Here Come the Judges, Here Come the Judges Quiz

Answer: Caleb

You may recall Caleb from the book of Numbers where he, Joshua, and ten other spies went to check out Canaan. Ten of the spies (who are named but are not remembered) showed a great lack of faith in God when giving their report to Moses. Caleb and Joshua were the only two who said Canaan could be conquered.

This same Caleb is described as being related to Othniel. Judges 1:13 describes Othniel as "son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother." Authorities disagree as to whether this means that it is Kenaz (whose name means hunter) or Othniel (whose name means the hour of God) who is the younger brother of Caleb. So Caleb might be his uncle, or he might be his brother.


Question submitted by Ilona_Ritter.

Answer: They wept or cried.

The Angel or Messenger of the LORD (whom many Christians believe was the second member of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Word of God) spoke to the Israelites and told them how He brought them out of Egyptian slavery. He reminded them how He asked them to not make a treaty with the Canaanites, but they didn't obey Him. God told the Israelites that because they disobeyed Him, He wouldn't force the people out and their gods would become a trap for the Israelites. When they heard the words of the holy God, they wept because they were ashamed and remorseful.

John Trapp, in his Judges 2 commentary on studylight.org, puts it this way:
"Ver. 4. The people lifted up their voice, and wept.] Thus they were wrought upon by the word preached, even unto tears; as were likewise David, Josiah, Hezekiah, Magdalen, Peter. So these hearers of his 'were pricked at heart,' [Acts 2:37] and Paul's at Ephesus wept sore. [Acts 20:37] Few such to be seen in our congregations: some, as they say of witches, cannot weep. The enemy, when he hath stopt the wells and stayed the watercourses of a town, hath good hope to take it. So hath Satan remorseless souls."

The Israelites named the area where the Angel of the LORD appeared to them "Bochim", which means "those who cry", according to the Names of God (NOG) translation.

Question submitted by Ceduh

Answer: A prostitute

Judges 11:1-3, the Living Bible (TLB): "Now Jephthah was a great warrior from the land of Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute. His father (whose name was Gilead) had several other sons by his legitimate wife, and when these half brothers grew up, they chased Jephthah out of the country.
'You son of a whore!' they said. 'You'll not get any of our father's estate.'
So Jephthah fled from his father's home and lived in the land of Tob. Soon he had quite a band of malcontents as his followers, living off the land as bandits."

The chapter goes on to state that after a while, the elders of Gilead (his brothers, I presume) asked Jephthah to be their army commander. They were in a war with the Ammonites. Jepthtah questioned their motives at first, but then they made an agreement before God. He successfully led their army.

Some translations, such as the New King James Version (NKJV), use "harlot." In addition to the TLB, other translations that use the exact word "prostitute" include the Amplified Bible (AMP), the Christian Standard Bible (CSB), the English Standard Version (ESV), and the Names of God Bible (NOG), to name a few. Although "harlot" and "prostitute" are synonyms, there is apparently a distinction because a "harlot" is any promiscuous woman--she may or may NOT get paid for it--while a "prostitute" is a woman who has sex for money.

Question submitted by Ceduh

Answer: The Jebusites

The city of Jerusalem was in the territory allotted to the tribe of Benjamin, but according to Judges chapter 1 the Benjaminites couldn't drive the Jebusites out. The Jebusites continued to live there with the Benjaminites "to this day", according to the writer. The city was eventually taken much later by King David (1 Chronicles 11 vv 4, 5).


Question submitted by Watchkeeper

Answer: The Scripture doesn't mention her name

For whatever reason, the Bible doesn't mention the name of Samson's mother. It simply refers to her as Manoah's wife. The Bible includes several "nameless" people, but I don't really like describing them that way, because I believe that they had names. If we believe the Bible to be true (and we at the Bible Believers Brigade do, although we know that not everyone agrees) then we realize that these people must have had names, but the Bible simply doesn't include their names.

Manoah's wife was one of multiple women who were originally infertile, but then miraculously conceived. The Messenger of the LORD (most translations use "Angel", but the Hebrew word means "Messenger") appeared to her and told her that she would bear a son, Samson.

The same divine man also appeared to Manoah and, while he didn't realize it at first, Manoah later realized that he and his wife saw a human manifestation of God. "Then Manoah knew that this had been the Messenger of Yahweh. So Manoah said to his wife, 'We will certainly die because we have seen Elohim [God].'" (Judges 13:22, Names of God Bible).

Question submitted by Ceduh

Answer: Jar and torch

Gideon faced a vast army of Midianites and Amalekites in the Valley of Jezreel with 300 men. He divided his force into three divisions and had them surround the enemy camp by night. Each man carried a pottery jar with a burning torch inside and a ram's horn trumpet (shofar) with the instruction to do what Gideon did. When the men were in position, Gideon smashed his jar, took the flaming torch in his left hand, blew the trumpet in his right hand and shouted "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!" All his men did the same, the enemy panicked and fled. The account is in Judges chapter 7.

Each modern-day Gideon wears a lapel badge depicting a white clay jar with the red flame from the burning torch inside emerging from its mouth.


Question submitted by Watchkeeper

Answer: Hammered a tent-peg through his skull

Sisera had fled the battle when it turned against him and arrived at Heber's tent exhausted. Jael took him in, gave him a drink of milk and covered him with a rug. Sisera asked her to stand watch and fell asleep. While he slept, she seized the opportunity and "Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died" (Judges 4 v 21 ESV).


Question submitted by Watchkeeper

Answer: Jair

Jair was from Gilead. It is a mountainous region in Jordan. Jair means he enlightens or enlightener. He belonged to the tribe of Manessah.

Submitted by Ilona_Ritter.

Answer: An unnamed man

Verse 19 of chapter 16 tells us "So she [Delilah] enticed him to fall asleep on her lap, called for a man to shave off his seven locks of hair from his head, and so began to humiliate him. Then his strength abandoned him." (International Standard Version)

Each Philistine official paid 1,100 silver coins to Delilah for this dastardly deed. Unfortunately, we're not told how many officials there were, so we don't know who cut the hair or how much Delilah was paid in total (verses 5 and 18 of the same chapter).


Question submitted by Watchkeeper

Answer: That which was right in his own eyes

The people in Judges had forgotten all that Joshua had taught them as the peers of Joshua had passed away. They did what they wanted, including marrying into other cultures which God explicitly told them not to do.

Submitted by Ilona_Ritter