How Handsome He Is! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joseph

Joseph was the eleventh of Jacob's twelve sons. Jacob favored Joseph because he was Rachel's son; Rachel was Jacob's favorite, beloved wife. It's possible that Joseph got his good looks from his mother, because the Bible doesn't say that Jacob was handsome, but it does say that Rachel was physically beautiful (Genesis 29:17).

Joseph's half-brothers were envious of Joseph, so they sold him into slavery. An Egyptian, Potiphar, purchased him. One day, Potiphar's no-good wife was attracted to Joseph, so she told him to "lie with" her (Genesis 39:7).

After he refused her, she lied (in the other way!) and accused him of attempting to rape her. They threw Joseph in jail. When he was released, he married Asenath, an Egyptian damsel. The seemingly monogamous Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

Answer: He was tall.

It's highly plausible that Saul was muscular, but it doesn't specifically state that he was. He probably was NOT clean-shaven, because Leviticus 19:27 tells Hebrew men to not cut their beards. I don't know about him having blue eyes. The correct answer is that he was taller than the other men were.

Even though Saul was so good looking, this wasn't really the reason why the LORD told Samuel to anoint Saul as Israel's first king. He originally was a humble young man. After being the king for a while, he became proud and disobedient. For one thing, "King" Saul disobeyed God when he refused to kill all of the evil Amalekites. This disappointed the LORD. In addition, Saul attempted to murder David numerous times because he was envious of him. Saul consulted a medium, a practice forbidden by God (1 Samuel 28). Saul didn't even honor Israel's covenant with the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21). To be frank, he screwed up a lot.

Saul had many sons and at least two daughters, but the Bible doesn't mention anything about their physical appearances.

Answer: David

According to 1 Samuel 16, the LORD told Samuel to go to Bethlehem, which would later be known as the city of David, to anoint one of Jesse's sons to be the king of Israel. It should be noted, though, that David didn't become the king of all Israel immediately. First, King Saul committed suicide (1 Samuel 31). After Saul's death, David was made the king of Judah (2 Samuel 2), but one of Saul's sons, Ish-bosheth, was the king of the other part of Israel (2 Samuel 3). David actually asked Ish-bosheth to return Ish-bosheth's sister back to David, because she had been his wife. After Saul's son was murdered, David became the king of all of Israel (2 Samuel 4-5).

David was the youngest son of Jesse and he was a simple shepherd. He had seven older brothers. Samuel originally thought that the chosen one was among the brothers, who apparently were also handsome, especially Eliab, but not after God's own heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Now, David was anointed by God to be a king *and* he was easy on the eyes! No wonder Saul's daughter was infatuated with him!

Answer: He had long hair, which he cut once a year.

An idiom claims that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the Bible states that Absalom was the most handsome man in Israel like it was a fact. Absalom (the son of David and Maacah) killed his half-brother, Amnon, because Amnon (the son of David and Ahinoam) raped Absalom's full-sister, Tamar. See 2 Samuel 13.

According to 2 Chronicles 11:20, Absalom had a daughter, whom he named Maacah after his mother, and 2 Samuel 14:27 says that he had a different daughter, Tamar, who was obviously named after his sister. He evidently loved and respected his mother and sister. On another interesting note, Maacah married Rehoboam, the son of Solomon (another half-brother of Absalom).

2 Samuel 14:26 states that he had very long hair, which he cut once a year. 2 Samuel 18:19 states that Absalom died during a battle when his head got caught in a tree! Ouch! He was riding a mule at the time.

Answer: Yes

According to 2 Samuel 3, Absalom was David's third son, while Adonijah was his fourth son. 2 Samuel 15 states that Absalom conspired to take King David's throne and 1 Kings states that Adonijah proclaimed himself the king. However, David wanted Solomon to be the king, so Solomon took the throne. Adonijah also wanted to marry Abishag the Shunammite, but King Solomon objected and ordered Adonijah's execution.

After Amnon and Absalom--the first and third sons--died, Adonijah, the fourth, apparently thought he was the rightful heir. Interestingly, there is no mention of Chileab (also called Daniel), David's *second* son, trying to make himself king.

Nehemiah 10 mentions a different man, a Levite, named Adonijah.

Answer: His lips are red roses and they taste like strawberry.

We will probably never know the exact identity of the Shulammite (sometimes spelled Shulamite) woman, the woman from the Song of Solomon. But there seems to be two main theories for who she was: (1) Abishag the Shunammite, a beautiful, young virgin who nursed King David when he was elderly, and (2) a pharaoh's daughter, who is documented as one of Solomon's wives (1 Kings 3:1). Song of Solomon 1:9 references "chariots of Pharaoh", but I don't personally believe that the woman was Egyptian because "Shulammite" seems to imply that she was from Jerusalem or Israel. She also refers to other women, the "daughters of Jerusalem" throughout the song.

As for her beloved, many readers believe that he was King Solomon, a son of David and Bathsheba. I should note, however, that some readers believe that, while Solomon was in love with the woman, the woman's real beloved was a shepherd, so they suggest that a love triangle was going on. They get this idea from Song of Solomon 2:16, in which she states that her beloved pastures his sheep among the lilies. The ones who believe that Solomon was the beloved believe that the pasturing among the lilies is simply metaphorical.

Chapter 5, verses 10-16 include the Shulammite describing him with metaphors and similes, which suggest how handsome he was. Among them are that his hair is black like a raven, his lips are lilies dripping in myrrh, and his legs are pillars of alabaster set on gold.

Answer: True

Song of Solomon 5:15-16, New American Standard Bible
"'His legs are pillars of alabaster Set on pedestals of pure gold; His appearance is like Lebanon Choice as the cedars.
His mouth is full of sweetness. And he is wholly desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.'"

I have yet to find a translation that doesn't compare him to Lebanon. The King James Bible says that his "countenance", or face, is like Lebanon.

In 5:10, according to many translations, the beloved is "ruddy". This is the same adjective that 1 Samuel uses for David. Traditionally, Solomon has been considered the beloved, though some people argue against this. Chapter 3, verse 11 definitely mentions King Solomon and his crown that his mother gave him on his *wedding* day. His mother was Bathsheba. If only we knew for sure who his bride was.

Answer: They were fatter than the others were.

According to Daniel 1, King Nebuchadnezzar wanted young Israelites to serve in his court. There were many handsome "sons of Israel" chosen, but the chapter centers around four boys from the tribe of Judah (who shall remain anonymous here to prevent giving away the answer for another question).

Verses 8-15 discuss how the young Israelite men were supposed to eat the king's food and drink his wine, but the four Jews didn't want to consume the king's diet. One of them requested that they eat vegetables and drink water for ten days. Their commander gave them permission to fast like that, but he was afraid that the young men would end up looking sicker than the ones who ate the king's food, and the commander was afraid that the king would execute him for it. According to verse 15, the ones who fasted looked better than the boys who consumed the king's menu, so the four were allowed to keep eating the vegetables.

Interestingly, the New American Standard says they were "fatter", which is the same as the wording in the King James, but the New Living and the New International versions say they were "healthier and better nourished".

Answer: Michal

Daniel 1:3-4 (New American Standard Bible):
"Then the king [Nebuchadnezzar] ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king's court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans."

The four young men were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. For whatever reasons, people tend to call Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, while most people call Daniel by his original Hebrew name (Daniel).

Answer: Hebrews

Simply because the New Testament doesn't mention the characters' apparences, it doesn't mean that they were what we would call "ugly". Possibly, many Old and New Testament figures were attractive, but the Bible only singles out the exceptionally good looking ones. At any rate, God said in 1 Samuel 16:7, which is, of course, in the Old Testament, that human beings look at outward appearances, but He is concerned about heart conditions. In other words, God is concerned about spiritual beauty, not physical beauty. It would seem almost silly for the New Testament to mention the disciples' or apostles' physical appearances when they were supposed to be preaching the gospel!

I find it fascinating that of the Old Testament men who were extremely handsome, some were more obedient to God than others were. For examples, Joseph and Daniel were noted for their good works, but Saul, Absalom, and Adonijah didn't bear much good fruit to show.

Both Exodus 2 and Hebrews 11 state that Moses was a beautiful baby. Whether he was handsome as an adult is uncertain, but given that he was so attractive at birth, he probably was still attractive when he grew up.