Today’s National Calendar celebration is a moratorium on mundane minutia. We dare not trivialize the significance of this day. It’s a day to break out insipid amounts of irrelevant data, hidden hunks of history, fun facts, and a cornucopia of curious quotes.
Today is National Trivia Day!
Several game shows test the knowledge of contestants concerning trivia. The most famous of those shows is Jeopardy! And we well remember the game board for Trivial Pursuit. A wheel with six spokes is on a blue background. Players attempt to answer questions in six categories.
“The game was created on December 15, 1979, in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, by Canadians Chris Haney, a photo editor for Montreal’s The Gazette, and Scott Abbott, a sports editor for The Canadian Press. After finding pieces of their Scrabble game missing, they decided to create their own game. With the help of John Haney and Ed Werner, they completed development of the game, which was released in 1981. During the development of the game, some of the early work and question writing was completed by Chris and John Haney in Weymouth Library, Dorset where they were staying with family.
“The rights to the game were initially licensed to Selchow and Righter in 1982, then to Parker Brothers (later part of Hasbro) in 1988, after initially being turned down by the Virgin Group; in 2008, Hasbro bought the full rights, for US$80 million.
“By 1986, the board game had sold 20 million units, grossing $600 million in sales. As of 2014, more than 100 million games had been sold in 26 countries and 17 languages. Northern Plastics of Elroy, Wisconsin produced 30,000,000 games between 1983 and 1985. In December 1993, Trivial Pursuit was named to the “Games Hall of Fame” by Games magazine. An online version of Trivial Pursuit was launched in September 2003.”1
“In ancient times, the term “trivia” was appropriated to mean something very new … Over time, the word “trivia” has come to refer to obscure and arcane bits of dry knowledge. It also refers to nostalgic remembrances of pop culture.”2
A Bible version of this game came out a few years later. However, is it accurate to say that there is trivia in the Bible? Sure, there are some obscure or tricky facts like:
- What was Joab’s mother’s name?
- What were the names of Abraham’s brothers?
- Who did Zephaniah say would be as Sodom?
- Who did John say loved to have the preeminence?
- What is the Old Testament’s youngest book?
But are they trivial? Are they insignificant? Absolutely not… and that includes
genealogies!
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
The Bible does not contain pointless points or useless information. Though we may not understand something or see the significance, we have to know that God wasn’t just filling space on the pages so that our Bibles would be bigger.
As you read God’s Word today, take to heart Proverbs 30:5. “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.”
1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivial_Pursuit
2https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/national-trivia-day-january-4
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