Quiz on 40 Biblical Men
See how well you can link the descriptive paragraph below to the correct name(s) found in the 'Answer Choices' listed at the end of this quiz.
The Bible tells of many dynamic, influential men whose stories are found throughout the Old and New Testaments. Their influence impacted the nation of Israel and the surrounding areas. Their uncommon contributions or royal misdeeds are remembered today, even though some were old, and some were young. No doubt a few were saintly and others villainous. Each carried out a significant role in the spectacular stories found within the Bible. Centuries later, in this following quiz, we will see if each man's unique character traits or actions cause you to remember them. See how well you can link the descriptive paragraph below to the correct name(s) found in the 'Answer Choices' listed at the end of this quiz.
Quiz on 40 Biblical Men
1. _____________He may have been an unlikely leader. Quite possibly, he had a speech impediment and a very brief bout of leprosy. Abandoned as a child, he grew up and committed murder. As punishment by God, he was told, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. The tomb of this important man is unknown. (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and many, many more)
2. _____________He never met Jesus during his brief years of ministry nor was he one of the twelve apostles. However, according to the New Testament, he interacted with many of the original disciples. He is credited to have penned thirteen of the twenty-seven New Testament books. Taking advantage of his statue as both a Jew and a Roman citizen he took the story of Jesus to Jewish and Roman gatherings. Prior to his conversion, this man persecuted the disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. Augustine of Hippo developed this man's idea that salvation is founded on faith and not “works of the law.” (Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, and many more)
3. _____________He was born a slave in Egypt but became a conqueror in Canaan. At the age of fifty, he was dispatched as one of twelve spies to go into a foreign land. Duties which he executed with faithfulness and obedience. Upon his return, Moses said, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. His warfare technique was “Divide and Conquer.” He led the Israelites into the Promised Land. The Bible describes him as a saintly man, a brilliant military commander. Becoming a leader at the age of eight-five, he led Israel for twenty-five years. (Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, and many more)
4. _____________In his era, it was not uncommon for people to be known by two names. According to First-century tradition, the man to be identified here, has the same name as the other name Thaddeus had. James was either his brother or father. I would have to say, as far as names for the original Twelve go, his identification may be the most confusing. Other traditions claim he preached throughout Judea, Samara, Idumaea, Syria, and Libya. Due to confusion surrounding his biblical name(s), it’s hard to say which journeys he accomplished. Regardless, as an apostle, he surely preached the gospel everywhere he could. (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and more)
5. _____________A Levite descendant from Kohath, he was beckoned by God three times during one night. As an adult, he served as a judge of the people. He grew up serving the Lord in the Shiloh Tabernacle. From a very young age, he was dedicated to the Lord. Eli watched over him and certainly taught him the ways of the Lord. While serving God in his own life, his sons Joel and Abijah were not raised to follow his example. They took bribes and were dishonest rulers. (1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, and more)
6. _____________He did not consider himself wise. Weary and worn, his utterance was-—This man declared to Ithiel and Ucal. “Surely I am more stupid than any man and do not have the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom nor have knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if you know? Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.” (Proverbs)
7. _____________Two people bear the name we are looking for here. The one we don't want was a prophet in the time of King David. Nor are we looking for the five different “Johns” or the four different “James.” Jacob praised this man and predicted his tribe would contain brave troops that would drive off raiders and victoriously pursue Israel’s enemies: At the end of Israel’s 40-year wilderness wandering his tribe prepared for the Promised Land. It was particularly important for this leader to fulfill Jacob’s prophecy by being brave and strong. Moses compared him to a lion. “Blessed is he who enlarges (his) domain! He lives there like a lion, tearing at arms or head.” (Genesis, Numbers, Joshua, and more)
8. _____________He, as the son of Mary of Jerusalem, was a significant evangelist in Christianity's early years. He of whom we speak here was by birth a Jew, of the tribe of Levi. Some say that he was one of the seventy disciples of Christ, but others state he was converted and baptized on the day of Pentecost by Peter. Jesus sent him out with other disciples to spread the gospel. It is accepted that he established the Church of Alexandria, and he is known as the fore bringer of Christianity to African Churches. He became Peter's interpreter and transcribed Peter's sermons. He was martyred at the age of 68 according to Coptic tradition. (Acts, Colossians, Timothy, and more)
9. _____________This prophet knew King David lusted after a married woman. When Bathsheba became pregnant by another man, her husband was killed by David, who married her to cover up his sin. The Lord sent this Prophet to rebuke David. He told David a story of two men, a rich man, and a poor man. The rich man had a large number of sheep, while the poor man only had one little lamb that he loved dearly and treated like his own child. When a traveler came to the rich man, instead of slaughtering one of his own sheep, the rich man took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the traveler to eat. David shouted, “that man should be killed,” not understanding the message was about himself. This Prophet prophesied about the death and life and death of David's sons. (2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, and more)
10. _____________As the son of Mary and Joseph, he was a half-brother to Jesus and his other full brothers Joseph, Simon, Judas, and their sisters. In the Gospels, he is mentioned only a few times. Possibly, when he was younger, he did not understand Jesus’ ministry and was not a believer. As an early witness of the resurrection of Jesus, he set aside his skepticism and became a leader in the church. From that time forward, as a dynamic believer, his status within the church grew, and he became an elder, which is described in Galatians as a “Pillar.” He was believed to be martyred about AD 62, although there is no biblical record of his death. (Matthew, John, and 1 Corinthians)
11. _____________Above all, this was a man of profound contradictions. As depicted in the Bible, he was both a hero and a murderous villain. Grandson to Boaz and Ruth, in his youth he was a shepherd who gained fame first as a musician, then later by slaying Goliath, champion of the Philistines. He became a favorite of King Saul and a close friend of Jonathan, Saul's son. Worried that he was conniving and scheming to take his throne, Saul tries to kill him. This caused him to turn fugitive and go on the run for several years. (Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, and more)
12. _____________A humble man, he never addresses himself as the author of either of his Biblical books. While not present to walk with Jesus during His ministry, he did become a believer after the resurrection of Jesus. His detailed writings from interviewing eyewitness accounts serve him as a credible historian for the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Some parables and eyewitness statements are only found in his gospel. His gospel includes the most narratives on healing, which reflects his compassion and interest for the afflicted. His writings account for a total of 52 chapters, which puts him on par with Paul. Combined, they penned approximately one-third of the New Testament. (Colossians, 2 Timothy, and Philemon)
13. _____________Proverbs 31 says this man repeated an utterance, inspired by Agur, that his mother taught him. Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb! Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers! Do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings. It is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in anguish! Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. "I am weary, God, but I can prevail. (Proverbs)
14. _____________According to Matthew, this Prophet, from the village of Gath, was the only one Jesus likened to Himself. Early in his book, we read of a man prideful but scared. So fearful, in fact, he runs from God's instructive plan. He did not want to travel and preach repentance. He feels he would be killed by the sinful enemies to whom God wanted him to take His message of warning. Instead, he chose to flee to Tarshish, which is in the opposite direction. Three days after a terrible storm, he is thrown up on a foreign shore. Knowing all this turmoil was God's doing, and having no choice but to relent, he takes God's message to a city populated with 120,000 residents. As the only prophet to minister strictly on foreign soil, he is still considered the most effective of all prophets for he persuaded the city to turn back to God. His name is said to translate as ‘dove.’ (2 Kings, Matthew, Luke, and others)
15. _____________ This man, a musical Levite, was a leader of David's Tabernacle choir. Psalms, 50, 73 through 83 are exclusively attributed to him. He along with David were identified as accomplished in music and skillful with poetry. Regarding a prophetic role, his imprecatory Psalm, 83, which, as a curse, calls for God’s judgment of the many enemies of Israel. Upon closer inspection, all of his psalms deal with the judgments of God, and many involve the people's prayers at the threshold of impending, disastrous events. He was also known as “Keeper of the King's forest.” (2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, and more)
16. _____________This prophet was heartbroken and in a troubled marriage. Gomer, his first wife was unfaithful. After marrying, she gave birth to three children, only one of which was his child. Gomer no longer wanted to be married, so she left him and their children and went back to her former life as a prostitute. Because of the unfaithful wife, perhaps he, as no other prophet, could relate to the anguish in God’s heart over the Northern Kingdom, where those people were constantly committing spiritual sins and sexual infidelities. (Hosea and Romans)
17. _____________This man may be the most difficult challenge within the offering of this quiz. His name is only mentioned in all of Scripture twice. First in the opening verse of his own book, then a relative remark in Luke. He shared his prophecies in an Assyrian city located in Upper Mesopotamia, which today, is situated on the outskirts of Mosul in northern Iraq. He preached during the reign of King Manesseh, one of the evilest kings in Judah’s long history. This means he preached during the darkest period, up to to that point, in Judah’s history. These, certainly, were times filled with idolatry and all kinds of sin within a nation which had completely turned its back on God. He preached against a city that already heard a previous prophet sent specifically by God to preach repentance and hope. A message they heard and adopted—at least for a time, for, truth be known, that city was turned godly and spared for one hundred years before sliding back into their atrociously ungodly ways. So, our prophet in question was tasked by God to preach to the sinners. He did and the city, once again, became godly. Decade upon decades later they fell into sin again, and God destroyed them and hid the entire city until a British archaeologist rediscovered it in 1845. (Nahum and Luke)
18. _____________This man, descendant of Levi and his tribe and Asaph's ancestor, was known as a wise man comparable to Solomon and probably the author of Psalm 89. That Psalm is of God and David and contains the verse: “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.” Within the city of David, he and two other singers, Heman and Asaph were the players of the bronze cymbals. (1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, and Psalm)
19. _____________He wrote a combination of prophetic oracle and narrative history about 520 B.C.. This prophet relayed four messages to Jerusalem's population. The first message was an appeal to the conscience of the people. The second was words of rebuke. His third message asked the people to look back in the past to the glory of the (God's) house. His fourth and final message expressed an important truth that we would do well to lay to heart. It spoke of the root of all failure is traceable to low morals. In other words, a stern warning that outward activity in the service of the Lord will not prosper unless accompanied with the right moral conditions. All of that was squeezed into only two chapters. This was less than twenty years after the Jewish return from exile in Babylon. That timeline indicates he had seen Jerusalem before the destruction of the temple in 586 B.C.. So he was more than seventy years old when he delivered his prophecies. (2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, and more)
20. _____________He is one of the few good kings found in the books of Kings and Chronicles. His name is based on the Hebrew word chazaq meaning “strengthen” and yah signifying “God.” He is one character from the Old Testament who is often overlooked, but he lived up to his name. He was 25 years old when he inherited the throne and reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years, from about 715 to 687 B.C.. He is credited with reconstituting proper worship and music, plus rededicating the temple, which had experienced many years of abuse by the previous kings, including his own father, "who did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He not only renewed the covenant with the Lord, but also called upon the Levites to recommit themselves to the Lord and carefully spelled out their duties and responsibilities. So many people responded with free-will offerings for the sacrifice that the priests were swamped and the Levites had to assist. (2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, and more)
21. _____________As the third king of Israel, he ruled with wisdom for 40 years, and secured treaties with foreign powers. His kingdom prospered so much during this peaceful period it was labeled as the “The Golden Age”. He ordered the construction of the Lord's temple in Jerusalem. He is credited as the author of many Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, the book of Ecclesiastes, and two Psalms. Most everybody today has heard his famous judgment concerning his ruling between two women each claiming to be a child’s mother. He suggested they cut and divide the baby in half to determine which mother would rather give up her child than have it slain in such as fashion. He is also known for harsh taxes, the weight of gold which he demanded every year was 666 talents, besides what was collected from tradesmen, merchants, and from the kings of Arabia and all the governors of the regions. (2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, and more)
22. ________He most famously foretold the Savior’s birth. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emanuel.” He also foretold that after the Second Coming, “the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.” He heralded the anointing of Jehovah “to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty for captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” It is said, his use of Jewish symbolism and poetry veils his teachings from those who do not understand the manner of prophesying among the Jews. However, those who diligently study his words with the aid of the Holy Ghost can understand and follow his prophecies. (2 kings, 2 Chronicles, Mathew, Mark, and many more)
23. ________It’s widely accepted that he wrote primarily for a Jewish audience. While his book doesn’t say “to my Jewish friends,” a mountain of contextual clues shows he wanted his audience to see Christ's relationships to His Jewish ancestry and traditions. Which certainly would have had little relevance to any gathering of Gentiles. His New Testament book reiterates more than 125 Old Testament quotes and highlights how the ministry and miracles of Jesus were prophesied hundreds of years in advance. Since there is no Torah “Jesus or messiah checklist” Jewish people had to piece their own picture together of what the messiah would be like and how Israel could be saved. His preaching and written works surely helped some of the Jewish listeners to recognize that when Christ Jesus had appeared, He was the One they had been anticipating all along. (2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, and more)
24. _____________Chronologically speaking, his book should have been positioned substantially earlier within the Old Testament books. Possibly somewhere among the books of Nehemiah, Ezra, or 2 Chronicles. Yet, his work is relegated to the very tail end of the Old Testament because the OT is organized by literary style. As it stands, his writings were grouped with the books of “Minor Prophets.” It’s commonly accepted that he preached in Jerusalem around 450 B.C. after the Hebrew exiles had been allowed to return home from captivity in Babylon. The importance of his work is admirable. He puts forth two broad messages: Israel must remember and observe Old Testament law, and, secondly, Israel must remember and take hope in the coming Messiah. As such, many Christians feel a poetic design within his prophesy “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me…” is in the last book of the Old Testament. What has kept his book relevant to Christians is that Jesus quoted this very verse when identifying John the Baptist as the prophesied forerunner of Himself, the Christ. It was a promise of hope made for all some 400 years before Jesus walked this earth. (2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Matthew, and more)
25. _____________When he had finished much of his prophecies against Israel and Judah, he gave a prophecy about the birth of the coming Messiah. He wrote, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting. Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great, To the ends of the earth; And this One shall be peace.” His other prophesy messages spoke of judgment but also of compassionate forgiveness, mercy, and love. All his prophesying was during the reigns of kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah. His preaching gave the nation of Israel and Judah adequate warnings. God gave them plenty of time to repent but they did not. Therefore both Israel and Judah were destroyed and their people were taken into captivity. (Mark, Luke, Acts, and more)
26. _____________He was not only Esther's uncle, but also her adoptive father, teacher, confidante, and all-around supporter. They stood together for the protection and the rights of the Jewish people. In the opening chapters of Ester, evidence of his intelligence may not have been raised to the forefront, but he knew how to handle explosive situations involving King Ahasuerus, also known as Xerxes. Taking great care to ensure the safety of Queen Esther, he laid the plans to unmask the villainous activities afoot. This Biblical hero influenced Esther not to reveal her Jewish heritage until after she shared Haman’s plan to kill the Jews with her husband King Ahasuerus to show her Jewish heritage. It was felt this would make her plea more persuasive to the Persian King. Furthermore, he revealed to Ester the eunuchs’ plot to kill the king, making sure that the knowledge was brought to the king by Esther instead of passed along from king’s servant to king’s servant. Even though his name was shared as the person who discovered the plot, he was cunning enough to plot that the king would become more appreciative of Esther. His ability to read a situation, pull the right strings, know when to act, and when to slip quietly out of the scene allowed him to influence the king to do their will. This not only saved his and Esther’s lives but also ensured that their Jewish community was spared. (Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther)
27. _____________Identified as the son of Pethuel, we know little of this prophet beyond the concise details contained in the Old Testament book bearing his name. He prophesied to the people of Judah and in Jerusalem. While making comments on the priests and the temple there, he often expressed his thoughts using natural imagery like the sun, moon, grass, and locusts. Taking advantage of the recent locust plague in Judah, he capitalized on the tragedy of that situation to preach the Lord's message of judgment and offer hope of repentance. In doing so, he was able to solidify the message of judgment into the minds of his listeners. His book is important as it helped develop the biblical idea of “the day of the Lord.” He provided numerous details of that upcoming event, about the days cloaked in darkness, about armies that conquer like a consuming fire, about the striking description of the moon turning to blood, and the purification and restoration of God's people through intense suffering. Rooted within his vibrant imagery of the ultimate judgment, was the seriousness of God’s righteous wrath on sinners be they people or nations. (1 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, Ezra, and more)
28. _____________This famous disciple is a good example of why Biblical names can be confusing. He was given a birth name which he carried to adulthood. However, Jesus declared he would be called Cephas which means “rock.” Neither Cephas nor his birth name is the translated name we know him by. His is a Syriac surname corresponding to a Greek name. As many as twenty times, his birth name and his Greek name are combined throughout the New Testament. The single name we know him by most is the title of his first and second books found in the latter part of the New Testament. It can be said that he was a colorful character, sometimes described as rash and hasty. That he attacked and sliced the ear of a guard coming to arrest Jesus proved he could be short-tempered. Yet, in other instances, he was said to be gentle and proved to be loyal. Unlike Paul, this original disciple spoke Hebrew and had to learn Greek. (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and more)
29. _____________During his exile, he received extensive court-based training in the Five Books of the Law; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, it is obvious that he spent arduous days and months in the Word of God. His tasks in Persia were to copy, interpret, and transmit the Book of the Law to the people. In fact, he is credited to have helped to correct irregularities and modernize the language of the Torah, Thus updating and standardizing common expressions and preserving the integrity of Israel’s sacred text. As a gifted scribe, teacher, and descendant of Aaron, this man found favor in the courts during the reign of Artaxerxes, so much so that the Persian king commissioned him by Royal Letter to lead the second wave of the Jewish remnants to return to Jerusalem around 458 B.C. When the caravan set out to move the exiles back to Jerusalem, it began fulfilling Jeremiah's “return to Jerusalem” prophesy. Once the return to the city was accomplished, he saw the Jews were failing to keep the Law of Moses by intermarrying with non-exiles and Canaanite women. Reflecting on how pagan rites and false worship had flourished through sinful mixed marriages, he sought to avoid calamity and reverse this trend by separating these Israelite activities Israelites from the practices of their neighbors. (1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, Nehemiah, and more)
30. _____________It has been said, this 8th century B.C. man, was the first literary prophet of ancient Israel. In his youth, he was a shepherd and told of receiving a divine commandment to travel to Bethel and see the Israelite shrine. Once there, he denounced the popular errors of that era and was summarily ousted by the head priest, Amaziah. Thus by all appearances, he was a prophet for only a short time, and he did not write down all his prophetic messages. At that time, oracles such as this were preserved and passed from generation to generation by an oral tradition, meaning they were conveyed and kept correctly only by the spoken word circulated Temples of Jerusalem. Eventually, his known prophecies were, probably, written down before Israel's kingdom was conquered in 721 B.C. by the Assyrians. His Old Testament book is traditionally placed at the beginning of the Twelve Minor Prophets. His book offered a pattern for later prophetic books, nine chapters have a prose introduction, then finished in a poetic style. His writings tell of oracles forecasting Judah's impending doom along with the neighboring peoples, plus a concise description of his life as a prophet. He was justifiably preoccupied with the sinful putridness of his generation and their theological misconceptions. He denounced the corrupt aristocracy and their total neglect of the poor. He criticized hypocrites who made sacrifices to God but neglected basic moral laws. He complained about the Jewish people who presumed that they need to give no accounting to God for their actions because they were His Chosen People. Above all, he shocked his contemporaries by his message foretelling a day of reckoning and Israel's destruction. As a counterpoise to his apocalyptic message, he also predicted the restoration of David's kingdom and the return of the Exiles. (Amos and Luke)
31. _____________This prophet's book is a mere three Old Testament pages in my Bible, yet he presents the depth of God's love, compassionate, gentle, and caring, but still capable of what we would deem harsh judgments to those that deserve such. Of this prophet's love, let me quote the seventh verse from his third chapter, “The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Inspiration words, are they not? However, the majority of his writings document the alarming rumblings of judgment. Possibly, you may not find judgment articulated any harsher than in his book, for he repeatedly reinforced the unpleasant prophecy of the coming of “The day of the LORD.” While this phrase was first used by Obadiah, and later Joel, this prophet used this warning seven times, more than any other prophet. In view of what he prophesied, the imminent destruction of Judah, his purpose was to sharpen the message of previous prophets and extend an urgent call for faith in God. He then warned against their idolatrous activities, with the ultimate purpose to call out a “remnant” from Judah, Israel, and all nations to trust the Lord because of the coming day of judgment. He pleaded with the people to seek the Lord in righteousness and humility. (2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, Jeremiah, and more)
32. _____________Imagine this prophet wondering about the rampant wrongdoings occurring throughout his nation. Pondering this, he assuredly would have been perplexed. God remained strangely silent even though evil abounded, often completely in the open. Why? Where was He? How long would God allow this insult to His law and sovereignty to continue? Providing what might be called the most remarkable sections in all of Scripture, this prophet records a seemingly one-on-one conversation with God. He wanted God to take action against the evildoers. Then God instructed this prophet to take a tablet and write His words down plainly. He warned of woe and strife. And justice on the Lord’s behalf would come but patience was required for while the calamity was assured it was not to be soon. The wicked in Judah, those who thought they would get away with their evil deeds forever, would be punished. This extremely brief but prophetic Old Testament book speaks of prideful people being humbled while the righteous live by faith, reminding all that while God often seems silent or uninvolved in our day-to-day world, He always has a plan to deal with evil. His justice is metered out fairly but usually not according to our timelines. We are encouraged to wait on the Lord, expecting that He will indeed work out all things for our good. (Habakkuk)
33. _____________This prophet was of priestly parentage, born near the middle of the seventh century, in Anathoth a small town three miles from Jerusalem, in the territory of Benjamin. This was a time ripe for a mighty appeal to be made to the Philistine people of Judah for evilness and pridefulness had their banners of spiritual desolation. He saw the kingdom of Judah sinking farther into moral degeneracy. Zephaniah had done likewise a little before this man's time. God now chose this man of undeniable courage to speak to the people of Judah on the Lord’s behalf—even though the message might fall on deaf ears. This great prophet provided additional warning notes to Judah by appearing at the temple of the Kingdom's capital city, Jerusalem, to issue heart touched messages which sprang from his deep sincerity and fear of the doom to come. So much so, he was known as the weeping prophet. Such were the ways of this oracle, using pleading persuasions in pointing out to the misbehaving people the way to escape their impending doom. Because he prophesied before the exile of God’s people to Babylon, in the final years of Philistine Judah, it makes sense that his book’s reinforced theme centers on the judgment of their disobedience and worship of false gods. However, elements of God's grace are also evident in these events. The fall of Jerusalem came just about nine hundred years after the original covenant between God and the Israelites while they were in the Sinai desert. Such an extended period of grace is witnesses to God’s patience and mercy. There had been plenty of opportunities for His people to turn from their sinful ways—but most didn't. Only a remnant of faithful, compliant souls listened and act upon his messages. (2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and more)
34. _____________There are over thirty men in the Bible known by this name. One was an Old Testament prophet in the days of Haggai and was mentioned by Jesus as having been murdered by the rebellious and disobedient Jews of his day. Though he had the same name – that's not the man we are looking for here in this quiz. Most narrations of the Biblical stories of Jesus’ birth start with an angel speaking to Mary or Joseph, but was that really the beginning? No. Luke writes the story of Jesus starting with an angel speaking to a relative of Joseph and Mary. The man we are searching for was a priest ministering in the temple when an angel appeared and told him his wife will bear a son, one who will go before the Lord. Our prophet continued to minister to the Jewish people. God sent him and Haggai as prophets to encourage and support the work on the second temple resumed in the time of Herod. Four years later, in 516 B.C., the temple was completed and dedicated with triumphant fanfare. At sometime after that, this prophet continued to aggravate and perturb the worshipers until some could take it no longer. They killed this man of God in the very temple that he had urged the people to complete. (1 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and more)
35. _____________This very well-known prophet didn’t live very long in Israel. He was captured and deported when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 605 B.C. Moved to Babylon, he spent most of his life there as an expatriate. His Hebrew name is said to mean, “God is Judge.” However, shortly after arriving in Babylon, his name was changed to Belteshazzar. When tested by King Nebuchadnezzar, he and three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego far surpassed their fellow students. Nebuchadnezzar found them ten times better than all the magicians and wise men in his whole kingdom in every matter he questioned. He was such a wise and godly man that every King kept him in a high position. Even though he faithfully served every king for more than 70 years, after being appointed as one of three national governors, the other two plotted against him. Resolute to bring about his end, they drafted a plan for religious persecution, convinced the unwitting King Darius to sign it, and targeted his execution. He was thrown into the arena to be devoured by the beasts within, however, due to his faithfulness, he was spared by God. (1 Chroncals, Ezra, Nehemiah, and more)
36. _____________This Old Testament prophet was well known among the Lord’s people for showing compassion and great courage. Shortest of all the Bible Books, the majority of his writings reinforce the pronounced judgments on the nation of Edom. He, along with Nahum and Habakkuk are three prophets who, primarily, foretold of God's judgment coming to other nations. While other prophetic books include passages of judgment against Edom and other nations, his focus was on the difficult truth of humanity’s tumultuous relationship with God. When people position themselves from God or place themselves in opposition to God, they can expect a righteous judgment, rather than restoration. He spoke of the promised redemption, not to the Edomites, but to the people of Judah. That the nation of Edom eventually disappeared into history remains a prime example of the truth found in Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs)
37. _____________Born the son of a priest, at the appropriate time he began his career as a prophet. In 434 B.C. Jerusalem was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. This prophet was caught up among the ten thousand captives and the Jewish King Jehoiachin that Nebuchadnezzar exiled. In Babalon, he continued to prophesize as he had in Israel. The book bearing his name begins with the famous prophecy of the Divine Chariot. In a vision, he describes in vivid detail God’s heavenly throne, supported by four angel-like creatures with four distinct faces: that of a human, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. His book not only pronounces judgment on both Israel and surrounding nations, but it also provides a vision of the future millennial kingdom that adds to the vision of other Old and New Testament texts. He describes a striking picture of the Lord showing him a valley that was full of skeletons. Bones of which represented the children of Israelites that were no longer together as a nation. God told him to speak to the bones, which he did, and there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. As he looked, tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then God said, “Prophecy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So he prophesied as God commanded, and behold breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. (Ezekiel)
38. _____________During the 5th century B.C., he was a Jew who resided in Susa, the capital of the Persian empire. His name means “Yahweh has comforted.” Though he was not a priest, prophet, or king, he was a mere Jewish exile working in a foreign land. Yet he fulfilled his duties so well that he became one of the King's most trusted servants. His book can guide us today on how to overcome strife-filled difficulties and grow our trust in God. The author of the book bearing his name is unknown. However, the book is autobiographical in style the narrative is written primarily in the first person. His book opens with knowledge of the wall surrounding Jerusalem is in dreadful condition. A remnant of the Israelites had returned 70 years earlier and rebuilt the temple, but neglected to raise up the walls again. The people were vulnerable to attack and virtually defenseless. As a slave for Artaxerxes Longimanus the king of the Medo-Persian empire, he prays fervently and intently during his awake hours. He believed God would use him to get the wall rebuilt, and exhibited patience by praying for four months before God answered his first prayer. While not actually a spiritual leader, his fasting and prayers glorified God by listing the Lord’s attributes did trigger changes. Appointed Jerusalem's governor, he had to travel 740 miles to reach there and begin his task of supervising the city wall repairs. Learning of an impending attack, he asked the people to pray and then set a watch day and night. Then arranged people in places around the wall near their homes and families so that they were prepared to fight for their own wives, children, and homes. He divided their time so half guarded the wall while the other half repaired it. (Ezra and Nehemiah)
39. _______________The son of Zebedee, he, along with this brother James, were called to be a part of the original twelve disciples. He appears in the gospels and Acts. Mark anointed him and his brother as “Boanerges” and some believe this was a reference to their tempers. The gospels offer no information about his age when he first became a disciple of Jesus. Christian traditions have it that he lived to die a natural death, the only one of the Twelve not martyred. The most plausible theory of his death tells of his arrest in Ephesus. There, it is said, his enemies threw him in a huge basin of boiling oil. However, according to the tradition, he was miraculously unharmed. The authorities then sentenced him to slave labor in the mines of Patmos. On this island in the southern part of the Aegean Sea, he had a vision of Jesus Christ and wrote the most prophetic book of the Bible. Later freed, possibly due to old age, he returned to what is now Turkey. He died as an old man sometime after AD 98, the only apostle to die peacefully. The book of John in chapter 19 tells us that the Lord Jesus entrusted His earthly mother, Mary, into the care of this disciple. Tradition also has it that he built a home in Turkey purported to be Mary’s final dwelling. (Matthew, Mark, and Luke)
40. _________________This answer to this question has possible or improbable linkage to six names, Assir, Elkanah, Abiasaph, Herman, Asapath, or Ethan, only three of which are correct. If it helps, in clarification, three of these were literal children, not authors of the Psalms. Apparently, they separated themselves from their father’s legacy. Either they were old enough to distance themselves when their father joined forces with Dathan and Abiram, or too young, by being in the age of the innocents, for God to act against them, since they may not have been cognizant of their father’s ways. (Genesis and Exodus)
End of the Quiz
Answer Choices
Agur, Amos, Asaph, Daniel, David, Ethan, Ezekiel, Ezra, Gad, Habakkuk, Haggai, Hezekiah , Hosea, Isaiah, James, Jeremiah, Joel, John, Jonah, Joshua, Judas, Lemuel, Luke, Malachi, Mark, Matthew, Micah, Mordecai, Moses, Nahum, Nathan, Nehemiah, Obadiah, Paul, Peter, Samuel, Solomon, Sons of Korah, Zechariah, or Zephaniah
Final Thoughts
Are our own agendas more important to us than participating in God's plans? Shouldn't we recognize and curtail our internal desires that run deeper than our worshiping experience? When setting in Church, how often do we drift off from the sermon and think about other things?
Habakkuk asked God the kind of question that so many of us have pondered: Why do you force me to look at evil and stare trouble in the face day after day? How did he know, back then, what would be the blunt of television news? All kidding aside, we have all seen the evidence of evil in our lives. We’ve all been touched by it. If the stains of evil run rampant, we, and our families, most likely bear the scars of our sins. When we are surrounded by evil, trapped in dark prison cells of our own making, we experience the dire results of our poor choices. However, the Bible reminds us that no place is too dark and no wall too thick to halt God’s grace in all-powerful and life-affirming ways. God is always happy to have us repent, turn back to him, and rededicate our efforts and lives. We should share our faith and encourage our family members to be faithful to God.
Also, Christian testimonies show we will probably face the same scorn and derision that the Biblical men, and women met head-on in one form or another. Have you ever been laughed at for using the Bible as the definitive source to guide your daily living? Have you ever been ridiculed for trusting in God? Were you ever called dumb or “unscientific” for believing in creation, as it is described in Genesis? Quite possibly, we all have. But stand firm on your convictions. Stay true to Jesus with your head held up high, and guess what? The world will pass you by, and their own loss for any you were not able to lead to the Holy Spirit so he could shepherd their souls to salvation. Amen!
For ease of use and clarity the “Answer Key” – not the “Answer Choices included herein” – was produced as a JPG image is not seen here because then the students would be able to see the answers. It is available totally free of charge by emailing HLS@USA.com. Also, there is a similar quiz already on Sermon Central titled “40 Biblical Women Quiz.”
