Biblical Oddities #33 - Have You Met Your Match? Quiz

Answer: Ichabod

Ichabod is the correct answer. His mother died giving him birth, according to 1 Samuel 4:19-22.

However, his mother`s name is not given in Scripture. She is simply identified as the wife of Phinehas. Her father-in-law was Eli, the high priest of Israel.

Scripture tells of the woman dying in childbirth after hearing her husband and her father-in-law had died and the Ark of God had been captured by the Philistines.

Just before she died, she named her son Ichabod, meaning "no glory", declaring "the glory has departed from Israel".

Answer: Zilpah

Zilpah was a handmaiden to Leah and gave birth to two of Jacob`s twelve sons. The sons were Gad and Asher with both being born in Padam Aran, according to Genesis 35:26.

Leah was Jacob`s first wife. His second wife was Rachel, Leah`s younger sister.

Jacob also fathered two sons with Bilhah, a handmaiden to Rachel.

Answer: Ishmael

Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, selected a bride for her son, as per Genesis 21:22. The bride`s identity is not revealed but Scripture reports she was from Egypt.

Previously. Hagar had been a handmaiden to Sarah. Ishmael was born after Sarah gave her husband Abraham permission to sleep with Hagar.

Ishmael is generally regarded as the father of the Arab nation.

Answer: Uzziah

Uzziah, king of Judah, was struck with leprosy after he arrogantly entered the Temple and burned incense, a sacred duty reserved for only priests.

According to Scripture, leprosy broke out on his head as divine punishment for his actions. As a result, Uzziah was forced to live in isolation until his death. He was replaced as king by his son Jotham.

For details, see 2 Chronicles 26:16-23.

Uzziah is also known as Azariah in Scripture.

Answer: Gehazi

Gehazi was a highly trusted servant to Elisha, a noted prophet of God.

However, greed got the best of Gehazi and he was afflicted with leprosy as divine punishment for his sinning.

According to Scripture, he was afflicted with leprosy shortly after Naaman, a Syrian army commander was miraculously cleansed of the dread disease by Elisha.

Scripture tells of Gehazi lying to to Naaman and tricking him into giving him silver and clothing. After he denied to Elisha such a thing happened, Gehazi was struck with leprosy.

See 2 Kings 5:20-27 for details.

Answer: No name given

No name is given for the Samaritan Jesus cleansed of leprosy along with nine other Jewish lepers.

According to Scripture, Jesus encountered ten lepers along the border of Samaria and Galilee and they called out to Him "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!."

Jesus in turn told the lepers to present themselves to the priests "and as they went, they were cleansed."

Luke 21:15-16, in the NKJV, tells what happened next: "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan."

The nine other lepers who were cleansed apparently never returned to give thanks.

Answer: Jephthah

Jephthah, the eighth judge of Israel, was the son of a harlot, according to Judges 11:1.

He was a social outcast who ascended to become judge of the nation. In addition to being a judge, Jephthah was a ferocious warrior who led Israelites to military victory over the Ammonites.

However, he is best known for sacrificing his own daughter.

For details see Judges 11:1-40.

Answer: Sissera

Sissera was the commander of the Canaanite army who was killed by a woman who drove a tent peg through his skull while he was sleeping in her tent.

Scripture tells of the Israelites, led by Deborah and Barak, scoring a miraculous military victory over Sissera's army. With his army crushed, Sissera had no choice but to make a run for it.

Scripture tells of Sissera meeting up with Jael who pretended to show mercy to him by offering him some milk and a place to sleep. Sissera's acceptance of her offer was a costly mistake.

According to Scripture, Jael drove a tent peg through Sissera's head while he was in a deep sleep.

See Judges 4 and 5 for details.

Answer: Benjamin

After the tribe of Benjamin had been reduced to only 600 men after a bloody civil war, the other tribes of Israel pledged that none of their women would marry survivors of the defeated tribe.

Since the 600 survivors had no one to marry, the other tribes kidnapped 400 virgin women from the town of Jabesh-Gilead to serve as wives of the Benjamite survivors. Jabesh-Gilead was a Jewish town but the leaders of the day took drastic action against its inhabitants because they had not participated in the civil war against the tribe of Benjamin.

Later, permission was given to the remaining men to kidnap more wives during a festival at Shiloh

Sounds crazy, I know. But as Judges 21:25 in the NKJV states: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

And people say the Bible is boring!

Answer: Saul

King Saul consulted with a medium in Endor to get answers about his future, this even though he had previously banned mediums and the like from Israel.

(In some Bible versions, the medium is referred to as the Witch of Endor.)

During the session with the medium, Paul sought guidance from the deceased prophet Samuel. Scripture tells of Samuel announcing Saul and his sons would be killed in battle the next day and sure enough that is what happened.

For further details, see the 28th chapter of 1 Samuel.