Tomorrow, January 27, will be National Bible Sunday, a time meant to celebrate the power of the Bible in so many lives.
The word bible derives from the Greek biblia, which means “books.” Indeed, the Bible is a whole library of books that contain many different kinds of literature — history, narrative, short stories, poetry, philosophy, riddles, fables, allegories, letters and drama. Many parts of the Bible are highly dramatic because they show in detail the sweep of grand events as experienced by a vivid and diverse cast of persons.
As their hopes and fears, ambitions and tragedies and laughter and sorrows unfold in the Bible, many of these men and women have become so familiar to so many readers that they have become archetypal. Thus, a gargantuan man is a Goliath, a wise man a Solomon, an old man a Methuselah, a traitorous man a Judas, an evil woman a Jezebel, a doer of good deeds a good Samaritan, a patient man a Job, a skeptical man a doubting Thomas, a mighty hunter a Nimrod and a strong man a Samson (and his luggage is Samsonite).
In great literature, people reveal themselves through what they say. From their own words, identify these biblical personages:
1. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
2. “For whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”
3. “Let my people go.”
4. “O my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
5. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
6. “O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”
7. “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
8. “Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.”
9. “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me.”
10. “Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul.”
11. “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.”
12. “Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse?”
13. “After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
14. “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
15. “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”
16. “Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I am faint.”
17. “Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites.”
18. “Am I not a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants.”
19. “Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.”
20. “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king’s provinces.”
Answers
1. Cain. Genesis 4:9. 2. Ruth. Ruth 1:16. 3. Moses. Exodus 5:1. 4. David. II Samuel 18:33. 5. Jesus. Mark 15:34. 6. Samson. Judges 16:28. 7. Job. Job 1:21 8. Jonah. Jonah 1:12 9. Daniel. Daniel 6:22. 10. Nathan. II Samuel 12:7. 11. Solomon. I Kings 3:25. 12. Saul. I Samuel. 22:13. 13. Sarah. Genesis 18:12. 14. Isaac. Genesis 22:7. 15. Eve. Genesis 3:13. 16. Esau. Genesis 25:30. 17. Joshua. Joshua 3:10. 18. Goliath. I Samuel 17:8-9. 19. Pontius Pilate. John 19:6. 20. Esther. Esther 8:5.