Our Bible Quiz for Youth: Joshua, Judges and Samuel

The books of the Tenakh that follow right after the Torah, often called “Former Prophets”, are rich in narrative and adventure. Colorful characters, battle scenes, intrigue and heroism fill the pages of Joshua, Judges and Samuel upon which this quiz is based.

Much of our quiz on these books is based upon questions asked during past National Youth Bible Contests and qualifying exams. If you can answer half correctly, you’ve done well. You should become a contestant yourself if you knew 15 of the answers. Since the questions are difficult and the area covered extensive, use your Bible in looking for the answers.

1. The king’s daughter was promised in marriage for killing the man who “defied Israel.” Who was he and who killed him?
2. Who came down to earth and sat under an oak tree? Who ended up between heaven and earth under an oak tree?
3. Can you recall other instances where trees are prominently mentioned in these books?
4. Who dwelt in the land of Tob and in which battle did the people of Tob support the Ammonites?
5. How did the Phillistines weaken the ability of the Israelites to make war?
6. Name two military leaders who organized their armies into three units.
7. Where is it indicated that sheep-shearing time was a festival in Israel?
8. Which three men killed lions, one of them in the snow?
9. Passages in Joshua and Judges lead us to believe that there were two cities named Bethlehem. Can you find them?
10. Who smote his enemies “hip and thigh?”
11. Who was given the sage advice not to judge a man by his outer appearance?
12. Who ascended a Jerusalem hill with dancing and joy and later ascended the Mount of Olives barefoot and weeping?
13. In Judges, stinging insects dwell in a most unusual place, and in Joshua other stingers chase people from their land. Can you identify these friends of Israel?
14. In I Samuel, in two separate stories, emotional changes are described by physical transformations in a woman and man. Who are they and what happened to them?
15. Can you identify at least two of these men described in the Books of Samuel?
    a) No man in Israel as handsome (or stalwart) as he.
    b) Ruddy, with beautiful eyes and handsome.
    c) Chief of Saul’s herdsmen.
    d) Swift as a wild gazelle.
    e) He smote Phillistines until his arm tired and his hand cleaved to his sword.
16. A prophet and a king girded themselves with linen ephods (worn for participation in sacred activities). Who were they?
17. In Samuel, water libations before God are described in two separate instances. Can you recall one of them?
18. Two men hid on a roof and two others hid in a well. What were the situations?
19. What basis is there for calling a kibbutz in Northern Israel Dan and an area near Tel Aviv by the same name?
20. The Jews are often referred to as chosen by God. Where does it say that Israel chose God?
21. When did a “game” lead to death?
22. Women have caused men to desert or to fight. Who did the former because he was angered about a woman, and who did the latter for the woman he desired?
23. Even in the Book of Samuel, sons sometimes bring shame upon respected fathers. Can you name the fathers who had no “nahat” from their pairs of sons?

Answers

Printed on pages 29–30 of the issue.

1. Goliath, the Phillistine champion. David was the hero of Israel who did him in with a stone sling (I Sam. 17).
2. The angel who visited Gideon (Jud. 6:11);
   Absalom who was caught by his hair in the tree branches (II Sam. 18:9).
3. Abimelech is anointed king at an oak (Jud. 9:6). He is compared to a bramble in the tree allegory of Jotham (Jud. 9). A diviner’s oak is mentioned in the same chapter, v. 37. Saul and his sons were buried under a tamarisk (I Sam. 31:13). Deborah sat under a palm (Jud. 4:5).
4. Jephtah (Jud. 11:3). In Joab’s battle against Ammon (II Sam. 10:8).
5. They didn’t permit them any smiths who could make arms (I Sam. 13:19).
6. Gideon (Jud. 7:16), Abimelech (Jud. 9:43) and David (II Sam. 18:2).
7. David’s encounter with Nabal (I Sam. 25:7). Absalom invites the princes to the sheep-shearing at Baal Hazor (II Sam. 13:23).
8. Samson (Jud. 14:5), David (I Sam. 17:35) and Benaiah ben Jehoiada (II Sam. 23:20).
9. In Joshua 19:15, Bethlehem is located in the north. In Judges 19:2 it is in Judea, Southern Israel.
10. Samson (Jud. 15:8).
11. Samuel was told by God (concerning Eliab, brother of David): “Do not look at his appearance or at his tall stature . . . man looks at the outer appearance but the Lord looks at the heart (I Sam. 16:7)”.
12. King David, when he brought the Ark up to Jerusalem (II Sam. 6:12-15). Later, fleeing Absalom’s rebellion, his mood was very much the opposite (II Sam. 15:30).
13. The honey bees dwelt in the carcass of a lion in the Samson episode (Jud. 14:14). Hornets drove out the two kings of the Amomnites (Josh. 24:12).
14. The woman was Hannah of whom it is said that “her face was no longer sad” (I Sam. 1:18). The heart of Nabal “died within him and he became as a stone” (I Sam. 25:37).
15. a. Saul (I Sam. 9:2)
    b. David (I Sam. 16:12)
    c. Doeg the Edomite (I Sam. 21:8)
    d. Asahel (II Sam. 2:18)
    e. Eliezer ben Dodo, David’s lieutenant (II Sam. 23:10)
16. Samuel wears the linen ephod as a trainee under Eli (I Sam. 2:18). David wears one when he brings the Ark up to Jerusalem (II Sam. 6:14). See also I Samuel 22:18 where the priests of Nob are thus attired.
17. a) The Israelites gathered at Mizpah under Samuel’s direction and drewpoured water before God and fasted (I Sam. 7:6).
    b) Three heroes brought David water from Bethlehem while it was occupied by the Philistines. He did not drink it but “poured it out before the Lord.” (II Sam. 23:16).
18. The two spies who came to Jericho were hidden on the roof by Rahab (Josh. 2). Jonathan and Ahimaaz hid from Absalom in a well (II Sam. 17:17 ff.).
19. See Judges 18:29 for northern Dan. Originally the tribe of Dan was given land near the southern coast of Israel (Josh. 19:40 f.).
20. Joshua said to Israel: “You are witnesses that you have chosen the Lord to serve him.” (Josh. 24:22). An old ditty says:
    “How odd of God, to choose the Jews.
    It’s not so odd, the Jews chose God.”
21. In II Samuel 2:16, the battle between Abner and Joab at Gibeon (today’s El Jib, north of Jerusalem).
22. Abner left Ishboshet over a quarrel concerning Rizpah (II Sam. 3:7). David fought the Philistines in order to marry Merab, daughter of Saul (I Sam. 18:17).
23. Eli (I Sam. 2:12 f.) and Samuel, whose sons accepted bribes (I Sam. 8:2).

Prepared by Haim Halpern