Questions and answers
Easy Old Testament — The Patriarchs
How many sons did Jacob have?
- ATwelve.Correct
- BTen.
- CEleven.
- DThirteen.
Answer: Twelve.
Genesis 35:22–26 · ESV
The list in Genesis 35 gathers all of them by mother: six by Leah, two by Rachel, and two each by Bilhah and Zilpah. They are not born to one household in one season, and the rivalry between Leah and Rachel drives much of the count. These twelve become the tribal heads, though the tribal lists that follow rarely match this one exactly, since Levi is set apart for the priesthood and Joseph is counted through two sons.
Genesis 35:22-26
Why not this one. Thirteen is where careful readers land when they remember that Ephraim and Manasseh both receive tribal inheritance. Jacob adopts those two grandsons as his own in Genesis 48, but they are Joseph's sons, not a thirteenth and fourteenth son of Jacob.
Medium Old Testament — The Patriarchs
Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac from among Abraham's relatives. To which region did the servant travel?
- ACanaan
- BEgypt
- CMesopotamiaCorrect
- DPhilistia
Answer: Mesopotamia
Genesis 24:10 · ESV
Abraham makes the servant swear not to take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites among whom they live, and to go instead to his own country and kindred. The servant travels with ten camels to the city of Nahor in Mesopotamia, stops at the well outside the town, and prays for a specific sign. Rebekah waters his camels before he has finished praying, and she turns out to be from Abraham's own family.
Genesis 24:3-4, 10-15
Why not this one. Canaan is where the family already lives and where the promised land lies, so it seems the obvious destination. It is the one place Abraham expressly forbids, making the servant swear not to take a Canaanite wife for his son.
Hard Old Testament — The Patriarchs
When Esau begged for a blessing after Jacob had taken his, what did Isaac say would mark his life?
- AYou shall live by your sword and serve your brotherCorrect
- BYou shall be a fruitful bough by a spring
- CYour hand shall be on the neck of your enemies
- DYou shall dwell at the shore of the sea
Answer: You shall live by your sword and serve your brother
Genesis 27:39–40 · ESV
Isaac trembled violently when he realized what had happened, but he did not revoke the blessing. What he had left for Esau was a lesser word: a dwelling away from the fatness of the earth, a life by the sword, service to his brother, and eventually the breaking of that yoke. Esau hated Jacob for it and planned to kill him once their father died.
Genesis 27:33–41 records Isaac's trembling, the word given to Esau, and Esau's resolve to kill Jacob.
Why not this one. That belongs to Judah in Jacob's blessing of his twelve sons; Esau's word was one of servitude rather than dominion.
Easy Old Testament — The Patriarchs
What did Joseph's brothers do with his robe before sending it back to Jacob?
- AThey dipped it in the blood of a goatCorrect
- BThey tore it and left it in the pit
- CThey buried it outside Dothan
- DThey sent it with the traders to Egypt
Answer: They dipped it in the blood of a goat
Genesis 37:31–33 · ESV
Having sold their brother, the sons of Jacob slaughtered a goat, dipped the robe in its blood, and brought it to their father without saying what had happened. They let Jacob draw his own conclusion, and he concluded that a wild animal had devoured Joseph. He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and refused to be comforted.
Genesis 37:31–35 records the deception and the mourning it caused.
Why not this one. The brothers did strip the robe off Joseph before throwing him into the pit, but they kept it and carried it back to Jacob as false evidence rather than leaving it behind.
Medium Old Testament — The Patriarchs
How old was Joseph when he stood before Pharaoh?
- AThirty years old.Correct
- BTwenty-five years old.
- CSeventeen years old.
- DForty years old.
Answer: Thirty years old.
Genesis 41:46 · ESV
The narrator gives the age deliberately, because Joseph was seventeen when his brothers sold him. Thirteen years pass between the pit and the palace, spent as a household slave and then a prisoner on a false charge, with two years added after the cupbearer forgot him. The age marks how long God's stated purpose looked like nothing at all from the inside.
Genesis 41:46; compare Genesis 37:2 and 41:1
Why not this one. Seventeen is the other age Genesis attaches to Joseph, and it anchors the whole timeline. It is his age at the start of the account, when he brought the bad report about his brothers and told them his dreams, not his age before Pharaoh.
Hard Old Testament — The Patriarchs
Paul cites Genesis 15:6 in Romans 4 to show that Abraham was justified before or after circumcision. What is the correct answer?
- AAfter circumcision
- BBefore circumcisionCorrect
- CThrough the law of Moses
- DAt the time of his call from Ur
Answer: Before circumcision
Romans 4:10 · ESV
Paul asks the timing question directly, and the answer is that Genesis 15:6 comes years before the circumcision commanded in Genesis 17, with Ishmael's birth falling between them. Abraham received circumcision afterward as a seal of a righteousness he already had by faith. Paul's conclusion is that he is father of believers who are uncircumcised as well as circumcised, which cuts the ground out from under any claim that the rite produces the standing.
Romans 4:9-12; Genesis 15:6; 17:24
Why not this one. The order is easy to invert, since circumcision is the defining Abrahamic sign and readers assume it came first. Genesis puts the reckoning of righteousness at least thirteen years earlier, and that gap is the whole point of Paul's argument.
Easy Old Testament — The Patriarchs
What was Jacob’s name changed to after wrestling with God?
- AIsrael.Correct
- BJudah.
- CJoseph.
- DPeniel.
Answer: Israel.
Genesis 32:28 · ESV
The night before he must face Esau, Jacob sends his family across the ford and is left alone, and a man wrestles him until daybreak. When Jacob will not let go without a blessing, he is asked his name, and answering it means admitting he is the supplanter. The new name is given in its place, and he leaves the fight limping. From here the narrator begins calling the family the sons of Israel.
Genesis 32:24-28
Why not this one. Peniel comes out of the same night, which is what makes it hard to separate. It is the name Jacob gave the place rather than the name God gave the man, marking that he had seen God face to face and lived.
Medium Old Testament — The Patriarchs
What did Jacob use to pillow his head when he dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven?
- AA stone.Correct
- BA bundle of straw.
- CHis cloak.
- DA cedar branch.
Answer: A stone.
Genesis 28:11 · ESV
Jacob is running from Esau with nothing, and he stops for the night because the sun has set, taking one of the stones of the place for a headrest. In the morning that same stone becomes the pillar he sets up and anoints with oil to mark the spot. The stone is not a detail about his comfort; it is what he had, and it is what he leaves behind as a marker of the promise God repeated to him there.
Genesis 28:11, 18
Why not this one. A traveler's cloak doubling as bedding is exactly what you would expect, and the law later treats a poor man's cloak as his covering at night. The text says stone, and it says so because the stone reappears the next morning as a pillar.
Hard Old Testament — The Patriarchs
When Jacob claimed Joseph's two sons as his own, to which of his sons did he say they would be equal?
- AReuben and SimeonCorrect
- BJudah and Levi
- CDan and Naphtali
- DBenjamin and Judah
Answer: Reuben and Simeon
Genesis 48:5 · ESV
Jacob adopted Ephraim and Manasseh as full sons of his own, ranking them with his two eldest, so that Joseph effectively received a double portion in the land. This is how the birthright forfeited by Reuben came to Joseph's line, while rule remained with Judah. Jacob then crossed his hands and put the younger boy first.
Genesis 48:5 records the adoption, Genesis 48:13–20 the crossed hands, and 1 Chronicles 5:1–2 the transfer of the birthright to Joseph's sons.
Why not this one. Judah received the rule and Levi eventually the priesthood, but Jacob's comparison was to his two firstborn sons, whose rank the boys now took.
Easy Old Testament — The Patriarchs
In Genesis 15:6, what did God reckon to Abram as righteousness?
- AHis obedience
- BHis faithCorrect
- CHis sacrifice
- DHis circumcision
Answer: His faith
Genesis 15:6 · ESV
God has just brought Abram outside and told him to count the stars if he can, promising offspring in that number to a man who is childless and has been naming a servant as his heir. Abram believes him, and the verse says God counted that belief to him as righteousness. Nothing was earned; a standing he did not possess was credited to him. Paul makes this single sentence the foundation of his argument for justification by faith.
Genesis 15:5-6; Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6
Why not this one. Abraham's obedience is real and Scripture praises it, most sharply at Moriah. But Genesis 15:6 speaks before any of that, and the thing reckoned to him is his believing God, which is precisely why Paul reaches for this verse rather than a later one.
Medium Old Testament — The Patriarchs
What was the name of the mountain where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac?
- AMount Moriah.Correct
- BMount Sinai.
- CMount Carmel.
- DMount Zion.
Answer: Mount Moriah.
Genesis 22:2 · ESV
God names the region, and Abraham travels three days before he sees the place from a distance. On the way Isaac asks where the lamb is, and his father answers that God will provide for himself the lamb. After the ram is offered, Abraham names the site for that provision. Second Chronicles 3:1 later places Solomon's temple on Mount Moriah, so the ground where a substitute was accepted in place of a son becomes the ground where Israel's sacrifices are offered.
Genesis 22:2, 8, 14; 2 Chronicles 3:1
Why not this one. Zion is tempting for exactly the right reason, since Moriah and Zion end up naming ground in the same city. But Zion enters Scripture much later, as the stronghold David captures, and Genesis 22 names only Moriah.
Hard Old Testament — The Patriarchs
In Genesis 15, how long did God say Abram's offspring would be servants and afflicted in a land not their own?
- AFour hundred yearsCorrect
- BFour hundred thirty years
- CSeventy years
- DForty years
Answer: Four hundred years
Genesis 15:13 · ESV
Along with the land and the offspring, God told Abram in advance that his descendants would be sojourners and slaves in a foreign country, that he would judge the nation that enslaved them, and that they would come out with great possessions. The exodus is the fulfillment of a word spoken here, centuries before Israel ever entered Egypt.
Genesis 15:13–14 gives the four hundred years and the promise of judgment on their oppressors.
Why not this one. Four hundred thirty is the figure Exodus 12:40 gives for the time Israel lived in Egypt; the round number spoken to Abram is four hundred.