Art and Culture/Bible

Old Testament

There are 39 books in the Old Testament of the Protestant Bible

Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch

Book of Genesis begins with the so-called "primeval history", the story of the world's beginnings and the descent from Adam. This is followed by the story of the three patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), Joseph and the four matriarchs (Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel)

Creation of the world –

Day 1 – Light

Day 2 – Heaven

Day 3 – Earth, Sea and Plants

Day 4 – Sun, Moon and the Stars

Day 5 – Sea Life and Birds

Day 6 – Land Animals and Man

Day 7 – God rested

Jacob wrestled with God or an angel

God changed Jacob’s name to Israel

Nimrod is considered the leader of those who built the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar

Adam lived to 930 years old

Lilith was the wife of Adam, before Eve

Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, causing their expulsion from the Garden of Eden

Cain was exiled by God to the Land of Nod, located on the East of Eden, after killing Abel

Seth was the brother of Cain, born after Abel’s murder

Cain built a city named after his son, Enoch. First named city in the Bible

Abel was a shepherd

God gives Noah detailed instructions for building the ark: it is to be of gopher wood, smeared inside and out with pitch, with three decks and internal compartments; it will be 300 cubits long, 50 wide, and 30 high; it will have a roof ‘finished to a cubit upward’, and an entrance on the side

Dove flew from the ark, and returned with olive leaf

Magpie refused to enter Noah’s Ark, preferring to sit on a perch and chatter

Rainbow was a symbol from God of no more floods

After the Flood, Noah offered a sacrifice to God, who promised never again to destroy all life on Earth by a flood, and gave the rainbow, called ‘my bow’, as the sign of a covenant

Lamech was the father of Noah

Noah was first drunk man in the Bible

Noah was 600 at time of the Ark, and lived for another 350 years

Methuselah was the grandfather of Noah

The table of nations in Genesis 10 begins by listing Noah's immediate children: Ham, forefather of the southern peoples (Hamitic Africa), Shem, forefather of the middle peoples (Semitic Arabia), and Japheth, forefather of the northern peoples (Japhetic Eurasia)

Potiphar makes Joseph the head of his household, but Potiphar's wife, furious at Joseph for resisting her attempts to seduce him into sleeping with her, accuses him falsely of attempting to rape her

Joseph was sold into slavery for 20 pieces of silver

Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams as meaning seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine

Onan spilled his seed on the ground

Abraham was the first Hebrew patriarch. Possibly born in Ur

Jews are all descended from Abraham

Abraham was told by God to go and found a new nation

Abraham left Ur and settled in Haran

Isaac was the only child of Abraham and Sarah

Ishmael was the eldest son of Abraham

Hagar was Abraham’s concubine and mother of Ishmael

Abraham was buried at Hebron

Esau was the fraternal twin brother of Jacob. Esau and Jacob were the sons of Isaac and Rebekah, and the grandsons of Abraham and Sarah. As the first born, Esau was entitled to inherit the wealth of his father Isaac after his death. However, he sold his birthright to Jacob in exchange for a ‘mess of pottage’ (meal of lentils)

Sodom and Gomorrah were two of the five ‘cities of the plain’

Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot was seduced by his daughters so that they could bear children

Book of Exodus begins the story of God's revelation to his people Israel through Moses, who leads them out of Egypt to Mount Sinai

God instructed Moses on Mount Sinai during his 40 day stay within the cloud (heaven on earth) and he was shown the pattern for the tabernacle and furnishings of the Ark to be made of shittim-wood (acacia) to house the Tablets of Stone inscribed with the Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue –

1.    Thou shalt have no other gods before me

2.    Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image

3.    Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain

4.    Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy

5.    Honour thy father and thy mother

6.    Thou shalt not kill

7.    Thou shalt not commit adultery

8.    Thou shalt not steal

9.    Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour

10. Thou shalt not covet

Ten plagues were inflicted by God upon Egypt to persuade the Pharaoh to release the ill-treated Israelites from slavery –

1.    Water into blood (River Nile)

2.    Frogs

3.    Lice

4.    Flies

5.    Diseased livestock (murrain)

6.    Boils

7.    Hail and fire

8.    Locusts

9.    Darkness

10. Death of firstborn

The burning bush is an object described as being located on Mount Horeb; according to the narrative, the bush was on fire, but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name. In the narrative, the burning bush is the location at which Moses was appointed by Yahweh to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan

When the Hebrews came to the outskirts of Canaan, after having fled slavery in Egypt, Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan to report on what was there – one spy representing each of the Twelve Tribes. Ten of the spies returned to say that the land would be impossible to claim, and that giants lived there who would crush the Hebrew army. Only two, Joshua (from the tribe of Ephraim) and Caleb (representing Judah), returned and said that God would be able to deliver Canaan into the hands of the Hebrew nation

Aaron was the founder of Jewish priesthood

Miriam was the sister of Aaron and Moses

Book of Leviticus is often described as a set of legal rules, and priestly rituals, but it is also seen as the central core of a larger narrative – the Torah or Pentateuch

The concept of the Jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. A Jubilee year is mentioned to occur every fiftieth year, in which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest

Book of Numbers starts with a census of the children of Israel (hence the name)

Book of Deuteronomy is written as a farewell address by Moses to the Israelites

Joshua was the successor to Moses

Zipporah was the wife of Moses

Moses died in land of Moab

After the death of Moses, Joshua led the Israelite tribes in the conquest of Canaan, and allocated the land to the tribes

12 tribes of Israel are named after the 12 sons of Jacob

Reuben was eldest son of Jacob and Leah

Benjamin was the youngest of the 12 sons of Jacob, and Joseph’s only full brother. Son of Rachel

Book of Joshua is the sixth book of the Bible

Joshua is first book of the Bible named after a person

Battle of Jericho – playing of Joshua’s trumpets caused the walls to fall

Delilah cuts Samson’s hair to make him lose his strength in the Book of Judges

‘Out of the strong came forth sweetness’ is a reference to the Biblical story in the Book of Judges in which Samson was travelling to the land of the Philistines in search of a wife

Samson pulled down the Philistine temple at Gaza. He killed himself and 3000 others at Gaza. Samson demolished the temple at Gaza in revenge for the Philistines gouging out his eyes

Samson slew 1000 philistines with the jawbone of an ass

Book of Ruth – the full title in Hebrew is named after a young woman of Moab, the great-grandmother of David

Eli was, according to the Books of Samuel, a Jewish High Priest of Shiloh

Story of David and Goliath is in 1 Samuel

David had five stones in his sling when he fought Goliath

Goliath was ‘six cubits and a span’ tall. Felled by David with a single stone

Goliath was a Philistine who came from Gath

Abigail was David’s handmaid and wife

Witch of Endor, sometimes called the medium of Endor, was a woman who apparently called up the ghost of the recently deceased prophet Samuel, at the demand of King Saul

Books of Kings – Queen of Sheba gave 120 tablets of gold to King Solomon

Elijah was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot

Ravens fed Elijah during his time in the wilderness

Solomon was anointed by Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet, in 1 Kings

Ahab married Jezebel

Jehu confronted Jezebel, where he incited her court officials to murder the queen by throwing her out of a window and leave her corpse to be eaten by dogs

Vashti is the first wife of King Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther

Esther thwarts a Persian plan to commit genocide against the Jews

Mordecai was the cousin of Esther

Behemoth is a creature mentioned in the Book of Job. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful entity

‘Skin of my teeth’ is a phrase from the Book of Job

‘The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away’ is from the Book of Job

Job is presented as a good and prosperous family man who is beset with horrendous disasters that take away all that he holds dear, including his offspring, his health, and his property

73 of the 150 psalms in the Book of Psalms are attributed to David

Book of Psalms is usually quoted as the longest book in the Bible, but the Book of Jeremiah has more words

Book of Proverbs is ascribed to Solomon

Book of Ecclesiastes is known as ‘The Preacher’

Song of Songs is also known as the Song of Solomon or Canticles. Celebrates sexual love

Servant Songs are four poems taken from the Book of Isaiah

Jeremiah was known as the ‘weeping prophet’. Author of the Book of Jeremiah

Book of Lamentations follows the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC

Ezekiel is shown the Valley of Dry Bones on Book of Ezekiel

In the Book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were cast into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar

Daniel interpreted strange writing on the Wailing Wall at Belshazzar’s feast

Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den by King Darius for disobeying the law by preying to his God

Book of Obadiah is the shortest book in Old Testament

Book of Jonah tells the story of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh but tries to escape the divine mission

A whale, sent by God, swallows Jonah who spends three days in the whale’s belly

Book of Zechariah is the penultimate book in Old Testament

Book of Malachi is the last book in Old Testament. Means ‘my messenger’ in Hebrew

Deuterocanonical books is a term used since the 16th century in the Catholic Church and Eastern Christianity to describe certain books and passages of the Christian Old Testament that are not part of the Hebrew Bible

The account of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is given in the deuterocanonical Book of Judith. Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes, an Assyrian general who is about to destroy Judith's home, the city of Bethulia, because of his desire for her. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith

New Testament

There are 27 books in the New Testament of the Protestant Bible

Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) can be laid out in parallel columns and compared

Matthew the Evangelist, the author of the first gospel, is symbolized by a human

Mark the Evangelist, the author of the second gospel, is symbolized by a lion

Luke the Evangelist, the author of the third gospel (and the Acts of the Apostles), is symbolized by an ox bull or calf

John the Evangelist, the author of the fourth gospel, is symbolized by an eagle

Gospel of Matthew tells how the Messiah, Jesus, rejected by Israel, finally sends the disciples to preach his Gospel to the whole world

Matthew was an apostle known as Levi

Sermon on the Mount is in Gospel of Matthew

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” – Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Mark tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to his death and burial and the discovery of the empty tomb – there is no genealogy or birth narrative, nor, in the original ending at chapter 16, any post-resurrection appearances

Gospel of Mark is the shortest and oldest of the four gospels

Gospel of Luke tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ

Golgotha was called Calvary. Site where Christ was crucified

Parable of the Good Samaritan is in the Gospel of Luke

Luke was born in Antioch, accompanied Paul on his journeys to Rome and Philippi

Luke was the only gentile of the four evangelists

Penitent thief, also known as the Thief on the Cross or the Good Thief, is an unnamed character mentioned in the Gospel of Luke who was crucified alongside Jesus and asked Jesus to remember him in his kingdom, unlike his companion the Impenitent thief. He is traditionally referred to as St. Dismas

Nunc dimittis – Song of Simeon. ‘Lord now let our servant depart in peace’

The fatted calf was killed when the prodigal son came home

Gospel of John begins with the witness and affirmation of John the Baptist and concludes with the death, burial, resurrection, and post-resurrection appearances of Jesus

John the Apostle was the author of the Gospel of John, the Epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation

‘In the beginning was the word’ – in Gospel of John

‘Jesus Wept’ – shortest verse in the Bible, part of the miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead, in Gospel of John

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. Displayed by fans at sporting events

Andrew was the first disciple to be called by Jesus

Seven signs refer to seven miracles reported in the first twelve chapters of Gospel of John

Acts of the Apostles tells of the founding of the Christian church and the spread of its message to the Roman empire

Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke

Matthias chosen as successor to Judas Iscariot

Followers of Jesus first called Christians in Antioch

There are 21 epistles in the New Testament

The Pauline epistles typically refer to the thirteen New Testament books which have been traditionally ascribed to the apostle Paul. All of the epistles except that to the Hebrews present Paul as the author. The epistle to the Hebrews is something of a special case, being anonymous

Saint Paul was an apostle (though not one of the Twelve Apostles)

Saint Paul was called Paul of Tarsus (originally Saul of Tarsus). Changed his name after converting to Christianity on the road to Damascus

Saint Paul was shipwrecked off the coast of Malta in 60 AD, during his last journey, to Rome. Saint Paul was a tentmaker

Saint Paul’s first epistle was to the Romans

Book of Galatians is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in Anatolia

The rapture is a reference to the ‘being caught up’ referred to in 1 Thessalonians, when the ‘dead in Christ’ and ‘we who are alive and remain’ will be caught up in the clouds to meet ‘the Lord’

General epistles are books in the New Testament in the form of letters

3 John is the shortest book in the bible (219 words)

Epistle of Jude is the penultimate book in New Testament

The final book of the New Testament is the Book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse of John

The archangel Michael leads God’s armies to victory over Satan during the War in Heaven

Saint John the Divine wrote the Book of Revelation, on Patmos

It is believed that when the world reaches its end seven seals shall be opened. These seals contain symbols of death, famine, world wars, martyrs, earthquake, open war, and the antichrist

Armageddon would take place at Megiddo

Jesus

The Nativity refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus, primarily based on the two accounts in the gospels of Luke and Matthew

Magi – Melchior brought gold, Gaspar brought frankincense, Balthazar brought myrrh

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh symbolise kingship, divinity and mortality

Jesus’s first miracle was turning water into wine, at the Wedding at Cana, in Galilee

The Feeding of the 5,000 is also known as the "miracle of the five loaves and two fish", is the only miracle (apart from the resurrection) which is present in all four canonical Gospels

Jesus healed a blind man (Bartimaeus) on the Sabbath, who then washed his eyes in the pool at Siloam

Mary Magdelane was the first person to see Jesus after the resurrection

Jesus said ‘the peacemakers shall be called the children of God’ in the Sermon on the Mount

Ecce Homo – the Latin words used by Pontius Pilate in the Vulgate translation of John 19:5, when he presents a scourged Jesus Christ, bound and crowned with thorns, to a hostile crowd shortly before his Crucifixion. The King James Version translates the phrase into English as ‘Behold the Man’

Simon of Cyrene carried the cross of Jesus

Saint Veronica gave Jesus her cloth to wife his face as he bore the cross

Jesus called James and John ‘Boanerges’, which meant ‘sons of thunder’

INRI is an abbreviation for the Latin ‘Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum’ (‘Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews’), posted on the cross by order of the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate

John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus

Virgin Mary was the daughter of Joachim of Nazareth and St Anne

Beatitudes are blessings from Jesus recorded in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke

Jesus chose disciples at Capernaum

Joseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion

Joseph of Arimathea is associated with Glastonbury

Annunciation is the intimation by Gabriel to Mary that she would bear Jesus

Magnificat is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke where it is spoken by the Virgin Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. In the narrative, after Mary greets Elizabeth, who is pregnant with the future John the Baptist, the child moves within Elizabeth's womb. When Elizabeth praises Mary for her faith, Mary sings what is now known as the Magnificat in response

Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven, informally known as The Assumption, was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life

Thomas refused to believe in the resurrection until he had seen Jesus himself

Thomas was killed in India in 72 AD

Benjamin was Jesus’s only full brother

‘Fishers of men’ was said by Jesus to Simon and Andrew

Saint Peter is believed to have been crucified upside down on the Vatican Hill at his own request, as he did not feel worthy to die the same way as Jesus

Jesus gave Peter the Keys of Heaven. Represented by crossed keys on coat of arms of Vatican City State

Palm Sunday celebrates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem

Christ’s transfiguration took place on Mount Hermon

Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported by the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus was transfigured upon a mountain. Jesus becomes radiant, speaks with Moses and Elijah, and is called ‘Son’ by God

Simeon identified Jesus as the Messiah

Jesus was baptized in the Jordan

The Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering – physical, spiritual, and mental – of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion

Stations of the Cross (or Way of the Cross) refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion and also to the prayers Christians say when contemplating those images. Often a series of 14 images will be arranged in numbered order around a church nave or along a path, and the faithful travel from image to image

Judas got 30 pieces of silver for betraying Christ

Aspen was used for Christ’s cross

The Last Supper is the final meal that, in the Gospel accounts, Jesus shared with his Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion

Twelve Apostles

1.    Simon (“who is called Peter”)

2.    Andrew (“his [Simon’s] brother”)

3.    James (“son of Zebedee”)

4.    John (“his [James’s] brother”)

5.    Philip

6.    Bartholomew (Nathanael in Gospel of John)

7.    Thomas

8.    Matthew

9.    James (“son of Alphaeus”)

10. Thaddaeus (Jude in Gospels of Luke and John)

11. Simon

12. Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot is known for the kiss and betrayal of Jesus to the Sanhedrin for thirty silver coins. His place among the Twelve Apostles was later filled by Matthias

Kingdom of Israel

Kings of Israel – Saul, David, Solomon and Rehoboam

Samuel anointed Saul as the first king of Israel

Samuel appointed David as king

King David reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem

King David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem

David was married to Bathsheba (widow of Uriah the Hittite), mother of Solomon

According to the Hebrew Bible, David reigned until 970 BC, when his son Solomon became king of Israel. Within a decade, Solomon began to build the Holy Temple (later known as The First Temple) on Mount Moriah inside the city of Jerusalem

Solomon asked for ‘wisdom’ as a gift

Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines

First ‘Temple of Solomon’ in Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC

Jesse was the father of David

Rehoboam was initially king of the United Monarchy of Israel but after the ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled in 932-931 BC to form the independent Kingdom of Israel he was king of the Kingdom of Judah, or southern kingdom. He was a son of Solomon and a grandson of David

Miscellaneous

Jericho was a city of palm trees

Naomi was Ruth’s mother in law

Zachariah and Elizabeth were the parents of John the Baptist

Via Dolorosa means ‘mournful way’. Road to Calvary

Absalom was the son of David

Absalom was caught by his head in the boughs of an oak-tree and killed by Joab, at a battle fought in the Wood of Ephraim

Salome was a biblical dancer who demanded the head of John the Baptist on a plate. She kisses it on the mouth

Herod Antipas and Herodias were the parents of Salome

Sheba was Queen of the Sabeans

Simon the Zealot has the identifying attribute of a saw because according to legend, he was put to death by a saw

Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great, leader of Galilee and Perea

Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge to the east of Jerusalem. It is named from the olive trees with which its sides are clothed. At the foot of the mountain is the Gardens of Gethsemane where Jesus stayed in Jerusalem

Bethany near Jerusalem was, according to the New Testament, the site of the resurrection of Lazarus. It was also the town of Martha and Mary, who were sisters of Lazarus, and Simon the leper

John the Baptist lived in the desert on locusts and honey

Attributes of Saint Jerome – lion, cardinal attire, cross, skull, trumpet, owl, books and writing material

Jebusites were a Canaanite tribe who inhabited and built Jerusalem prior to its conquest by King David

Mount Zion was the site of the Jebusite fortress called the ‘stronghold of Zion’ that was conquered by King David, becoming his palace in the City of David

Holy of Holies is a term in the Hebrew Bible which refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle and later the Temple in Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant was kept during the First Temple, which could be entered only by the High Priest on Yom Kippur

Elim was one of the places where the Israelites camped following their Exodus from Egypt. Several ministries of mercy, Christian and otherwise, have adopted the name Elim, most prominently the Elim Pentecostal Church

The Gospel of Judas is a Gnostic gospel. The document is not claimed to have been written by apostle Judas Iscariot himself, but rather by Gnostic followers of Jesus Christ. It exists in an early fourth century Coptic text

Jesus is the most mentioned name in the Bible. His name appears approximately, 1281 times. Other frequently mentioned men are David (971 times), Moses (803), Jacob (363), and Saul (362)

Sarah is most mentioned woman in the Bible

Bibles

Jerome (c. 347–420) is best known as the translator of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. He also was a Christian apologist. Jerome's edition, the Vulgate, is still an important biblical text of the Roman Catholic Church

John Wycliffe and the Lollards translated the Bible from Latin into English in 1378

William Tyndale (c. 1494–1536) was a Protestant reformer and scholar who translated the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day. In 1535, William Tyndale was arrested and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde (Filford) outside Brussels for over a year. In 1536 he was convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation, after which his body was burnt at the stake

Myles Coverdale (c. 1488–1568) was a Bible translator and Bishop of Exeter who produced the first complete printed translation of the Bible into English in 1535. He roduced a revised version of Tyndale’s bible

Breeches Bible, also known as the Geneva Bible, is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into the English language, preceding the King James translation by 51 years

Bishops’ Bible is an English translation of the Bible which was produced under the authority of the established Church of England in 1568. It was substantially revised in 1572, and this revised edition was to be prescribed as the base text for the Authorized King James Version of 1611

Hampton Court conference in 1604 led to the writing of the King James Bible in 1611

The Wicked Bible, sometimes called The Adulterous Bible or The Sinners' Bible, is a term referring to the Bible published in 1631 by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, which was meant to be a reprint of the King James Bible. The name is derived from a mistake made by the compositors: in the Ten Commandments (Exodus  20:14), the word ‘not’ in the sentence ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ was omitted

Biblical apocrypha denotes the collection of ancient books found, in some editions of the Bible, in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments or as an appendix after the New Testament

Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, consists of 24 books