Biblical Oddities #28 - Have You Met Your Match? Quiz

Answer: Phineas

Phineas killed an Israelite man and a Moabite woman who were apparently having sex during a time when the Jews were experiencing divine retribution for immorality and idolatry with the Moabites and Midianites.

According to Scripture, Phineas' action took place during a plague that had killed 24,000 people with the plague being brought on as divine punishment.

Phineas is recorded as thrusting a javelin through the man's back and into the woman's stomach, killing them both. His actions resulted in the plague coming to an end.

Numbers 25:8 explains things this way in the NKJV: "...and he (Phineas) went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel."

Answer: Absalom

Absalom killed Amnon, his half brother, to avenge the sexual assault of Tamar.

The parents of Absalom and Tamar were David and Maacah while Amnon was the son of David and Ahinoam.

According to Scripture, Amnon was completely smitten by Tamar and to be alone with her, he pretended to be sick in bed and had Tamar serve him some food. When Tamar came into his bedroom to serve the food, Amnon raped his half sister.

Scripture goes on to tell of Absalom exacting revenge by getting Amnon "merry with wine" and then having him killed.

And people say the Bible is boring!

For further details, see 2 Samuel 13.

Answer: Enoch

Enoch is the correct answer. According to Genesis 4:17, Cain, while in exile in the land of Nod, built a city and named it after his son Enoch.

The verse in the NKJV states: "And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son-Enoch."

No information is given about Cain's wife.

Answer: Naamah

Naamah is one of only two Queen Mothers of Israel or Judah who was a Gentile. (The other woman was Jezebel.)

According to 1 Kings 14:21-31 and 2 Chronicles 12:13, Naamah was an Ammonite.

Her husband was Solomon and they were the parents of Rehoboam, who became king after Solomon's death.

Interestingly, Naamah is also the only one of Solomon's many wives and concubines who is named in Scripture.

Answer: Paul

Paul is the correct answer. In 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Paul denounces an unnamed man in the early church at Corinth for being intimate with his father's wife. In other words, he was intimate with his stepmother.

In the passage, Paul rebukes the church at Corinth for being arrogant and proud, rather than taking swift action on the issue. In his letter, Paul urges the church to expel the man from their fellowship.

Answer: Belshazzar

Belshazzar, king of Babylon, was completely perplexed when he saw a disembodied hand write a message on the palace wall during a gala banquet.

According to Scripture, Belshazzar and his guests were drinking from sacred vessels stolen from the Temple in Jerusalem.

Scripture goes on to tell of none of the Babylonian wise men being able to interpret the message on the wall and then Daniel was called in to interpret the message for the king.

It was message the king definitely didn't want to hear as Daniel told him his empire was about to fall.

Later that night Belshazzar was slain and Darius the Mede took control of the kingdom.

For further details, see Daniel 5.

Answer: Abihu

Abihu is the correct answer. According to Scripture, Abihu, along with his brother Nadab, were consumed by fire from the LORD for offering "unauthorized" or "strange" fire (Leviticus 10:1-2).

The two brothers died in a case of divine intervention because they ignored God's commands for handling incense and fire in the tabernacle.

Abihu and Nadab were the sons of Aaron.

Answer: Haman

Haman hated Jews and at the top of his list was Mordecai.

According to Scripture, Haman's hatred of God's chosen people was so strong he wanted them all to be exterminated.

Scripture tells of Haman building a gigantic gallows in which he planned to hang Mordecai, a Jewish man who refused to bow down to him. However, his plan backfired terribly when Queen Esther was successful in convincing the king of Persia that Haman was diabolical.

As a result, Haman ended up being hanged on the very gallows in which he had intended to execute Mordecai.

For details, see the Book of Esther.

Answer: Rechab

Ishbosheth, the son of Saul and king of Israel, was assassinated while he was sleeping.

According to 2 Samuel 4:5-7, he was murdered by two of his captains, Rechab and Baanah. The two men cut off Ishbosheth's head and presented it to David thinking they would be rewarded for their efforts.

At the time, Israel was embroiled in a bloody civil war with one side supporting Ishbosheth and the other side supporting David.

However, David was furious at what happened and ordered the execution of Rechab and Baanah for killing a "righteous person."

Answer: Dathan

Dathan was an ally of Korah who led a revolt against Moses, Scripture tells of Korah and his followers, Dathan included, being killed in a case of divine retribution.

The opponents of Moses were killed when the earth miraculously opened up and swallowed them due to their revolt against Moses' leadership.

Numbers 16:31-34, in the NIV Bible, tells what happened: "...the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, 'The earth is going to swallow us too'!"

At the time, the Israelites were travelling in the wilderness on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land.