Dastardly Deeds Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jezebel

Jezebel was a Phoenician princess who was married to one of the worst kings of Israel, Ahab. They worshiped Baal and Asherah and, in an effort to turn the people away from God, Jezebel had the prophets and the other believers in God persecuted and executed.

The prophet Elijah had presented a challenge to the Baal prophets. Each would build an altar to their respective gods and whoever's god sent fire to burn their offering would be the legitimate god. When nothing happened to the altar of Baal but the altar to God was consumed by fire, Elijah had the spectators kill the prophets of Baal. Jezebel was so enraged that Elijah had to run for fear of death.

Ahab was succeeded by his son Joram. His commander, Jehu, was anointed by the prophet Elisha to march against all of the descendants of Ahab and destroy them in order to take over as king of Israel. The final obstacle before taking the throne was Jezebel. Jehu had her servants throw her out the window and his army's horses trampled her body. Before he was able to have her body buried it was eaten by dogs, leaving only her head and pieces of her body for burial.

Answer: Potiphar's wife

Joseph had been sold to Potiphar as a household slave; however, he gained the trust of Potiphar and was made head of the household. Joseph is described as handsome and well-built, thus catching the eye of Potiphar's wife who had set her sights on seducing him. Unfortunately for Joseph, Potiphar's wife did not take no for an answer and after multiple attempts she became aggressive in her attack. Rushing to get away from her, Joseph ran out of his garment, leaving it in her hands when he ran out of the building. Enraged by his refusal, she called her servants and told them that Joseph had attacked her and that he had ran off when she screamed for help, using the garment she had as proof of the attack. She told that same story to her husband who had Joseph thrown in prison for the attempted rape.

While we know of nothing more about Potiphar's wife, luckily for Joseph, God had bigger plans for him and Joseph ended up as vizier to Pharaoh, the highest position in Egypt at the time.

Answer: Delilah

Samson had been the final judge before Israel instituted the monarchy. He was said to have superhuman strength and had defeated an entire Philistine army with the jawbone of donkey. Samson had fallen in love with Delilah who was approached by the Philistines and offered a large sum of money in order to find out the source of Samson's strength.

The first time she asks he tells her he has to be tied with fresh bowstrings and then he would lose all of his strength. When he falls asleep she ties him up but when she wakes him up telling him the Philistines are there for him, he breaks the bowstrings easily.

The second time Delilah asks Samson tells her he has to be tied up with new ropes that have never been used. She ties him up and again wakes him yelling the Philistines are there for him. Again, he wakes and easily breaks the ropes.

The third time she asks he tells her that his hair has to be braided into the loom and held with a pin. Again he sleeps, she calls, and he breaks free.

Finally, she tells him that since he clearly doesn't trust her with the truth he really doesn't love her. To this, he admits that his strength is in his hair; shave his head and he has no strength. In the night, Delilah has her servant shave his head and the Philistines come and take him away. His eyes are gouged out and he is put into slavery. Unfortunately for the Philistines, nobody thought to keep his head shaved and when his hair grew out, in one final show of strength, Samson pushed the pillars of the temple out, killing himself along with three thousand Philistines who had come to watch his humiliation.

No word is ever mentioned of Delilah again.

Answer: No name is given

Herodias had been married to Herod II when she divorced him and married his half brother Herod Antipas since he was the one in line to ascension. The divorce and subsequent marriage was decried by John the Baptist as unlawful which brought the ire of Herodias. She asked her husband for the execution of John the Baptist but Antipas refused her requests. Antipas had enjoyed listening to John the Baptist's preaching and feared an upheaval by his followers.

Herodias was so driven by her desire for the execution that she instructed her daughter from her first husband, Herod II, to dance for Antipas during his birthday celebration. Completely enthralled by her dance, Antipas swore an oath to give her anything her heart desired. Having plotted with her mother, she requested the head of John the Baptist. Antipas was left with no alternative but to uphold his oath and have John the Baptist executed.

While no name is given to her in the Bible, she is often associated with Salome.

Answer: Lot's daughters

After escaping from Sodom and losing his wife, Lot and his daughters ran to the mountains outside of Zoar. Having seen the destruction of Sodom they were afraid of living in Zoar but the daughters were concerned that with living in the caves they were not going to meet any men so they devised a plan to become pregnant by having sexual relations with their father.

On the first night, after he was thoroughly drunk and not aware of what was going on, the oldest daughter slept with her father and snuck out of his bed before he was aware of what had happened. On the second night and after getting thoroughly drunk, the younger daughter did the same.

The daughters ended up giving birth to sons who were the forefathers of the Moabites and Ammonites.

Answer: Athaliah

Athaliah is not as known or notorious as her mother, Jezebel, but her actions were just as dastardly. Married to Israel's King Jehoram, their rule expanded to include Judah during Jehoram's fifth year as king. After eight years of reigning, Jehoram was killed and a tumultuous period began for Israel and Judah whereas the line of Ahab's succession was removed by Jehu.

Losing Israel and not wanting to lose Judah, Athaliah attempted to kill all of her grandchildren in order to secure her position as queen. One grandson who was only a year old at the time was hidden away to be raised in secret and away from Athaliah's murderous spree. When he was seven years old, Jehoash was declared king and during her attempt to quell an uprising to crown him king, Athaliah was executed.

Answer: Jael

During an exchange between the only female judge and prophet in the Bible, Deborah, and an Israeli military commander, Barak, she had instructed him to go on the offense against the king of Canaan. He had been willing to go but only if Deborah had been willing to go as well and if not, he would not go. Since this was his response to God's call for him, Deborah told Barak that the glory for the defeat of Sisera, the ruthless Canaanite commander leading the king's forces, would go to a woman.

On the battlefield, the Canaanite army was quickly losing and Sisera recognized that he needed to escape in order to save his own life. He jumped out of his chariot and ran by foot, finding the tent of Jael. Since her family was at peace with the king of Canaan, Sisera requested cover figuring he would be safe with her. She accepted him, hid him under a blanket and gave him milk when he was thirsty. When he finally fell asleep, Jael took a tent peg and hammered it into Sisera's head until it was stuck in the ground. When Barak showed up she showed him to Sisera's body.

Answer: Gomer

Gomer had been a promiscuous woman to the point of leaving her husband to pursue multiple other lovers. Unfortunately, living life fast and loose led to financial ruin for her and Gomer had to offer herself into slavery to pay the debts.

Unlike many of the other women in this quiz, Gomer's story ends on an up note as her prophet husband, Hosea, bought her back and welcomed her home.

Answer: Sapphira

This woman is part of a husband and wife act whose dastardly deed may seem small in it's actions against humans but it's no small deed to lie to God.

Sapphira, along with her husband Ananias, had pledged to sell a plot of land and give the entirety of the proceeds to those in need as they had been inspired by the actions of the apostle Barnabas. However, when it came to time hand over the money they held back some of it for themselves; when confronted by Peter about the amount of the sale they lied about it. For their lies to God, they were both immediately struck dead

Answer: Eve

While her act may not be as bad as betrayal, assault, or murder, without Eve's dastardly deed it could arguably be stated that the rest would never have happened. God had given Adam and Eve the ultimate paradise with one caveat -- don't eat of the forbidden fruit. Even though she could have any other fruit from any other tree, Eve gave into temptation and ate of the forbidden fruit and then encouraged Adam to do the same.

This act, many believe, caused their expulsion from the Garden of Eden and planted the seed of original sin that resulted in the despicable actions of the rest of the women in this quiz.