From A Different Perspective - Who Am I? Quiz

Answer: Judas Iscariot

My name was Judas, and I was from the town of Kerioth, so my "name" became known as Judas Iscariot or Ish-Kerioth, which more or less indicates "from Kerioth". My most infamous action (and most highly questioned as far as personal motivations are concerned) involves what many people view as my betrayal of the Christ: Jesus of Nazareth. Even though he chose me to be one of his disciples, most people believe that I deliberately aided in having him arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, as told in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22. My reputation is absolutely shot, and anyone who ever gets referred to as a "Judas" knows EXACTLY what is meant by that insult!

Answer: Boaz

My name was Boaz and I'm the man who married the widow, Ruth. Our son, Obed, was the father of Jesse, who in turn was the father of David and the grandfather of Solomon. In Solomon's temple there stood two posts. One of them bore the name "Jachin", meaning, "He will establish"; while the other bore my name, "Boaz", meaning "In Him is strength".

In 1st Kings 7:21, the King James Version says of King Solomon; "And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz."

Answer: Simon Peter

I was known alternately as Peter, Simon Peter, Simon Bar-jonah (meaning son of Jonah), and Cephas (pronounced "Kee-phas"). I was the brother of the very first man that Jesus chose to be one of his disciples, Andrew. When he brought me to meet Jesus then I too, became a disciple of His.

In the 16th chapter of Matthew, verses 16-17, (KJV) a verbal exchange between Peter and Jesus is recorded in which Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was and Peter's response reads this way:

"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."

Just a few verses later, however, we see that Jesus explained to them the manner of his death, and how he was destined to suffer and give his life, and ultimately be resurrected. Peter is found to respond negatively to that statement, and in verses 22-23 we see:

"Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."

Answer: Bathsheba

My name was Bathsheba, and at first (in 2 Samuel 11) I was the wife of Uriah, who was a commander in king David's army. Imagine my surprise and dismay when the king insisted on pursuing me and then currying my favor after he more or less caused the death of my husband! Afterwards, however, we were married and our first little boy died shortly after his birth. Talk about serious traumas!

Our second-born son, Solomon, survived and became the third king of Israel after his father David died.

Answer: Sarah

Sarah was the first wife of Abraham. Her handmaid, Hagar, became the mother of Ishmael (Genesis 16), while Sarah became the mother of Isaac later (Genesis 21). After Sarah's death, Abraham married a woman named Keturah, and she was the mother of several more of Abraham's children.

Answer: Timothy

Timothy was a young man who had been brought up in faith by his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois. The apostle Paul had written two letters of encouragement as he mentored the young preacher, Timothy, in his ministry. These two books are now known as the New Testament books of 1st and 2nd Timothy.

Answer: Elijah

Elijah was a hairy man, as evidenced in 2 Kings 2:8 - "And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite."

Elijah might be thought of in a sense as a kind of "sudden" prophet. From the time he first appeared on the scene in 1 Kings 17, confronting the wicked king of Israel, Ahab, until the time of his removal in a whirlwind from the face of the earth, Elijah had a way of suddenly appearing, and then just as quickly vanishing from sight.

All through his years of prophecy, he was imbued with powers that were bestowed upon him, not by some 'magical' act nor by any volition of his own will, but by seemingly supernatural forces at work. Notice this particular account involving Elijah's prophecy of a three-year drought, which was later followed finally by a most welcome appearance of rain, as written in 1 Kings 18 (King James Version).

"And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel."

(In my humble opinion, any man who can outrun a horse-drawn chariot simply MUST have a special blessing from God bestowed upon him!)

Answer: Jonah

Jonah was a prophet who was sent to preach a message of repentance to the inhabitants of Nineveh. Jonah, of course, disobeyed because he just didn't want God to forgive them. After all, they were barbaric in their actions and were truly enemies of Jonah's people, the Israelites. Understandably, at least from a completely human point of view, Jonah did not want to see God's mercy extended to these people who had enjoyed impaling people on stakes and torturing men, women and children alike.

God had other ideas, though, such as demonstrating His mercy to all peoples, so He gave Jonah a choice; either suffer suffocation and a miserable death in the belly of a sea creature OR go preach a message of repentance to the Ninevites. Long story short - Jonah went and preached a very short but extremely effectual message.

"Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown."

That was all it took. All the people as one body repented of their deeds and God spared the city, for a time, until they resumed their evil ways about 70 or so years later. He then allowed complete destruction of the whole place because they had returned to their former sins.

(See the books of Micah, Jonah and Nahum for the COMPLETE story.)

Answer: Mary

Mary was the mother of Jesus. While many Christians believe that she and Joseph had other children, (Matthew 13:55-56 and John 7:3-10), they also believe that Jesus was the eldest and His father was the God of heaven. An angel had announced his pending birth to his mother, and that is about the point that her life-long reflections concerning him began.

Mary was the reason that Jesus's first miracle was performed when it was. That miracle involved Him turning water into wine at the wedding festival in Cana (John 2), and even though Jesus did not feel that this was the proper time for Him to begin his ministry, he was nonetheless obedient to His mother's wishes.

The texts in Matthew and John read as follows, in the King James Version:

Matthew 13:55-56 "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?"

John 7:3-10 "His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.
For neither did his brethren believe in him.
Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come. When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.
But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret."

Answer: Matthew

Matthew was a despised Jewish tax collector who worked for the Roman occupation armies of Palestine, during the time of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. It wasn't just the fact that Matthew collected taxes from his fellow-citizens, the Israelites, and turned them over to Roman authorities: that was bad enough, but as a tax collector, he was entitled to a little 'graft' from time to time. Rome fully anticipated the effect of allowing some money to trickle into the pockets of those who collected it. In fact, it was such a common practice that they had developed rather casual attitudes about such avarice. Essentially it was okay or even advisable to allow men to abuse the system (within limits), because it ensured with almost certainty that more and more Israelites would be taxed and thus the tax collector's loyalty to the Roman occupation would become even more pronounced.

Consider for a moment; if Rome had punished all who operated in a financially greedy way, there would have existed a resentment on the part of the collectors. If, on the other hand, they were allowed a controlled amount of thievery, they would be willing to collect even more!

Matthew later left his job as a tax collector for Rome and went on to write one of the gospels, a "good news" account of the life of Jesus. Some speculate that the book of Mark was written prior to Matthew, and therefore it may have likely been used in part for the composition of the book of Matthew.

The book of Matthew, however, goes into so much more detail on many of the points made in the text, that it is a relatively veritable "fountain of knowledge" in its own right.