This riddle was written by a lady in California in 1890 in response to a gentleman in Pennsylvania who said he would pay $1,000.00 to anyone who could write a puzzle he could not solve. He failed to solve this puzzle and paid the lady the $1,000.00, a great sum at that time.
The answer is one word five letters long and appears only four times in the King James version of the bible. An 8 year old boy figured it out, can you?
God made Adam out of the dust,
but thought it best to make me first:
So I was made before the man
According to God's holy plan.
My whole body God made complete,
Without arms or hands or feet.
My ways and acts did God control,
But in my body He placed no soul.
A living being I became
And Adam gave to me a name.
Then from his presence I withdrew,
For this man Adam I never knew.
All my makers laws I do obey,
And from these laws I never stray.
Thousands of me go in fear,
But I seldom on the earth appear.
Later, for a purpose God did see,
He placed a living soul in me;
But that soul of mine God had to claim
And from me took it back again.
And when this soul from me had fled,
I was the same as when first made;
Without arms, legs, feet or soul,
I travel on from pole to pole.
My labors are from day to night,
And to men I once furnished light.
Thousands of people, both young and old,
Did by my death bright lights behold.
No right or wrong can I conceive;
The Bible and it's teachings I can't believe.
The fear of death doesn't trouble me;
Pure happiness I will never see.
Up to heaven I can never go,
Nor in the grave of Hell below.
So get your bible and read with care;
You'll find my name recorded there.
The answer is one word five letters long and appears only four times in the King James version of the bible. An 8 year old boy figured it out, can you?
but thought it best to make me first:
So I was made before the man
According to God's holy plan.
My whole body God made complete,
Without arms or hands or feet.
My ways and acts did God control,
But in my body He placed no soul.
A living being I became
And Adam gave to me a name.
Then from his presence I withdrew,
For this man Adam I never knew.
All my makers laws I do obey,
And from these laws I never stray.
Thousands of me go in fear,
But I seldom on the earth appear.
Later, for a purpose God did see,
He placed a living soul in me;
But that soul of mine God had to claim
And from me took it back again.
And when this soul from me had fled,
I was the same as when first made;
Without arms, legs, feet or soul,
I travel on from pole to pole.
My labors are from day to night,
And to men I once furnished light.
Thousands of people, both young and old,
Did by my death bright lights behold.
No right or wrong can I conceive;
The Bible and it's teachings I can't believe.
The fear of death doesn't trouble me;
Pure happiness I will never see.
Up to heaven I can never go,
Nor in the grave of Hell below.
So get your bible and read with care;
You'll find my name recorded there.