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Question 1. In the parable Jesus told Simon the Pharisee, how much did the two debtors owe? Answer: One owed five hundred pence and the other fifty. Both were forgiven (Luke 7:41–42). Context & Exhortation: Jesus told this story at Simon's dinner while a sinful woman washed His feet with her tears. He asked Simon which of the two men would love the lender more: "which of them will love him most?" (Luke 7:42). Simon answered, "I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most" (Luke

Question 1. Simon of Cyrene carried Jesus’ cross. Which two sons of his does Mark name? Answer: Alexander and Rufus (Mark 15:21). Context & Exhortation: Mark names the sons as if his readers already knew them. A Rufus is greeted in Romans 16:13, and some think it may be the same man, though the text does not confirm it. Simon was pulled out of a crowd and made to carry a cross that was not his. His family seems to have been remembered in the church afterward. What can we tak

Question 1. During Jesus’ trial, Pilate received an urgent message from his own wife. What did she tell him? Answer: “Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him” (Matthew 27:19). Context & Exhortation: Only Matthew records this. Pilate is sitting on the judgment seat, the crowd is being stirred up for Barabbas, and in the middle of it a private message arrives from his wife, unnamed in Scripture, warning him

Question 1. The book of Hebrews never names its own author anywhere in the text, unlike most of Paul’s letters. What has this anonymity led scholars to debate for centuries, and what does the earliest tradition typically claim? Answer: Scholars have long debated it. Who wrote the book of Hebrews? The proposed candidates include Paul, Barnabas, Apollos, and even Priscilla. But there is no full agreement. Early church tradition, particularly in the Eastern church, often attribu

Question 1. After Saul was struck blind on the road to Damascus, God sent a specific disciple to restore his sight and pray over him. Who was he, and why was he initially afraid to go? Answer: Ananias (Acts 9:10–17). He was afraid because he’d heard “how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem” (9:13) and knew Saul had come to Damascus specifically to arrest believers. Context & Exhortation: Saul is still blind. He had not eaten or drunk anything for three days (9:9

Question 1. Before the Israelite spies escaped Jericho, they gave Rahab a specific sign to hang in her window to protect her family during the coming invasion. What was it, and what would happen if she failed to follow the instructions exactly? Answer: A cord of scarlet thread in her window (Joshua 2:18). If anyone in her household left the house during the attack, or if she told anyone about the spies’ mission, the spies would be released from their oath to protect her (2:19

Question 1. After Korah’s rebellion challenged Aaron’s right to the priesthood, God settled the dispute with a sign involving twelve rods. What happened to Aaron’s rod, and what did it prove? Answer: Aaron’s rod, alone among the twelve, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds overnight (Numbers 17:8) — proof that God, not popular vote, had chosen Aaron’s priesthood. Context & Exhortation: Korah, along with 250 respected leaders, had just challenged Moses and Aaron direct

Question 1. What sign did God give Noah as His promise never again to destroy the earth with a flood? Answer: The rainbow (Genesis 9:12–17). Context & Exhortation: "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth" (9:13). What stands out is who the sign is actually for. God says the bow will remind Him: "I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant" (9:16). The sign isn't primarily there to reassure anxio

Question 1. Which prophet made a borrowed iron axe head float to the surface of a river? Answer: Elisha (2 Kings 6:1–7). Context & Exhortation: A group of young prophets is cutting timber to expand their living quarters when one man's axe head — borrowed, not his own — flies off the handle and sinks into the Jordan. He's genuinely distressed about it: "Alas, master! for it was borrowed" (6:5). Losing borrowed tools meant real financial trouble for a man who likely had little

Question 1. Which entire book of the Bible is devoted to a righteous man who suffers terribly, though he's done nothing to deserve it, and never once sins with his lips? Answer: Job. Scripture calls him "perfect and upright" before his suffering even begins (Job 1:1), and after losing everything, "in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly" (1:22; see also 2:10). Context & Exhortation: Job loses his children, his wealth, and his health in a single chapter. His fri

Question 1. How many plagues did God send upon Egypt through Moses? (And name them) Answer: Ten, recorded across Exodus 7–12. Context & Exhortation: Blood. Frogs. Lice. Flies. Livestock disease. Boils. Hail. Locusts. Darkness. And the death of the firstborn. Ten judgments, each one worse than the last. Many of them were aimed directly at Egyptian gods. The Nile, worshiped as a god and the source of Egypt's entire food supply, turns to blood. The sun god Ra is answered with th

Question 1. The Hebrew word "Selah" appears throughout the Psalms and also three times in one other Old Testament book. Which chapter is it? (and which verses) Answer: Habakkuk 3 — verses 3, 9, and 13. Context & Exhortation: Habakkuk 3 is written like a psalm. It's labeled "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth" (3:1), and it ends with a musical note, "to the chief singer on my stringed instruments" (3:19). It was likely meant to be sung, not just read, which expl

Question 1. Besides Judas Iscariot, there was another apostle named Judas among the Twelve. By what other name is he also known? Answer: Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13 call him "Judas the brother of James." Matthew 10:3 calls him "Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus." Context & Exhortation: If you compare the four lists of the twelve apostles: Matthew 10:2–4, Mark 3:16–19, Luke 6:14–16, and Acts 1:13, you'll notice a few small differences in naming. This is one of the most intere

Question 1. Which book of the Bible records letters to seven churches in Asia, and can you name where they were located? Answer: Revelation, chapters 2–3. The churches are first listed together in Revelation 1:11, then addressed one by one: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Context & Exhortation: Each letter follows the same basic pattern. Christ describes Himself, using an image from the vision in Revelation 1. He praises the church whe

Question 1. What were the “Urim and Thummim,” and who used them? Answer: These were objects placed in the high priest’s breastplate, used to discern God’s will. This was established in Exodus 28:30. Context & Exhortation: “And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goeth in before the LORD” (Exodus 28:30). Scripture never fully explains what these objects physically were or exactly how they functi

Question 1. Who was Moses’ father-in-law, and by what other name is he also called in Scripture? Answer: Jethro, also called Reuel — introduced in Exodus 2:18 (Reuel) and Exodus 3:1 (Jethro). Context & Exhortation: Exodus 2:18 first names Moses’ father-in-law as “Reuel,” a Midianite priest whose seven daughters Moses helps at a well. By Exodus 3:1, the same man, or possibly Reuel’s son, with “Jethro” understood as a title meaning “excellency” rather than strictly a personal n

Question 1. Several kings of Judah near the end of the kingdom have very similar names. What are their names, how are they related, and where can their reigns be compared? Answer: All three - Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jehoiachin - were sons or grandsons of King Josiah. Their reigns overlap and are easy to confuse. You can compare them in 2 Kings 23–24 and 2 Chronicles 36. Context & Exhortation: Josiah was Judah's great reforming king. He died in battle at Megiddo (2 Kings 23:

Question 1. Which book of the Bible never mentions the name of God at all? Answer: Esther. Context & Exhortation: Not once, in ten chapters, does the book of Esther use the name of God. Not even “LORD,” “Elohim,” nothing. This is genuinely unusual among the sixty-six books, and scholars have long noted it. And yet the whole story of Esther is full of coincidences that are so perfectly timed, they barely feel like coincidences at all. A Jewish orphan becomes queen of Persia ri

Question 1. How many years did the Israelites live in Egypt before the Exodus? Answer: 430 years, stated in Exodus 12:40–41. Context & Exhortation: “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:40–41). Notice that precise phrase, “the selfs

Question 1. Which prophet was told by God to marry a woman who would be unfaithful to him, as a living illustration to Israel? (Where in the Bible is the account recorded?) Answer: Hosea, commanded to marry Gomer in Hosea 1:2–3. Context & Exhortation: “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD” (Hosea 1:2). Hosea didn’t get to treat this as just a nice teaching illustration he could