Questions and answers
Easy Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
What phrase does the Preacher in Ecclesiastes repeatedly use to describe his observations of life on earth?
- AUnder the sunCorrect
- BIn the land of the living
- CBeneath the heavens
- DOn the face of the earth
Answer: Under the sun
Ecclesiastes 1:3 · ESV
The phrase turns up around thirty times in Ecclesiastes and nowhere else in the Old Testament, and it marks a vantage point rather than a mood. The Preacher is looking at life as it can be observed within this world, on its own terms, with nothing appealed to from beyond it. That limit is why the book sounds so bleak in the middle, and why the closing verses of chapter 12, which bring in God's judgment of every deed, step outside it.
Ecclesiastes 1:3, 12:13–14
Why not this one. Ecclesiastes does use a phrase very like this, under heaven, at 1:13 and 2:3 and again at the head of the seasons poem in 3:1. It is a genuine near synonym, but the signature refrain, running through every experiment the Preacher makes, is the other.
Medium Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
Ecclesiastes 12:7 describes what happens at death: the dust returns to the earth as it was. What does it say of the spirit?
- AIt returns to God who gave itCorrect
- BIt sleeps with the dust until the last day
- CIt goes down to Sheol with the body
- DIt passes to the generation that follows
Answer: It returns to God who gave it
Ecclesiastes 12:7 · ESV
The verse closes the poem on old age by reversing the making of man in Genesis 2:7: the dust goes back to dust, and the breath God gave goes back to God. It is one of the clearest places where the Preacher looks past what can be seen under the sun. Nothing further is said here about what follows for the spirit; the verse states only where it goes.
Ecclesiastes 12:7, echoing Genesis 2:7 and 3:19.
Why not this one. Ecclesiastes does speak of Sheol as the place where there is no work or thought, at 9:10. But 12:7 sends the spirit in the opposite direction, back to its giver.
Hard Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
Proverbs 30:18-19 names three things too wonderful for Agur, four he does not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and what fourth?
- AThe way of a man with a virginCorrect
- BThe way of the wind over the sea
- CThe way of a fish in the deep
- DThe way of a king among his people
Answer: The way of a man with a virgin
Proverbs 30:18-19 · ESV
The numerical saying counts three and then names four, a pattern used repeatedly through this chapter. The first three items leave no track behind them, and the fourth is placed alongside them as something equally beyond tracing. Counting three and then naming four is Agur's regular way of building toward the item he cares about.
Proverbs 30:18-19, one of several three-and-four sayings in Agur's oracle.
Why not this one. It fits the pattern of untraceable things, which is why it tempts, and Ecclesiastes 1:6 does follow the wind on its circuits. But it is not the fourth item in Agur's list.
Easy Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
In Song of Solomon 2:15, what small animals are to be caught because they spoil the vineyards?
- ALittle foxesCorrect
- BYoung jackals
- CWild boars
- DField mice
Answer: Little foxes
Song of Solomon 2:15 · ESV
The line falls in a springtime passage, where the winter is past, the flowers have appeared and the vines are in blossom. The foxes are the small things that ruin a vineyard just as it comes into bloom, and the couple's love is the vineyard the poem keeps in view. Who speaks the line is left unmarked, as often in this poem, where the voices change without announcement.
Song of Solomon 2:10-15, with the vineyard image again at 1:6 and 8:12.
Why not this one. A boar ravaging a vine is a real biblical image, but it belongs to Psalm 80:13 and describes the wasting of Israel. The Song names foxes, and small ones at that.
Medium Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
In Proverbs 3:6, what does the LORD promise to those who acknowledge him in all their ways?
- AHe will make straight your pathsCorrect
- BHe will grant you long life
- CHe will give you riches and honor
- DHe will preserve your soul
Answer: He will make straight your paths
Proverbs 3:6 · ESV
Acknowledging him in all your ways means reckoning with him in the ordinary business of a life rather than in religious moments only, and the promise attached to it is direction, not comfort. A straight path is one cleared of obstruction and heading somewhere. Like the rest of the book this is a proverb, a statement of how life generally runs under God's ordering, and not a contract guaranteeing an easy road.
Proverbs 3:6
Why not this one. Length of days is promised only four verses earlier, at 3:2, to the son who keeps his father's teaching, so the phrase is genuinely nearby and genuinely in the chapter. The promise tied to acknowledging him is about the shape of the road rather than its length.
Hard Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
According to Ecclesiastes 12:14, what will God bring into judgment?
- AEvery deed, with every secret thing, whether good or evilCorrect
- BEvery idle word that men speak
- CThe thoughts and intentions of the heart
- DThe works of kings and nations, but not of common men
Answer: Every deed, with every secret thing, whether good or evil
Ecclesiastes 12:14 · ESV
The final verse supplies what observation under the sun could never supply: an accounting. Because nothing is hidden from that judgment, the charge to fear God in the previous verse rests on something more than the visible outcomes the book has been weighing. Judgment, not observation, finally settles the accounts the book has been unable to balance.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.
Why not this one. Those are the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:36, and they teach the same accountability. But the Preacher's closing line is broader still, reaching every deed and every hidden thing.
Easy Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
Proverbs 27:17 says that one man sharpens another. What image does the proverb use for it?
- AIron sharpening ironCorrect
- BA whetstone on a blade
- CFlint striking flint
- DA file on brass
Answer: Iron sharpening iron
Proverbs 27:17 · ESV
The picture is of two blades brought against each other, each leaving the other keener than it was. Proverbs applies it to men whose company makes each other sharper, and the friction in the image is part of the point rather than an accident of it.
Proverbs 27:17, in the collection of Solomon's sayings copied out under Hezekiah.
Why not this one. A whetstone is the more natural picture of sharpening, which is why it tempts, but it is one-sided. The proverb deliberately uses two like objects so that both are changed.
Medium Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
In Proverbs 8, Wisdom speaks in the first person. Before what event does she say she was “set up” by the LORD?
- AThe beginning of his work, the first of his acts of oldCorrect
- BThe creation of the heavens and the earth
- CThe formation of Adam from the dust
- DThe establishment of the covenant with Abraham
Answer: The beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old
Proverbs 8:22 · ESV
Wisdom is personified as a woman through chapter 8, and at verse 22 she describes herself as belonging to the LORD at the head of everything he did, before the deeps, the mountains, or the earth existed. Verse 30 has her beside him like a master workman as he sets the heavens in place. Arius later used this verse to argue that the Son was made, and the Nicene answer was that a poem personifying one of God's attributes cannot settle the question of who the eternal Son is.
Proverbs 8:22–31
Why not this one. Verses 23 through 29 really do put Wisdom before the earth, the springs, and the mountains, so the sense is close. Verse 22 itself is broader, placing her at the front of all his works rather than before one particular act.
Hard Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
Proverbs 16:33 uses one ordinary practice to say that nothing at all falls outside the LORD's decision. Which practice?
- ACasting the lot into the lapCorrect
- BWeighing silver on the scales
- CDrawing water from the well
- DDividing an inheritance among sons
Answer: Casting the lot into the lap
Proverbs 16:33 · ESV
The lot was the nearest thing Israel had to pure chance, which is exactly why the proverb chooses it. If even the toss that no one can control is decided by the LORD, then nothing is left to accident, and the verse closes a chapter full of similar sayings about plans and steps.
Proverbs 16:33, with 16:1, 16:9 and 19:21; the lot is used in Acts 1:26.
Why not this one. Proverbs does say that a just weight and balance are the LORD's, at 16:11. But that verse is about honest dealing, not about the outcome of an event no man can steer.
Easy Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
Proverbs 31:30 says that charm is deceitful and beauty is vain. Who, it says, is to be praised?
- AA woman who fears the LORDCorrect
- BA woman of noble birth
- CA woman skilled in trade
- DA woman of many children
Answer: A woman who fears the LORD
Proverbs 31:30 · ESV
The closing poem has spent twenty verses on what this wife does, and then names the root of all of it. Her praise rests on the fear of the LORD, which is the same fear the book called the beginning of knowledge in its opening chapter. The poem ends where the book began, in the fear of the LORD, which is what makes it a fitting close.
Proverbs 31:30, closing the acrostic of 31:10-31 and answering 1:7.
Why not this one. The poem does describe her buying a field and trading profitably, in verses 16 and 18. But it credits her praise to the fear of the LORD, not to her commercial skill.
Medium Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
In Song of Solomon 5, the young woman goes out into the city at night to look for her husband. What do the watchmen do when they find her?
- AThey beat her and take away her veilCorrect
- BThey bring her to the king's house
- CThey lead her back to her mother's home
- DThey send her out to the vineyards of Engedi
Answer: They beat her and take away her veil
Song of Solomon 5:7 · ESV
The scene follows her hesitation at the door: she delays, he is gone, and her search through the streets ends in the watchmen's hands. It is the darkest passage in the poem, and it sits between two of the book's warmest descriptions of the beloved. The poem does not smooth the episode over, and it sits between two of the book's warmest speeches.
Song of Solomon 5:2-8, alongside the gentler night search of 3:1-4.
Why not this one. That happens in the earlier search, in 3:4, where she finds her beloved and brings him to her mother's house. In chapter 5 the watchmen wound her instead.
Hard Old Testament — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
Proverbs 6:16-19 lists six things the LORD hates and a seventh that is an abomination to him. What stands last in that list?
- AOne who sows discord among brothersCorrect
- BA false witness who breathes out lies
- CHands that shed innocent blood
- DHaughty eyes
Answer: One who sows discord among brothers
Proverbs 6:16-19 · ESV
In a saying that counts six and then names seven, the final item carries the weight. Every entry in the list is real, moving through haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed blood, a scheming heart, hurrying feet and a false witness. The climax falls on the man who breaks up brothers. Numbered sayings of this kind place their weight on the last item named.
Proverbs 6:16-19, in the father's instruction of chapter 6.
Why not this one. Haughty eyes are genuinely on the list, but they stand first rather than last. The list is built to rise toward its seventh item, not to open with it.