Biblical Oddities #5 -- Have You Met Your Match? Quiz

Answer: Abiathar

Abiathar has the distinction of being the only high priest in the history of Israel to be deposed by a king. According to Scripture, Solomon ordered Abiathar to step down from the position shortly after he ascended to the throne.

Abiathar had announced his support for Solomon's half brother Adonijah to become king, replacing David after his death. Scripture tells of Bathsheba pulling strings behind the scenes to ensure her son Solomon would become king. Helping Bathsheba obtain her goal was Nathan the prophet.

One of the first things Solomon did as king was to strip Abiathar of his priesthood and announce Zadok as his replacemwent.

Answer: Moses

The first two murderers in the Bible were Cain and Lamech, with details of their crimes reported in the fourth chapter of Genesis.

The next incident of murder appears in Exodus 2:12 which tells of Moses killing an unidentified Egyptian man.

According to Scripture, Moses killed the man because he was beating a Hebrew slave.

Shortly afterwards, Moses would leave Egypt and flee to Midian.

Answer: Methuselah

When it comes to living to a ripe old age, Methuselah takes the cake. According to Genesis 5:27 he was 969 years old at the time of death, making him the oldest person in the Bible. As a result, Methuselah's name has become synonymous with old age.

Methuselah was the grandfather of Noah. He was also the son of Enoch, who, according to Genesis 5:24 was taken up by God without dying.

Answer: Gomer

Gomer is the correct answer. According to Scripture, the prophet Hosea received divine instructions to take a wife of harlotry to illustrate how far Israel had departed from God.

Hosea 1:3 tells of Gomer becoming the wife of Hosea. She was the daughter of Diblaim.

Scripture goes on to tell of Hosea and Gomer becoming the parents of two boys and a girl.

Answer: Philip

The correct answer is Philip, who is known as Philip the Evangelist to avoid confusion with Philip, one of the original twelve disciples.

The account of Philip being miraculously whisked away from Gaza to Azotus is found in Acts 8:38-40. Based on Bible commentaries found online, Azotus was about 30-40 kilometers (approximately 25-30 miles) north of Gaza.

According to Scripture, Philip had just baptized an Ethiopian eunuch when his miraculous journey took place.

Acts 8:38-40 explains things this way in the NKJV: "And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea."

Answer: Peter

When ever there is a list of names of the twelve disciples, Peter's name always appears first. (See Matthew 10:2, Mark 3:16, Luke 6:14 and Acts 1:13.)

The fact Peter's name always appears first backs up the view of many that he was the leader of the twelve disciples.

For the record, the names of the twelve disciples are divided into three groups of four. The first name is always Peter's in the first group. In the second group, Philip's name always appears first while the third group is led by James, the son of Alphaeus.

Answer: Thomas

Using the NKJV, Thomas is described as a twin, as per John 11:16. In the NIV, he is described as Didymus which means twin in Greek.

However, there is no information in Scripture about Thomas' twin.

Answer: Hannah

Hannah is the correct answer.

According to 1 Samuel 1:8-18, Hannah, who was barren, was fervently praying in the temple to be able to give birth to a child when she was spotted by Eli, the high priest. The passage tells of Hannah silently praying with her lips moving.

While Hannah was experiencing deep distress over being unable to conceive, Eli mistook her actions for being the result of drinking too much wine.

Verses 19 to 28 go on to tell of Hannah giving birth to Samuel, a noted prophet of God.

Answer: Lydia

Going strictly by what is printed in the Bible, Lydia was the first person in Europe to become a follower of Jesus Christ.

According to Scripture, she was in Philippi, a city in Greece, selling purple cloth when she was converted by Paul. Details can be found in Acts 16: 11-15. After her conversion, Scripture tells of her entire household being baptized.

Lydia's hometown was Thyatira, a city in Asia Minior, now part of present day Turkey.

Answer: Simon the Zealot

Simon the Zealot was one of the original twelve disciples but he has the distinction of being mentioned in only name. In other words, he is not quoted in the Bible as saying anything.

A similar distinction falls on James the Less.

In regards to Simon being called a zealot, there is considerable debate about what exactly he was zealous about. No one knows for certain.