Daily Bible Trivial facts

[Gail]

In a vision, Joshua wore a clean turban to show that his sins had been taken away. Zechariah 3:4,5

[Gail]

According to Solomon in Proverbs 30, "four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise". They are: ants, coneys, locusts, and lizards- vv.24-28

[Gail]

Once when Peter was really hungry, he saw a sheet full of animals in a vision, and God told him to eat up. Acts 10:10-13

[Gail]

If the disciples ahd paid for the food to feed the 5,000-plus people, it would have cost eight months' pay. Mark 6:37

[Gail]

After Haman was hanged on the gallows, King Xerxes hanged his sons, too. Esther 9:14

[Gail]

A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine, or about six gallons. Isaiah 5:10

[Gail]

Solomon's throne had six steps and a gold footstool attached to it- 2 Chron.9:18

[Gail]

There are seven different Jeremiahs in the Bible: 1 Chron.5:24; 12:4,10,13; 2 Ki.23:30; Jer.1:1; 35:3

[Gail]

Aaron's hunchbacked descendants couldn't offer food to God- Leviticus 21:20

[Gail]

David had 20 children- 1 Chron.3:1-9

[Gail]

Jair (a judge) had 30 sons on 30 donkeys and controlled 30 towns. Judges 10:4

[Gail]

It was against the Levitical law to cut oneself on purpose- Lev.19:28

[John317]

Once when Peter was really hungry, he saw a sheet full of animals in a vision, and God told him to eat up. Acts 10:10-13

I've heard quite a few people say that this vision was intended to show Peter and other Christians that the Old Testament laws regarding clean and unclean animals no longer apply. But is that what Peter said he learned from the vision? Did Peter rejoice that he could now eat pork or some other animal in the vision?

Here's Peter's testimony about what he learned from that vision:

Acts 10: 28: "God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean."

The context of the vision shows that its purpose was to teach Peter and the other Jewish Christians that their ideas about Gentiles being "unclean" was completely wrong, and that God justifies both Jew and non-Jew by faith and not by any kind of law-keeping. Compare Acts 10: 28; 15: 1, 8, 9; Galatians 2: 1-16, 21.

"If righteousness comes through law, then Christ died in vain." Even Peter and James and some of the other disciples had a hard time learning this truth.

[Gail]

Thank you for the insight! I appreciate comments!

If you bought a Hebrew servant, you had to let him go after six years- Ex. 21:2

[Gail]

Dogs didn't bark at the Israelites during the plague on the firstborn in Egypt. Ex. 11:7

[D. Allan]

That's amazing, Gail! I never noticed that. Thanks

[Gail]

Yes, I thought that incredible as well, that with all the wailing and mourning going on, that the dogs were not allowed to howl in sympathy with the death of the Egyptian firstborn.

Would you like some more Bible dog trivia?

Dogs ate those belonging to Jeroboam- 1 Kings 14:11

Dogs ate those belonging to Baasha- 1 Kings 16:4

And dogs ate those belonging to Ahab. 1 Kings 21:24

In fact, dogs licked up Ahab's blood- 1 Kings 22:38

[D. Allan]

Dogs were not beloved pets in Israel. Or were they? The Egyptians kept greyhounds, i think.

[Gail]

Here are some breeds that people think descended from Egyptian dogs:

[Gail]

From the Andreas Center website, here is a description of a dog's life in ancient Israel:

Quote:

In ancient Israel the dog was considered an unclean animal. Several verses in the Bible know the usefulness of watchdogs and sheep dogs, but for the most part we only read of half-wild, half-starving scavengers that prowl the city by night. The dog lived on the refuse of the streets or on the terephah—one of the flock which has been torn by a wild animal and therefore unfit for human food.

Dogs were so efficient at refuse-picking that Elijah put them in the same class with carrion birds. What the birds scavenge in the field, dogs scavenge in town (1 Kings 21:24). Their efficiency is obvious in the story about the death of the bad queen Jezebel. When the men came to bury her, the dogs had already made off with everything except her skull, feet, and hands.

Because of the dog’s low estate in Israelite society, the word “dog” was used in Hebrew speech and writing to demean one’s enemies and abase oneself. It was good manners, at least in court circles, when addressing one’s superiors, to refer to oneself as “your servant.” The effect could be heightened by saying, “your servant the dog.” Canine self-effacement reached a high point—or low point—when Mephibosheth bowed and scraped before King David and bawled, “What is your servant that you should concern yourself about a dead dog such as I!” (2 Samuel 9:8). If a servant is a low thing, a dog is even lower, and a servant who is a dead dog is worthless and unclean into the bargain.

A special use of the word dog shows up in Deuteronomy 23:18: “You shall not bring the hire of a harlot, or the wages of a dog, into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow.” Here “dog” is a male cult prostitute, the masculine counterpart of the harlot. The presence of these functionaries at temples and shrines was common in paganism, and at times they were imported into the worship of the God of Israel. The law in Deuteronomy prohibits this.

Against a Hebrew background Jesus says, “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they (the swine) trample them underfoot and (the dogs) turn to attack you” (Matthew 7:6). Those who reject the message about the Kingdom of God are as unacceptable and unclean as the dog and the pig under Israelite law.

One of the dog’s habits became proverbial:

Like a dog that returns to its vomit

is a fool who reverts to his folly.

(Proverbs 26:11)

The Book of 2 Peter alludes to this proverb and makes a new application. The Christian who is enticed back into the sins he put off at his baptism is the fool of the proverb (2 Peter 2:22).

Now here is a passage which I have saved until the last. A Gentile woman in conversation with Jesus once said, “The dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” (Mark 7:28). She meant that Gentiles, too, ought to be allowed, so to speak, at least the scraps of God’s favor. Her words tell us that by Roman times, dogs were allowed into the house, where they shared a closer life with humans. Those of us who have loved dogs will like that.

[Gail]

The Philistines offered gold rats as an offering. 1 Sam.6:18

[Gail]

Before an Israelite could offer a ram as a burnt offering, he had to wash its legs with water. Lev.1:9

[D. Allan]

The Philistines offered gold rats as an offering. 1 Sam.6:18

Those golden rats are facinating! Intriguing is the more precise word.

[Gail]

Yeah, wasn't it the Philistines who one other time offered golden emerods (hemorrhoids)? That's when they ran into problems after stealing the Ark of the Covenant.

Wrap your brain around that one!!

[John317]

The plague caused the Philistines to get very painful tumors and hemorrhoids and also involved an infestation of rats. (1 Sam. 6: 5). Offering sacrifices that resembled these things was thought to be efficacious with the offended God who had sent the plagues to punish the Philistines for stealing the ark of the covenant in the first place.