Number Six: Joshua Trivia Quiz

Answer: Be strong and of good courage

God told Joshua to "be strong and of good courage" because He would always be with Joshua, so Joshua had nothing to fear.

The command "fear not" or "do not be afraid" and any other forms of this command, including "be of good courage", is said to be in the Bible 365 times. The exact number, it appears, is not important. What is important is that God commands us to be not afraid more than He commands anything else. Why? 2 Timothy 1:7 answers this. In the King James Version, it says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Question submitted by Ilona_Ritter

Answer: She helped the Hebrew spies.

Readers can find details about Rahab in Joshua chapters 2 and 6. To summarize, Joshua sent spies to Jericho. Rahab allowed them to stay in her house. When the king of Jericho realized that she had taken the Israelites in, he demanded that she release them, but she didn't. In fact, she hid the spies on her roof and lied because she said that they had already left her house. After the men of Jericho went searching for the Israelite spies, believing that they were on a road to Jordan, Rahab took a scarlet rope and let them escape safely from her roof. She also told them to go to the hill country and hide there for three days.

Because of her kindness, Joshua and the spies promised that they would spare her and her father's household (this would include her mother, father, and siblings) when they conquered Jericho. According to Joshua 6:25 of the New American Standard Bible, Rahab "has lived in the midst of Israel to this day", but neither the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament nor the New Testament say that Joshua married her. It is interesting to note, however, that unlike other men, such as Moses and Aaron, the Bible (both testaments) doesn't mention who Joshua married at all. There are extra-biblical, Rabbinic traditions that suggest Joshua and Rahab wed, but the New Testament states that Rahab married Salmon and became Boaz's mother. Some people have suggested that Salmon was one of the spies. The obvious conclusion is that she did give up her sinful life of prostitution and became a devout woman of God, a wife and mother, but that still isn't exactly the correct answer for the question.

Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 declare that Rahab was righteous for her belief in the LORD and also for her hospitality towards Israel's spies. According to Bodie Hogde of AnswersinGenesis.com, in his article, "A Righteous Lie?", it wasn't her dishonesty that was righteous, because the 9th Commandment condemns lying. Instead, she was righteous for giving them a place to stay and for sending them off to a safe area.

Both Rahab, a Canaanite, and her future daughter-in-law (I am basing this on the assumption that Boaz's mother was the same Rahab) Ruth, a Moabite, were Gentile women of idolatrous backgrounds who developed faith in the Hebrew God. According to the New Testament, Jesus Christ descended from the women.

Question submitted by Ceduh

Answer: The people of Ai

Ai was a Canaanite city. The city name means "heap of ruins". Joshua and the other Israelites conquered it on their second try. The 30,000 men that Joshua had ready were told that God would conquer the city so they did not have to be afraid.

The other choices: Ur was the city which Abram (later Abraham) came from. Bethlehem, of course, is the city in which Jesus was born. And Cairo is not mentioned in the King James Version, but it is the capital of Egypt today and Egypt is mentioned several times in the King James Version.

Question submitted by Ilona_Ritter

Answer: Mizpeh

It says that they were "under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh." Some Bible scholars claim that Mount Hermon is actually another name for Mount Sinai, but this is a controversial view. Mizpeh was located in Gilead near the foot of Mount Hermon.

Question submitted by Ilona_Ritter

Answer: Caleb, son of Jephunneh

The quotation comes from verse 12 of Joshua's 14th chapter: "Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said" (New King James Version).

The back-story is as follows. Moses had sent 12 spies into Canaan to report on the situation there. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones to bring back a favourable report, but the Israelis followed the lead of the other 10 who said the task was impossible because of the Anakim (giants) that lived there in great, fortified cities. As a result of their faithlessness the Israelis were condemned to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that generation had died out.

Joshua and Caleb survived, so when the land was being divided up, Caleb, by that time aged 85, reminded Joshua of what had happened and claimed the city of Kiriath Arba (Hebron) as his inheritance. In the words of Joshua 14, "And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel".

Question submitted by Watchkeeper

Answer: As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD

Joshua 24 is the final chapter of the book. In context, a very elderly Joshua spoke the words of the LORD to the Israelites. God reminded the Israelites that their ancestor Terah, Abraham's father, served gods other than Himself. Then He formed a covenant with Abraham and gave him Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Eventually, Jacob's descendants became slaves in Egypt. The LORD brought His people out of Egypt and gave them the land of the Canaanites. Basically, God asked the Israelites to serve Him only and forsake the pagan gods, the gods of Canaan and the gods of their ancestors, because He graciously bestowed a land to them that they didn't work for.

After he finished giving the words of the LORD, Joshua spoke for himself when he said, " . . . As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD". Joshua told the people that they needed to make a choice to serve the true God or to serve the false gods. The people promised that they would also serve the LORD and according to verse 31, the Israelites did serve the LORD all of Joshua's days and also all of the days of the elders who outlived him. Eventually, however, God's people would turn their backs on Him, which other Old Testament books document.

Although the term "house" here is actually in reference to family members, perhaps you caught the hint. Literal houses include walls.

Based upon Joshua 24:15, he almost certainly had a wife and children--in fact, most Hebrew men did--but the Bible is silent as to who his family members were.

Question submitted by Ceduh

Answer: 7

Joshua chapter 6 discusses the conquest of Jericho. The LORD told Joshua to have all of the Israelites march around the city once a day for six days and then seven times on the seventh day. He also commanded that seven priests carry seven shofars (trumpets made out of rams' horns) so that they could blow them when they conquered the city.

Sure enough, according to verse 15, the Israelites woke up early on the seventh day to march around Jericho for seven times. After the seventh time, the priests blew the shofars and Joshua exclaimed, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city" (verse 16, New American Standard Bible).

I personally find it very interesting how it was apparently the Sabbath when they marched around the city for the last time. Usually, God forbid anybody "working" on the Sabbath (Saturday), but this seems to be an exception. It reminds me of the times when Jesus supposedly broke the Sabbath and He said that the Sabbath was created for humans; humans weren't created for the Sabbath (see Mark 2:27).

Biblically speaking, seven is the number of perfection and completion. God created the perfect universe in six days and therefore the seventh day, the blessed day of rest, represented completion. Likewise, the Hebrews marched for six days and on the seventh day, their marching was complete.

Question submitted by Ceduh

Answer: Manna

We read in Joshua chapter 5, "While the Israelis remained encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they observed the Passover during the evening of the fourteenth day of the month. On the day following Passover - on that exact day - they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land. Since the Israelis no longer received manna, they ate crops from the land of Canaan that year" (vv 10 - 12, International Standard Version).

Of the incorrect responses, God supplied quail on two occasions only and it was John the Baptist who ate locusts and wild honey in the wilderness of Judea.

Question submitted by Watchkeeper

Answer: Gad

When Israel approached the Promised Land, it did so from east of the Jordan. Numbers chapter 32 records that the tribes of Reuben and Gad had a lot of livestock and found the territories of Jazer and Gilead, through which they passed, were suitable for grazing the flocks and herds. They petitioned Moses to let them inherit that land, east of the Jordan, instead of on the west side. Moses agreed, on condition that the fighting men join in the conquest of Canaan. Joshua 22 records that this is what happened, and when Canaan had been settled:

"Now Moses had made an allotment in Bashan to one half-tribe of Manasseh, but Joshua made an allotment west of the Jordan River to the other half-tribe of their relatives. So when Joshua sent them on their way back to their tents, he also blessed them by saying 'Return to your tents with great wealth, plenty of livestock, silver, gold, bronze, iron, and lots of clothing. Divide the spoil from your enemies among your relatives'. The descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh went back to the land of Gilead, leaving the Israelis at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, for their territorial possession that they had inherited in accordance with the command of the LORD given through Moses" (International Standard Version).

Question submitted by Watchkeeper

Answer: Eleazar and Phinehas

Joshua 23 quotes Joshua as telling the Israelites that he was old and that he would die. In the way that the New American Standard Bible words it, he told them that "...today I am going the way of all the earth..." (verse 14). It also records the frail Joshua reminding the Israelites to follow the Law of Moses and to abstain from intermarrying into and embracing Godless Gentile cultures.

While chapter 23 hints at Joshua's death, chapter 24 actually records it and his burial. Since it is unlikely that Joshua would write about his own death, Jewish tradition claims that one of Aaron's sons, Eleazar, and Eleazar's own son, Phinehas, wrote the chapter. The end of chapter 24 also mentions Eleazar's death. The belief is that Eleazar wrote about Joshua's death and then Phinehas recorded his father's death. In a similar way, tradition asserts that Joshua wrote the end of Deuteronomy, which mentions the death of Moses.

Chapter 24, verse 33 could possibly confirm the tradition because it states that Phinehas buried Eleazar on a hill that Phinehas owned.

Regarding the incorrect choices:

Aaron did have daughters, but I basically threw them in the mix to hint towards their brother Eleazar.

Tradition claims that Samuel wrote Judges and some of 1 Samuel. David penned most of the Psalms. Finally, David's son Solomon wrote much of Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes.

Question submitted by Ceduh