Bible Quiz

007

1. Marriage to a relative was accepted, even expected, in biblical times. Which two men made special journeys to ensure matches between kin?

2. What marital scandal led to the imprisonment and subsequent death of John the Baptist?

3. According to a pastoral letter by the apostle Paul, who were to be sources of conjugal counsel?

4. Where does the Bible compare marital fidelity to “drink[ing] water from your own cistern”?

5. God told Jeremiah, “You are not to marry … in this place” (Jeremiah 16:2). But the prophet later commanded a certain group of people to seek spouses. Who was this group?

6 Whose bride betrayed her husband on the last day of their marriage feast?

7. Most of me time, men gave or received wives. Which woman popped the question to a Bethlehem farmer?

8. A wife was sometimes given away as a prize. David accepted one of two women who were offered this way (1 Samuel 17:5, 18:17–28). What other woman was won by an Israelite warrior?

9. The Cinderella-rise of Esther resulted from a plan to maintain Persian domestic tranquility. What was the problem?

10. What persuaded Jesus’ stepfather to marry despite the discovery that Mary was pregnant?

Prepared by Bill Ickes, a reader in Berlin, Pennsylvania, who has written other quizzes for BR (see Bible Quiz, BR 02:02 and Bible Quiz, BR 03:01), and whose ideas led to the Illuminations in the Winter 1986 and Fall 1987 issues of BR.

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Answers

1. Abraham’s chief servant and Jacob. Abraham ordered his chief servant to “swear by the Lord… that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but will go to the land of my birth and get a wife for my son Isaac” (Genesis 24:3–4). Genesis 24 recounts this trip and the proxy engagement of Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

Rebekah complained to Isaac, when he was old, “I am disgusted with my life because of the Hittite women [whom Esau had married—Genesis 26:34–35]. If Jacob marries a Hittite woman like these, from among the native women, what good will life be to me?” (Genesis 27:46). So Isaac told Jacob, his son, “You shall not take a wife from among the Canaanite women. Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take a wife there from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother” (Genesis 28:1–2). Genesis 29 tells of Jacob’s journey and of its result.

These travels were both about 700 miles, from Hebron/Beer-Sheva to Haran in northwest Mesopotamia.

2. Herod Antipas’s marriage to his sister-in-law. When King Herod Antipas married his brother Philip’s wife, John the Baptist rebuked him, saying, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mark 6:18; Matthew 14:4). Herod imprisoned John for the sake of his queen, Herodias, who had wanted John killed. Queen Herodias later prompted her enticing, dancing daughter, Salome, to ask the king for the head of the imprisoned preacher (Mark 6:22–28; Matthew 14:6–11).

3. Older women. In his letter to Titus, then engaged in organizing the Church on Crete, Paul said the elder women should “admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed” (Titus 2:4–5).

4. In Proverbs 5. Attributed to Solomon, Proverbs 5 exhorts marital fidelity by the following analogy: “Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well… Let your fountain be blessed; find joy in the wife of your youth—” (verses 15 and 18).

5. The exiles in Babylon. In order to counteract their hope for a speedy return, and to help reconcile them to their situation, Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives in Babylon, advising them to settle down. ”Take wives and beget sons and daughters,” he said, “and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, do not decrease” (Jeremiah 29:6).

6. Samson’s. During the seven days of Samson’s marriage feast at Timnah, his Philistine wife badgered him, saying, “You really hate me, you don’t love me. You asked my countrymen a riddle, and you didn’t tell me the answer” (Judges 14:16). Because “she continued to harass him with her tears” (Judges 14:17), he finally told her the answer, which she betrayed to her countrymen.

7. Ruth. Naomi advised her daughter-in-law Ruth to wash, to annoint herself, and to dress in her best clothes, and told her to seek the farmer Boaz that night at the barley threshing floor. “But do not disclose yourself to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down… go over and uncover his feet and lie down” (Ruth 3:3–4). This done, a startled Boaz awoke and listened to Ruth’s entreaty: “Spread your robe over your handmaid, for you are a redeeming kinsman” (Ruth 3:9).

8. Achsah. Her father, Caleb (the other person, besides Joshua, who was permitted to enter the Promised land after surviving the 40 years in Sinai), said, “I will give my daughter Achsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher” (Joshua 15:16; Judges 1:12). Othniel conquered this town near Hebron and took his bride as his prize.

9. Wifely rebellion. The Persian king Ahasuerus (identified as Xerxes I, who reigned from 485 to 464 B.C.) commanded Queen Vashti, his wife, “to display her beauty to the peoples” (Esther 1:11), but she refused. An adviser, Memucan, warned, “Queen Vashti has committed an offense… the queen’s behavior will make all wives despise their husbands, as they reflect that King Ahasuerus himself ordered Queen Vashti… but she would not come… there will be no end of scorn and provocation” (Esther 1:16–18). A search for a more mannerly maid culminated in Esther’s elevation to queen.

10. An angel’s visit. When Mary’s pregnancy was discovered, “Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly” (Matthew 1:19). In other words, Joseph was concerned with propriety, but cared to protect the feelings and reputation of his betrothed. Then, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph… do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20).