Bible Quiz

009

The Tribes of Israel

1. Which three tribes settled east of the Jordan River?

2. What tribe dwelt within Judah’s area?

3. In Jacob’s blessing on his twelve sons, who was to become a strong worker?

4. Which two tribes’ spies supported conquest of the Promised Land at a time when the people had lost hope?

5. What people turned against, and killed, thousands of their fellow Israelites at Mount Sinai?

6. Jesus lived in the territories of which two tribes?

7. The aged widow Anna, who greeted Jesus’ parents in the Temple, came from which tribe?

8. This traveling tribe, the family of sailors and Samson, gave its name to the northern border of Israel.

9. Who could be called the left-handed tribe?

10. Various groups of a dozen objects were used to symbolize all twelve tribes (for example, stones, lions, loaves and staves). How did the prophet Ahijah represent the division of the people?

Prepared by Bill Ickes, an avid BR reader in Berlin, Pennsylvania, whose previous contributions to BR Include five quizzes and ideas for the Illuminations in the Winter 1986 and Fall 1987 issues.

011

Answers

1. Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh. Seeing that the land of Jazer and Gilead, east of the Jordan River, was good country in which to raise their cattle, the tribes of Reuben and Gad said to Moses, “Let this land be given to [us] for a possession; do not take us across the Jordan” (Numbers 32:5). Moses responded, “Shall your brethren go to the war while you sit here?” (Numbers 32:6). For their promise to help conquer Canaan, Moses gave Reuben, Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh the territory from the Arnon River to Mount Hermon.

2. Simeon. When Joshua apportioned the land among the tribes, “the portion of the tribe of Judah was too large for them,” so “the tribe of Simeon obtained an inheritance in the midst of [Judah’s] inheritance” (Joshua 19:9).

3. Issachar. As he lay dying, Jacob gathered his sons together and prophesied their individual destinies. He said, “Issachar is a strong-boned ass, crouching among the sheepfolds. When he saw how good was security, and how pleasant was the country, he bent his shoulder to the burden, and became a toiling serf” (Genesis 49:14–15).

4. Judah and Ephraim. Moses sent out twelve spies, one from each tribe, to scout the land of Canaan. When the spies returned, they told of a country that “flows with milk and honey.” Most of the scouts, however, feared that the inhabitants of Canaan were too strong to conquer. The Israelites despaired when they heard this assessment, but two of the spies, Caleb (of Judah) and Joshua (of Ephraim), reminded them, “If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into that land…” (Numbers 14:8).

5. Levites. Moses told the Levites to punish those who had worshipped the golden calf: “Each of you put sword on thigh, go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay brother, neighbor, and kin” (Exodus 32:27). Of Levi, Jacob had prophesied, “When angry they slay men, and when pleased they maim oxen” (Genesis 49:6). Appropriately enough, the Levites became the exclusive priestly slayers of sacrificial animals.

6. Zebulun and Naphtali. Jesus grew up in Nazareth (Zebulun) and moved, at the beginning of his ministry, 21 miles northeast to Capernaum (Naphtali). Matthew 4:13–14 records this as a fulfillment of Isaiah 9:1–2: “and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled….” Matthew typically sees events as fulfillment of prophecy in the Hebrew Scriptures.

7. Asher. This was one of the ten northern tribes that had been deported by the Assyrians more than 700 years before (2 Kings 17:23). Apparently, some individuals remained or returned, because “there was a prophetess Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher…” (Luke 2:36).

8. Dan. The territory allotted to this tribe included such cities as Aijalon, Timnah and Ekron, but it “slipped from their grasp,” so they migrated 120 miles northward and “made war on Leshem [Laish]” (Joshua 19:40–47). When they conquered Leshem, they renamed it Dan, giving rise to the phrase often used to represent the whole nation: “from Dan to Beer-sheba” (for example, 1 Samuel 3:20).

9. Benjamin. The Bible’s southpaws are all Benjaminites. First there is “Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left handed man,” who assassinated King Eglon of Moab (Judges 3:15–29).^a Later, the Benjaminites who helped defend Gibeah against an attack by other Israelites included “seven hundred picked men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair, and not miss” (Judges 20:16). Still later, David’s army was augmented by some warriors who “could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the left hand; they were Benjaminites, Saul’s kinsmen” (1 Chronicles 12:2).

10. By ripping apart his garment. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was walking on a road outside Jerusalem when he met the prophet Ahijah, who was clad in a new garment. “Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, ‘Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord… “Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes…” ’ ” (1 Kings 11:30–31). In fulfillment of the prophecy, Jeroboam later established the northern kingdom of Israel, consisting of ten tribes, and became its first king (928–907 B.C.).