Bible Quiz
The Kings of Israel and Judah
1. Who was the first Israelite to claim the title “king”?
2. What king built a place of worship for the Moabite god Chemosh and for the Ammonite god Molech on the Mount of Olives?
3. Who were the two kings of Israel committed suicide?
4. Name the two kings who, though guilty of capital crimes, were spared because they each repented before a prophet.
5. Which king of Judah was a leper?
6. Who was the only woman to rule as sovereign over the Kingdom of Judah?
7. Name the kings who had the shortest and the longest reigns.
8. One king had to repress a revolution led by his own son. Who were that king and his rebellious son?
9. Who was the last king of Israel?
10. Identify the last king of Judah.
Prepared by Leslie J. Hoppe, O. F. M., Department of Biblical Literature and Languages, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Illinois.
Answers
1. Abimelech. The son of Gideon and of a concubine from Shechem, Abimelech conspired with his mother’s kinsmen to be made king of Shechem. After Abimelech slew all his brothers but one, thus eliminating rivals, “all the citizens of Shechem came together … and made Abimelech king …” (Judges 9:6). Three years later, he was killed during a revolt against his rule (Judges 9:53–54).
2. Solomon (965–928 B.C.). In his dotage, Solomon’s foreign wives persuaded him to worship the patron deities of their own native lands. The Bible mentions that Solomon favored the worship of Ashtoreth, the Sidonian goddess, and Milcom, the Ammonite god. In addition, “Solomon built a high place [for worship] for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem” (1 Kings 11:7).
3. Saul (c. 1020–1004 B.C.) and Zimri (882 B.C.). With his army fleeing before the Philistines on Mt. Gilboa, and with his sons killed and himself wounded, “Saul said to his armor-bearer, ‘Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and make sport of me.’ But his armor-bearer would not; for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword, and fell upon it” (1 Samuel 31:4).
Zimri was a military commander who made himself king of Israel after leading a coup against King Elah (1 Kings 16:9–10). But Omri, commander of the army, was the people’s choice to be king, so he besieged Zimri at Tirzah. “And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went … and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and died …” (1 Kings 16:18).
4. David (1004–965 B.C.) and Ahab (871–852 B.C.). During the second campaign against Ammon, David contrived the death of Uriah the Hittite by ordering him into a dangerous position, and then took Uriah’s wife as his own. When Nathan the prophet confronted the king with these crimes, David acknowledged his guilt, saying, “I sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13). David’s life was spared, but the child of his adulterous union died shortly after birth (2 Samuel 12:15–18).
Ahab was guilty of the judicial murder of Naboth in order to acquire his land. When confronted by the prophet Elijah, Ahab rent his clothes, fasted and lay in sackcloth, and so was spared by the Lord (2 Kings 21:1–29).
5. Azariah (also called Uzziah, 769–733 B.C.). Azariah was a vigorous king who refitted Judah’s army and built fortresses to protect trade routes in the Negev. He also reclaimed territories that had come under Edomite and Philistine control. Late in Azariah’s reign, “the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death …” (2 Kings 15:5).
6. Athaliah (842–836 B.C.). Following the death of Ahaziah during Jehu’s revolt, Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, assumed control over Judah. She had all male members of the royal family killed in order to secure her own position as sovereign. Ahaziah’s son Joash escaped the purge and became the rallying point of a revolt led by the priest Jehoiada after six years of Athaliah’s rule. After Athaliah was slain in the palace, Joash took the throne and “all the people of the land rejoiced …” (2 Kings 11:20).
7. Zimri (882 B.C.) and Manasseh (698–642 B.C.). After deposing and killing King Elah, Zimri reigned for just seven days in Tirzah before killing himself during the revolt of Omri (1 Kings 16:15–18). According to 2 Kings 21:1, Manasseh became king of Judah when he was 12 years old and ruled for 55 years, outdistancing his nearest competitor, Jeroboam II, by 15 years.
8. David (1004–965 B.C.) and Absalom. Although he succeeded in defeating the revolutionaries, David paid a very high price: the life of his son. When told of Absalom’s death, David wept and said, “Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son” (2 Samuel 18:33c).
9. Hoshea (733–724 B.C.). Hoshea was ruler of the Northern Kingdom of Israel when the Assyrians besieged Samaria. After three years, the city was taken, Following deportation of the leading citizens, the Northern Kingdom was completely incorporated into the Assyrian Empire (2 Kings 17:1–6).
10. Zedekiah (596–586 B.C.). Zedekiah was king of Judah when the Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar, put an end to Judah’s independence in 586 B.C. “They slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters and took him to Babylon” (2 Kings 25:7).