
D) The liar

Question 28

According to the author, did ancient Jews believe in fallen angels?

A) No, only late in the Second Temple period did they believe this
B) Yes, and they believed they were the gods of their enemies
C) No, fallen angels only come to be believed in the New Testament
D) Yes, and they were believed to have given human beings diseases such as leprosy.

Question 29

According to the author, what best depicts Israel's understanding of other peoples?

A) They always found themselves oppressed by others and believed them heretics who deserve damnation
B) They initially thought of them as rivals, but came to see their gods as good for them even as Israel had the highest God
C) They initially thought of them as good, but came to see them as harming Israel's religion
D) They initially thought of them as rivals, but came to see that God loved them and wanted Israel to be a light for them.

Question 30

What constitutes the Second Temple period?

A) From the 11th century BCE to the 9th century BCE
B) From the 8th century BCE to the 6th century BCE
C) From the 6th century BCE to the 1st century CE
D) From the 1st century CE to the 5th century CE.

Question 31

The author claims that the creation accounts in Genesis are not historically .

Question 32

The author claims that the creation accounts in Genesis are not .

Question 33

Genesis depicts two creation stories, the first one being the oldest in Jewish oral history.

Question 34

After Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, human wickedness increased.

Question 35

For devout Jews to speak God's revealed name is the highest religious practice.

Question 36

Most ancient covenants were actually much like business deals.

Question 37

Becoming a monarchy led to the cultural advancement of the people.

Question 38

David's rule included a dysfunctional household.

Question 39

The most religiously devout king in Israel's history was Solomon.

Question 40

The single monarchy broke up quickly after Solomon's death.

Question 41

Once the Jews were sent into exile, the Holy Land remained in foreign control for the next four hundred years.

Question 42

Kings literally had guilds of prophets working for them.

Question 43

Not only did many ancient Jews believe in other gods, but there is good deal of the Old Testament that demonstrates the biblical authors did as well.

Question 44

According to the author, most ancient Jews followed God's law not as much to get into heaven than to avoid going to hell.

Question 45

Ancient Jews confused fallen angels with other gods.

Question 46

In discussing the historicity of the Bible, the author cites two texts reporting the ascension of Jesus, one from the Gospel of Luke and the other from Acts of the Apostles, both of which were written by the same author. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus ascends on Easter evening, and in Acts he ascends after forty days. The author claims that the biblical author intended to make theological points by depicting the ascension in two different ways. If this is the case, how do you think the reader of the Bible can trust any historical claim in the text?

Question 47

What do you make of the plagues in Exodus? What does this imply about God?

Question 48

The author says that Christians interpret Old Testament prophetic texts as foretelling the person and ministry of Jesus. He concedes that some of these texts may have intended historical persons at the time of the prophecy, but also that it is legitimate for Christians to see that the "fullness of these prophesies unfolds with Jesus." Do you think this is a position that is intellectually defensible? Why or why not?

Question 49

What is most surprising to you in the history of ancient Israel and why?

Question 50

The author says that Israel's faith and the Bible which depicts that faith changed over time in key ways, such as belief in gods to belief in monotheism and the shift from embracing no appreciable afterlife to embracing the belief in heaven and hell. Do you think he makes a good case? If not, how would you interpret the texts he cited? If so, what does this imply about the revelatory quality of the Bible?