For Ugena

At Columbia University a well-respected but predictable professor of religion was apt to give the same final exam year after year to his undergraduate class. Every end-of-the term the professor would require his students to list all the Kings of Israel from Saul to Jehoiachin including with the complete dates of the reign. Of course, everyone was aware from the beginning of the course what the end product was and few prepared in any manner for the exam except to know the required list.

            Well, one semester some discontented snitch informed the oblivious professor of the fate of his final exam and he proceeded to change the question. Thus, one bright Spring day kthe class filed confidently in to class for the final examp only to read: “Provide a complete list of the Major and Minor prophets.”  Students sat stunned and paralyzed, and one by one they placed their pencils down and sullenly departed the room. Except one student who got steady to work and wrote for almost an hour, after which he confidently turned the exam over to his professor.

            “Far be it from me,” the student had written, “to distinguish amongst such revered men—who would be major and who would be minor. But it crossed my mind that you might be interested in a listing of all the Kings of Israel from Saul to Jehoiachan with the dates of their reign!”