A Quick Look at In-Laws in the Bible Quiz

Answer: Rebekah

Rebekah was the sister-in-law of Ishmael. She became his sister-in-law when she married Ishmael's brother Issac.

The father of Ishmael and Isaac was Abraham. However, the two boys had different mothers. According to Scripture, Hagar was the mother of Ishmael while Sarah was the mother of Isaac. Hagar was Sarah's handmaiden, but Sarah gave permission to Abraham to sleep with her when she was unable to conceive. Later, Sarah would miraculously become the mother of Isaac.

Answer: Talmai, king of Geshur

Due to the fact David had a number of wives, he had a large number of in-laws. One of his fathers-in-law was Talmai, king of Geshur. According to 1 Chronicles 3:2, Talmai was the father of David's wife Maacah. The same verse states Maacah was the mother of Absalom.

Little is known about Talmai as he is mentioned in passing reference, like most of the fathers-in-law of David.

Answer: David

Johnathan was more than David's best friend. He became David's brother-in-law when his sister Michal married David. Details about the marriage of David can be found in 1 Samuel 18:17-27.

Even though Jonathan would've been in line to replace his father as king, he was the best of friends with David, the man who would eventually become king of Israel. In fact, their friendship was perhaps unlike any other in the Old Testament. 1 Samuel 18:1, in the NKJV Bible, describes their friendship this way: "After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself." Had it not been for Jonathan, Saul might had been successful in his insatiable quest to have David killed.

Answer: Rachel

Rachel, the wife of Jacob, is the correct answer. Esau was the slightly older twin brother of Jacob and Rachel became his sister-in-law when she married Jacob.
Issac and Rebekah were the parents of Esau and Jacob.

However, Scripture states Jacob favored Esau while Rebekah favored Jacob and this led to problems in later life.

Answer: Zipporah

Zipporah, the wife of Moses, is the correct answer. Miriam was the sister of Moses and when he married Zipporah they became sisters-in-law.

Zipporah was the mother of two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. According to the second chapter of Exodus, Moses met Zipporah after he fled to Midian. He fled there after he killed an unnamed Egyptian man who was beating a Hebrew. According to the Website Christiananswers.net, Zipporah means a female bird in Hebrew.

Answer: Hannah

Hannah was the mother-in-law of Samuel's unnamed wife. It is known Samuel was married as 1 Samuel 8:2 states he was the father of Joel and Abijah.

Similar to a number of other women in the Christian Bible, Hannah was barren for the longest time before being able to miraculously conceive. (Some of the other women who were in similar circumstances were Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel in the Old Testament and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, in the New Testament.)

Answer: Joseph

Joseph was the son-in-law of Poti-Pherah, priest of On, the father of Asenath. According to Genesis 46:20, Joseph and Asenath were the parents of Manasseh and Ephraim.

Poti-Pherah is mentioned in only passing reference. In the NIV he is known as Potiphera and in the KJV as Potipherah.

Answer: Orpah

Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, was Orpah's father-in-law, however, not much is known about him as he is mentioned in passing reference.

According to Ruth 1:2, Elimelek and his wife Naomi were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. They were the parents of two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, who married Orpah and Ruth, two Moabite women. (In the NIV, Chilion is known as Kilion.) Orpah was married to Chilion and Ruth was the wife of Mahlon.

According to Ruth 1:3-5, Elimelek and his two sons died, leaving Naomi, Orpah and Ruth as widows. No details are given about the causes of the deaths of the three men.

Answer: Shechaniah

According to Nehemiah 6:18, Tobiah was an Ammonite official who was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, the son of Arah, and many in Judah "were pledged to him". According to the Book of Nehemiah, Tobiah did everything in his power to impede Nehemiah's efforts to rebuild a wall around Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.

Answer: Caiphas

According to John 18:13, Annas was the father-in-law of Caiphas, the high priest. Scripture states Jesus appeared before both men after His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.

John 18:12-14 in the NIKJV states: "Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him. And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year. Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people."

Scripture goes on to tell of Jesus being humiliated, ruthlessly beaten, tortured and crucified, only to rise triumphantly from the dead three days later.