How Well Do You Know?

Just because you’ve read something a bunch of times, doesn’t mean you really know it. Last week part of my Old Testament homework was to read Exodus and Leviticus. No sweat – I’ve read both dozens of times (at least) throughout the years.

I was confident that I could pass any test on it.  So when I came to this site about reading the Old Testament, I embarked here and here on the test-taking advernture with confidence.

There are 10 questions in four categories: True/False, Multiple Choice, Matching and Identity.

Some are easy:

• The Israelites were led through the wilderness by a pillar of salt. True  or False. False.
• Which was NOT one of the items associated with the tabernacle? (a) incense altar  (b) menorah  (c) knife for circumcision.  The answer is (c).

Some questions are a little tricky, but still easy enough to answer:

• The last plague that afflicted both the Egyptians and the Hebrews was the death of the first born. True or False. False.
• The Israelites were forced to remain in the wilderness for forty years rather than enter the Promised Land because they refused to follow the advice of Joshua and Caleb and attack the Canaanites immediately. True or False. True.

• The purpose of the decalogue in Exodus was? The decalogue was commanded of the Israelites after the exodus deliverance, and seems to present guidelines for maintaining a proper relationship with God and social order.

Can you match up the following?

Another term for Sinai              1 Aaron
Reuel                                             2 Absolute law
Apodictic law                              3 Case law
Exit from Egypt                          4 Decalogue
Ten Commandments                 5 Exodus
Casuistic law                               6 Horeb
Brother of Moses                       7 Jethro
Portable dwelling of God         8 Passover
Ritual meal of the Exodus        9 Pharaoh
King of Egypt                            10 Tabernacle

Now it’s harder:

• What is the earliest biblical set of covenant laws. “The answer is book of the covenant.”
• The name for Mount Sinai in the Elohist source and in Deuteronomy. “The correct answer is Horeb.”
• At what specific location did the Israelites spend the majority of their forty years in the wilderness? “The correct answer is Kadesh.”

I’ve retaken the test several times. I haven’t received higher than a B+ yet. How about you, can you beat my score?