Friday Facts - Unusual Facts and Trivia from the Bible

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For today's Friday Facts we've got a random assortment of facts and trivia from the Bible. Enjoy and have a great weekend!


~ Engaged men were exempted from military service.
"And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her. " Deuteronomy 20:7.

~ In early Old Testament times, whenever two Israelites finalized a real estate transaction, one of the men would take off his sandal and give it to the other to seal the deal.
"Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the manner of attestation in Israel." Ruth 4:7

~ Newborn babies were rubbed with salt.
"And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all." Ezekiel 16:4

~ To symbolize his desire for a permanent working relationship, a slave would have his master take an awl and stick it through the slave's ear into the master's doorpost.
"Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever." Exodus 21:6

~ Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Archbishop of Canterbury, reportedly memorized the entire Bible! Some historians record that it took him only three months to accomplish this amazing feat!

~ An Ephesian mob chanted for two hours in unison, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
"But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians." Acts 19:34

~ If two million Israelites took part in the exodus out of Egypt (a conservative estimate based on Numbers 1:45-46), the procession would have been an incredible sight. Marching 50 abreast, the column of departing Jews would have stretched for 23 miles into the desert. Walking at a comfortable pace of 2.5 miles per hour, the people would have required almost 10 hours to pass the same point.

~ King Solomon's salary was 666 talents--or 25 tons-- of gold per year. At modern gold prices of $460 per once, he received $368 million per year.
"Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold." 1 Kings 10:14



9 Thoughts Shared:

Debra Kaye said...

Melanie,

I had heard of the real estate transaction and the slave piercing his ear. So interesting! Have a blessed Friday, sweet friend.

Tea with Tiffany said...

Sandals to seal the deal. That stuck out to me. Who wants someone else's shoes? The facts are all interesting.

Thanks...

Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

The stats on the exodus? AMAZING. You know in your head that it is many, many people but I had NO IDEA!

And the archbishop who memorized the entire Bible? I am almost jealous. Can you imagine how awesome it would be to be able to pull any verse out of your head at any time?

Still love your Friday facts! :-)

Laurie Ann said...

I love reading these facts, Melanie. I always learn something new. Thanks for sharing!

Joan said...

Thanks for sharing. The scriptures are facinating to me. It's amazing to think how much has changed and how much is still the same thousands of years later.

Have a great weekend!
Blessings

bp said...

There is a song we sang in college and my husband explained to me about the slave piercing his ear.
Thanks for sharing this trivia!

Alicia The Snowflake said...

That was very interesting. I had never heard the of salting the baby or the awl. Thanks for sharing!

I hope you have a great weekend my friend!

Joyfull said...

Very interesting facts. Loved reading them, and I learned quite a few things!

Sab said...

I just read that in the final days, hailstones will fall... weighing 1 talent each... that is one heavy hailstone... especially if 666 talents is 25 tons!