The Bible: Old Testament

This page excludes the Book of Genesis, which is covered in a separate page.

The Ten Commandments

Beware questions such as "Which of the Ten Commandments forbids adultery?"

Sounds simple enough, but in fact there are two possible answers to this question (and to many other similar ones). I was surprised to discover recently that there are as many as eight different ways of numbering the Ten Commandments – each followed by one or more different religious traditions.

The question above was asked in Stockport Quiz League in February 2013, and the setter (wisely, you might think) specified that the answer required was the one given in the Philonic division.

What's the Philonic division, I hear you ask. Well Wikipedia can answer that question, but let's just say it's one of the traditions referred to above.

Trouble is, Wikipedia appears to contradict itself. According to the Ten Commandments page, as linked above, adultery is forbidden by the sixth commandment in the Philonic division (among others). But on its Sixth Commandment disambiguation page, Wikipedia says that in the Philonic division, the sixth commandment is "Thou shalt not kill". It's the Seventh that forbids adultery.

The Ten Commandments appear in two places in the Bible: Exodus Chapter 20 and Deuteronomy Chapter 5. The words in each instance are more or less the same, with only minor differences.

The following table sets out the relevant words from Exodus, in the King James version. It covers verses 1 to 17 (of Chapter 5), as listed in the first column. Note that I've missed out verses 5 and 6, which elaborate on the commandment set out in verse 4, and verses 9 to 11, which elaborate on verse 8. The second column gives what seems to me to be the most logical way of numbering the commandments. For what it's worth, it agrees with what Wikipedia gives as the Reformed Christian version, as followed in John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin follows the Septuagint (the Orthodox version of the Bible), and his system is also used in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

Verse
1			And God spake all these words, saying,
2			I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3	1		Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4	2		Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image;
7	3		Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;
8	4		Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
12	5		Honour thy father and thy mother.
13	6		Thou shalt not kill.
14	7		Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15	8		Thou shalt not steal.
16	9		Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17	10		Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, [nor his] wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

According to Exodus, God appeared to Moses, and gave him the Ten Commandments, on		Mount Sinai
Built at God's command to house the tablets that the Ten Commandments were written on		Ark of the Covenant

Other

Plagues visited upon the Egyptians		10
Moses lived for		120 years
Joshua and his armies marched around the walls of Jericho for		7 days
Moses's elder brother; first High Priest of the Israelites; made the Golden Lamb and persuaded the Israelites to worship it		Aaron
Third and favourite son of David, killed by Joab		Absalom
Wife of Uriah the Hittite, married King David; mother of Solomon		Bathsheba
King of Babylon (according to the Bible) who held a great feast, at which the writing on the wall (interpreted by Daniel to foretell the downfall of the Babylonian Empire) appeared		Belshazzar
Wealthy landowner from Bethlehem, who became Ruth's second husband; their son Obed was the father of Jesse and thus the grandfather of David		Boaz
Form that God took when he spoke to Moses (to tell him to go back and lead the Israelites out of Egypt)		Burning bush
Land of Milk and Honey – The Promised Land – conquered by the Israelites under Joshua		Canaan
King Solomon panelled the interior of his temple at Jerusalem "from floor to rafter" with		Cedar wood
Interpreted the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and "the writing on the wall"		Daniel
Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, who are thrown into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar for refusing to bow down to his image – but are delivered by God as a reward for their faith, and walk away unscathed – are friends and companions of
Thrown into a lions' den, for praying to the God of Israel; but was unharmed, claiming that God had sent an angel to close the lions' mouths
King of Babylon who was forced to have Daniel thrown into the lions' den		Darius (the Mede)
Youngest of the 8 sons of Jesse; father of 17 sons including Solomon, Absolom and Amnon		David
Abigail, Ahinoam, Eglah, Michal, Abital and Hagith were among the wives and consorts of
'Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women'		David (to Jonathan)
Took place in the valley of Elah (1 Samuel 17:2)		David vs. Goliath
Betrayed Samson to the Philistines, allowing them to shave his hair while he slept (Judges 16:19)		Delilah
Priest to whom Samuel was apprenticed as a boy		Eli
Prophet who denounced Ahab and Jezebel; fed by ravens, and carried to heaven on a fiery chariot, in a whirlwind		Elijah
Leader of the prophets of Israel after Elijah was taken up to heaven		Elisha
Adopted by her cousin Mordecai; married Ahasuerus, King of Persia (thought to bge a fictionalised version of Xerxes I, a ruler of the Persian Empire in the 5th century BC); saved her people from destruction		Esther
Prophet who dreamt of a valley of dry bones		Ezekiel
Appears to the prophet Daniel to explain his visions; described, alongside Michael, as the Guardian of Israel (in the Book of Daniel)		The archangel Gabriel
Home of Goliath, and other giants – one of the five Philistine city–states		Gath
One of the heroes of the Book of Judges – defeated the Midianites, but refused to become King of Israel ("the Lord shall rule over you")		Gideon
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel"		Isaiah
Known as "the broken–hearted prophet" or "the weeping prophet" (his true prophecies of dire warning went largely unheeded by the Israelites); the books of Kings and Lamentations are traditionally ascribed to him; his name has come to be used to refer to any doomsayer		Jeremiah
Described in Deuteronomy as the City of Palm Trees		Jericho
First king of the ten break–away tribes of Israel (10th century BC)		Jeroboam
Father of David (a.k.a. Isai or Yishai): gave his name to a representation in art of the ancestors of Jesus – including stained glass windows in the cathedrals of Wells, Canterbury, York and Chartres		Jesse
Father of Zipporah, and thus Moses' father–in–law		Jethro (a.k.a. Reuel)
Wife of King Ahab: a Phoenician princess, who turned him away from the God of the Israelites and towards her people's god, Baal; after Ahab's death, she is thrown from a window and eaten by dogs; her name is now a byword for a wicked woman		Jezebel
Old Testament prophet, defies God's command to go and preach against the people of Nineveh; thrown overboard by fellow sailors when their ship is hit by a storm, but saved by being swallowed by a great fish (commonly described as a whale) prepared by God, in whose belly he spent three days and three nights		Jonah
Eldest son of Saul		Jonathan
Son of Nun and servant of Moses: chosen by God to lead the Israelites after the death of Moses; led them into the Promised Land, and helped them to settle it and conquer it from the Canaanites; also led them in several key battles, including his victory at Jericho		Joshua
Jewish widow who saves Israel from oppression by using her beauty and charm to seduce and behead the wicked Assyrian general Holofernes (a popular subject in art); one of two women to have a book of the Bible named after her		Judith
Sea–monster in Job, after which Hobbes named his most famous work		Leviathan
The only angel apart from Gabriel mentioned in the Bible: described, alongside Gabriel, as the Guardian of Israel (in the Book of Daniel)		Michael
Name is derived from a rhetorical question in Hebrew: "Who is like God?" (answer: "There is none like God")
Sister of Moses and Aaron		Miriam
Viewed the Promised Land of Canaan from Mount Nebo (now in Jordan), according to the Book of Deuteronomy; was later buried there, according to Christian tradition (although not mentioned in the Bible)		Moses
The seventh of the twelve so–called Minor Prophets, whose books are the last twelve in the Old Testament: deals with the fall of the Assyrian Empire and its capital city, Nineveh		Nahum
According to the Bible, Belshazzar was the son of		Nebuchadnezzar
King of Babylon, who dreamed of a statue with feet part of iron and part of clay (indicating, according to Daniel's interpretation, that part of his kingdom would be "broken")
Described in the Book of Jonah as an "exceedingly great city of three days journey in breadth", whose people "cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand", and "a wicked city worthy of destruction" (according to Wikipedia); Jonah was defying God's command to go and preach there, when he was swallowed by the 'great fish'		Nineveh
Named Moses after finding him in the bullrushes		Pharaoh's daughter
Aggressive, warlike people, thought to have migrated from Caphtor (the Hebrew name for Crete and the Aegean region), to territory south–west of Israel, between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River; their name gives us the word Palestine; known for their use of iron, as opposed to bronze, to make tools and weapons; also for their prodigious consumption of alcoholic beverages, particularly beer; they harrassed and oppressed the Israelites for almost 200 years, until first Samuel and then David defeated them, with God's help; Goliath was their champion warrior; their name has come to mean someone who is hostile to culture		Philistines
Visited Solomon with gifts of spices, gold, and precious stones, and tested him with questions; the imperial family of Ethiopia claims that Solomon seduced her and she bore him a son, Menelik I, who became the first King of Ethiopia		Queen of Sheba
Prostitute who helped Joshua at the siege of Jericho		Rahab
Wife of Isaac; gave birth to Esau and Jacob after 20 years of infertility		Rebekah
Son of Solomon that succeeded him as King of Judah, after the ten tribes of Israel broke away under Jeroboam		Rehoboam
Last of the six judges of the Israelites, depicted in the Book of Judges: betrayed by Delilah to the Philistines, who shaved his hair, put out his eyes and brought him to Gaza (the city); he prayed to God, who restored his strength, enabling him to kill a lion, slay an entire army of 1,000 Philistines, with only the jawbone of an ass, and destroy a pagan temple; he then killed himself. His two vulnerabilities were his hair, without which he was powerless, and his attraction to untrustworthy women		Samson
"Let me die with the Philistines" (see above)
Last of the judges who ruled Israel, before the establishment of the monarchy, and the first of the prophets; anointed Saul as the first King of Israel		Samuel
First King of Israel; turned against Samuel (who had anointed him as King), and committed suicide c. 1010 BC as his mind became unbalanced		Saul
The rod cast down by Aaron was turned by God into a		Serpent
The three friends of Daniel who are thrown into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, for refusing to bow down to his image; but are delivered by God as a reward for their faith, and walk away unscathed		Shadrach
		Meshach
		Abednego
Second son of David, who succeeded him as King of Israel; anointed by Zadok the Priest and the prophet Nathan; had 700 wives and 300 concubines; ' ... in all his glory was not arrayed as the lilies of the field'. Built a temple on Mount Moriah (a.k.a. Mount Zion) to house the Ark of the Covenant		Solomon
Portable sanctuary for the Ark of the Covenant, carried by the Jews in their wanderings from Egypt to Palestine		Tabernacle
Hittite warrior from whom David 'stole' his wife Bathsheba		Uriah
Better than rubies (according to the Book of Proverbs)		Wisdom
"Thou art weighed in the balance and art found wanting"		The writing on the wall
Priest ordered by David to anoint Solomon as King of Israel		Zadok
Moses's wife		Zipporah

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23