Biblical Oddities #25 - Have You Met Your Match? Quiz

Answer: Miriam

Miriam is the correct answer. She is the only woman in the entire Bible to have leprosy and be named.

Numbers 12:1-15 tell of Miriam being afflicted with the disease after she complained about Moses' wife who was an Ethiopian, as per the NKJV. (In the NIV she is identified as a Cushite.)

Scripture goes on to tell of Moses crying out to the LORD to have Miriam healed of the disease and his prayers were answered.

Answer: Absalom

Absalom, the son of King David, is the correct answer. It's a bit of a lo-o-o-o-o-ong story but Absalom slept with his father's concubines to assert his claim to the throne.

According to Scripture, he publicly and boastfully slept with the women. In 2 Samuel 16:22 in the NKJV, it is described this way: "So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel."

Going by 2 Samuel 15:16, David had at least ten concubines.

According to various websites, taking over a predecessor's harem in Biblical days was a symbolic act of seizing the throne and royal authority.

Answer: Ruth

The Book of Ruth is the only book in the Bible to be named after a Gentile woman.

The book tells of the romance between Ruth and Boaz and the birth of their son, Obed. Ruth, Boaz and Obed are all listed in the genealogy of Christ, as per Matthew 1:5.

Esther is another book in the Bible named after a woman. However, Esther was Jewish and not a Gentile.

Answer: Paul

After surviving a shipwreck off the coast of Malta, Scripture tells of Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, being bitten by a poisonous viper and not suffering any ill effects.

Acts 28:3-6 in the NKJV tell of what happened: "But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, 'No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.' But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god."

Scripture goes on to tell of Paul miraculously healing people in Malta who were afflicted with various diseases.

Answer: Joseph

The first person in the Bible to be described being imprisoned is Joseph, one of twelve sons of Jacob.

According to Scripture, Joseph was tossed into prison after he was falsely accused of attempted rape by Potiphar's wife. At the time, Joseph had been sold into slavery by his eleven brothers and was serving in Potiphar's household.

For details see Genesis 39:7-20.

Answer: John the Baptist

There are a number of accounts of people being jailed in the New Testament but the first person to be incarcerated was John the Baptist.

According to Scripture, John was locked up for publicly denouncing Herod's marriage to Herodias as she had been married to Herod's brother Philip.

Scripture goes on to tell of Herod ordering the beheading of John while he was in prison.

Answer: Maachah

Similar to many of the kings of Israel and Judah, Rehoboam was intimate with a large number of women. In fact, Scripture states Rehoboam had eighteen wives and sixty concubines and was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

However, 2 Chronicles 11:21 reports Maachah, the granddaughter of Absalom, was clearly his favorite.

Rehoboam was the son of Solomon and Naamah and was initially the king of Israel. However, the northern ten tribes broke away and Rehoboam ended up serving as king over Judah only.

Answer: Elkanah

Elkanah, the father of Samuel, had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah.

However, Elkanah clearly loved Hannah more than Peninnah. 1 Samuel 1:4-5 in the NKJV offers this information: "And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb."

Later, Hannah would miraculously give birth to Samuel after she fervently prayed to God for a child.

Answer: Huldah

According to Scripture, Huldah was a prophetess in the Old Testament who gave advice to the high priest Hilkiah.

Huldah is quoted as telling Hilkiah, God would "bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants" because the people of Jerusalem were no longer following Him.

However, Huldah prophesied God's judgment on Jerusalem would not come until the King Josiah had died peacefully because he had humbled himself.

Answer: Esther

Esther was the high profile daughter of little-known Abihail.

He is mentioned as Esther's father in Esther 2:15 and 9:29. However, little is known about him as he is mentioned in passing reference.

Abihail and his unnamed wife had died while Esther was still a child, leaving her as an orphan. Scripture goes on to tell of Mordecai, a relative of Abihail, adopting Esther and raising her as his own child.