It Started in a Garden

It's gardening season again, and it pleases those of us who love working with the soil that mankind's original home was a garden. (Is it possible our gardening urge is our feeble attempt to "get back to Eden" in some small way? Hmm ….) Anyway, see how much you know about that first blissful garden, and the various other gardens mentioned in the Bible.

1. Who was buried in a garden tomb?
2. Who walked in the Garden of Eden "in the cool of the day"?
3. What wicked king had a man murdered for the sake of a vegetable garden?
4. What two trees grew in Eden that grow nowhere else?
5. What king, famed for his extravagant building projects, also planted gardens, vineyards, and orchards?
6. Who referred to God as a "gardener"?
7. What Old Testament book mentions the sweet voices of lovers in a garden?
8. In what garden did Jesus agonize on the night of his betrayal and arrest?
9. Which of Jesus' parables refers to something planted in a garden?
10. What Old Testament book describes an extravagant seven-day banquet held in a palace garden?

Where's That Verse?

"The grass withers, and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." (Hint: Old and New Testaments.)

Who's Reading the Bible?

According to the Barna Research Group, 88 percent of evangelical Christians have read the Bible in the past seven days. However, Bible reading during a typical week drops with age:

• 50% Seniors & Builders (born 1945 and earlier)
• 46% Baby Boomers (1946-1964)
• 33% Baby Busters (1965-1983)

Source: Barna Research Online, 2002.

Click here to see the answers.

J. Stephen Lang is the author of 15 books about the Bible, including the recently published What the Good Book Didn't Say (Citadel Press) and Talking Donkeys & Wheels of Fire: Bible Stories That Are Truly Bizarre! (Warner).

Copyright © 2004 by the author or Christianity Today/Today's Christian magazine.
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