Bible Quiz

009

Murder

1. Which commander was killed by a woman with a tent-peg?

2. Who escaped murder plot with the help of friends who lowered him over the city wall at night in a basket?

3. What weapon finally succeeded in stopped Abimelech, a murderer who reigned as king of Israel?

4. Who passed judgment on the two brothers who crept into the house of King Ishbosheth at midday and killed him while he slept?

5. Which king ordered the murder of children when he suspected that he had been tricked by visiting wise men?

6. What were Joab’s motives for killing Abner, an old army commander on peace mission?

7. Which king captured the fleeing prophet Uriah and murdered him?

8. Who was killed and beheaded with his own sword?

9. Which king of Judah ordered the stoning of Zechariah the priest in Temple courtyard?

10. Who bragged that he had killed a man and a youth in revenge for minor injuries?

Prepared by Bert den Boggende, a BR reader in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

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Answers

1. Sisera. After the Israelites had lived under Canaanite oppression for 20 years, Barak gathered 10,000 men at Mt. Tabor to fight the Canaanite commander, Sisera. The Canaanite army was decimated in the battle, but Heber’s wife, Jael, after offering him a drink and a place to sleep, hammered a tent peg “into his temple, till it went down into the ground, as he was lying fast asleep from weariness” (Judges 4:21).

2. Saul. After his conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus, Saul (later known as Paul) stayed and preached in Damascus until he was forced to flee from those plotting to kill him. His disciples lowered him over the wall because the plotters “were watching the gates day and night” (Acts 9:24).

3. A millstone. After Abimelech killed his 70 half-brothers who were heirs to the throne, the citizens of Shechem made him their king. Later they revolted, but Abimelech crushed the uprising and set fire to the tower of Shechem, killing 1,000 people. Then he tried to burn the tower of Thebez, but was fatally wounded when a woman in the tower dropped a millstone on him, cracking his skull. Before he died he told his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, ‘A woman killed him’” (Judges 9:54).

4. David. Hoping for a reward, Rechab and Baanah took the head of Ishbosheth, King Saul’s son, to King David at Hebron. Appalled, David reminded the men that he, David, had slain the murderer of his former enemy, Saul; David continued, “How much more when in his own house, shall I not now require his blood at your hand, and destroy you fro the earth?” (2 Samuel 4:11). David ordered their execution.

5. Herod. When the wise men informed Herod that the stars foretold the birth of a king, he commanded them to fine the child and return with the information. However, the wise men never came back. Herod furiously ordered the slaughter of all the male children, two years old and under, in the Bethlehem region. But Jesus was spared because the Lord had warned Joseph in a dream, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt” (Matthew 2:13).

6. Blood feud and rivalry. After prolonged warfare between the houses of Saul and David Saul’s commander Abner persuaded the leaders to unite the kingdom under David’s rule. However, when Joab, David’s nephew and commander, learned of Abner’s visit to David at Hebron, he was furious. Abner had killed Joab’s brother in battle, and now Joab feared that Abner would rival him for the post of commander of David’s army. He secretly summoned Abner and stabbed him to death. David mourned, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?” (2 Samuel 3:38).

7. Jehoiakim. When the prophet Jeremiah spoke out against Jerusalem’s wickedness, the priests and people hotly debated whether or not Jeremiah deserved the death sentence. Jeremiah escaped persecution, but Uriah, who “prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 26:20), was not so lucky. He fled to Egypt to avoid King Jehoiakim’s anger, but was brought back and slain.

8. Goliath. Uncomfortable in a suit of armor with a sword, young David instead went to meet the Philistine’s challenge wearing his shepherd’s garb and armed with only a sling. In response to Goliath’s taunting, he said, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts” (1Samuel 17:45). When Goliath fell, David drew Goliath’s sword and killed him.

9. Joash. During the life time of Jehoiada the priest, Joash was a righteous king who worked to restore the house of the Lord. But after Jehoiada’s death the people turned back to their idols. When Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, condemned the people (“Because You have forsaken the Lord he has forsaken you” [2 Chronicles 24:20]), Joash forgot his loyalty to the old priest and angrily ordered Zechariah’s death.

10. Lamech. He boasted to his wives: “I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold” (Genesis 4:23–24).

Murder

1. Which commander was killed by a woman with a tent-peg?
2. Who escaped murder plot with the help of friends who lowered him over the city wall at night in a basket?
3. What weapon finally succeeded in stopped Abimelech, a murderer who reigned as king of Israel?
4. Who passed judgment on the two brothers who crept into the house of King Ishbosheth at midday and killed him while he slept?