JCE Bible Knowledge case studies
JCE Bible Knowledge · Put your knowledge to work in context.
JCE Bible Knowledge is a Jewish Certificate of Education subject examination testing command of the Hebrew Bible - Tanakh - as studied in traditional and modern Jewish educational settings. It suits secondary-school pupils preparing for certificate examinations, adult-education learners returning to text study, and teachers or communal educators who want an external benchmark for their Tanakh knowledge. The JCE Bible Knowledge case studies are 5 cases and about 2,731 words.
1The Missing 300 Levites
A bar mitzvah student preparing a d'var Torah on Parashat Bamidbar totals the Levite clans: Gershon 7,500 (Num 3:22), Kohath 8,600 (3:28), Merari 6,200 (3:34), which sum to 22,300. But Num 3:39 gives the total as 22,000.
576 words, about 3 min2The Young Woman of Isaiah 7:14
A Jewish day-school class is comparing translations of Isaiah 7:14. The NJPS renders 'Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel.' A Christian study Bible in the school library renders 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.' A student points out that the Septuagint has parthenos, the Greek word for a virgin.
598 words, about 3 min3The Note on the Flyleaf
A synagogue library volunteer is cataloging a 19th-century Hebrew Bible. On the flyleaf is an old note: 'Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes defile the hands; Esther was written by the Men of the Great Assembly.' A board member asks whether this means these books were nearly excluded from the Bible, and whether the 'Council of Yavneh' voted on the canon.
518 words, about 3 min4The 480 Years and the Age of Ahaziah
A high-school Tanakh teacher is building a wall timeline from the Exodus to Solomon's Temple. 1 Kings 6:1 gives 480 years from the Exodus to the fourth year of Solomon.
519 words, about 3 min5Amalek and the Problem of Herem
A congregation's teen seminar is studying 1 Samuel 15. A student reads that Saul is commanded, through Samuel, to 'blot out the memory of Amalek' and to destroy every man, woman, child, and animal, and then asks: 'How can the Bible command genocide?
520 words, about 3 min