Stories from Sunday School Trivia Quiz

The story of David and Goliath occurs in 1 Samuel 17.

In a nutshell, a young David is sent by his father to the site of the Israelite army where they are facing off against the Philistines. Purportedly there to bring food to his brothers, serving with the Israelite forces, David witnesses the Philistine champion (the gigantic Goliath) goading the Israelites, and demanding that they send someone out to face him.

Soon after arriving, David learns that King Saul is looking for someone, as told in verse 25: "And the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel.""

When David went to the King to offer himself for the task, Saul's response was dismissive (verse 33): "And Saul said to David, 'You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.'"

But David convinced him with his zeal and his trust in the Lord Almighty. Saul tried to dress David in armour, but nothing fit, so David went to face Goliath with nothing but his own clothes and a sling with five stones. The results are recorded in verses 48 and 49: "When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground."

The Ascension of Jesus is described in Acts 1:6-11.

After his ministry on Earth, Jesus was crucified and buried, then raised after three days. According to the biblical account, Jesus appeared a number of times after his resurrection, which culminated with his ascending to heaven in view of many followers:

'So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."'

Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:1-43.

As Jesus and his disciples were travelling from Judea to Galilee, they had to go through Samaria, which was a region generally shunned by Jews. They stopped at the town of Sychar, and Jesus stopped to rest at a well. While he rested, a Samarian woman approached, and Jesus asked her for a drink. Shocked that a Jewish man would ask a Samaritan woman for anything, she questioned him about it. His response is recorded in verses 10 to 15:

"Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock." Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.""

In further conversation, Jesus revealed knowledge of the woman that there was no way he could know, other than supernaturally, and told her that he was, indeed, the Messiah. The woman went to tell everyone in the town about her experience, and Jesus and his disciples stayed there for two days, preaching and teaching, before continuing their journey.

Samson destroys the Philistines at the end of Judges 16.

The story of Samson, one of the judges of Israel before they chose Saul to be their first king, is told from Judges 13 to 16. And even before he became a judge, the Lord had set him apart for great things:

Before he was born, Samson's parents had a message from an angel (13:3-5): 'And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines."'

Samson grew to have great strength, and became a scourge to the Philistines, who were ruling over the Israelites at the time. When Samson became smitten with Delilah, the Philistines used her to learn the secret of Samson's strength (his long, uncut hair). When she betrayed him, Samson was taken captive, his eyes were gouged out, and he was put to manual labour in prison. But then his hair began to grow back.

When the lord of the Philistines threw a party to celebrate their victory, he brought out Samson to 'entertain' the crowd of over 3,000 people (including all of the Philistine lords). Samson took the opportunity for revenge in chapter 16:28-30:

"Then Samson called to the Lord and said, "O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes." And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life."

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse appear in Revelation 6:1-8.

The Book of Revelation was revealed to John, one of Jesus' disciples, when he was exiled on the island of Patmos (in the Aegean Sea). Amongst the many visions John wrote about was a description of the Apocalypse. Seven seals are opened by the Lamb, and behind the first four of the seals were each of the four horsemen:

"Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!"

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth."

The story of Noah's Ark appears in Genesis 6 and 7.

Genesis 6:5-7 explains the reason behind God's decision to flood the Earth: "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.'"

God found one man who was righteous - Noah - and he gave instructions to build an ark to save himself and his family. Plus a little bit more, as described in verses 19 and 20: "And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive."

After the rains came down for 40 days and nights, the Ark floated until the waters began to recede (150 more days), and it came to rest upon a mountaintop. Noah and his family (and all of the animals) disembarked, and life began anew on the Earth. And the Lord made a new covenant with Noah, as described in Genesis 9:12-17:

'And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."'

The story of Daniel in the Lion's Den is found in Daniel 6.

Daniel was among the Hebrews in exile in Babylon, living under the rule of King Darius. As a young man, he distinguished himself as an honest and upright, hardworking leader, and Darius appointed him to an important position in his government. Unfortunately, this led to jealousy amongst his peers (verses 3 and 4):

"Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him."

What they WERE able to do, however, was force Daniel to have to choose between loyalties, knowing that he would choose the God of the Hebrews over anything else. These men convinced King Darius to make a law forbidding prayer to anyone other than the king, himself. Breaking this law meant that the offender would be thrown into the lion's den. And, of course, Daniel dutifully prayed to his God, and he was caught.

Thus, Daniel was cast into the lion's den, and it became an opportunity for God's glory to be revealed, as Daniel was protected from harm. In the morning, Darius came to the lion's den to see what had happened to his trusted servant, and found him alive (verses 22 and 23):

"'My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.' Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God."

The telling of Moses being set adrift in a basket is found in Exodus chapter 2.

The background to this choice is found in Exodus 1, where we learn that the pharaoh has become concerned with the number of Hebrews living in Egypt (verses 9 and 10): "And he said to his people, 'Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.'"

And the way that the pharaoh chose to do this was to order the deaths of any boys born to Hebrew women (verse 22): "Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, 'Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.'"

In chapter 2, we learn that Moses' mother hid him for the first three months of his life, and when she could no longer do so, she put him in a basket and set him adrift in the Nile River. His older sister watched to see what happened (verses 5-10):'
"Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." So the girl went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, "Because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."'

The Nativity scene is only described in one of the Gospels - Luke chapter 2, to be specific.

While both Matthew and Luke describe the circumstance around the birth of Jesus, the book of Matthew describes the arrival of the wise men, and not the shepherds.

Luke 2:6,7 sets the scene: "And while they were there [Bethlehem], the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn."

And then we see a group of shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem, and they are visited by a host of angels, announcing the birth (verses 11 and 12): "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."

The shepherds could not sit still on this news, so they went to investigate (verses 15 to 18): "When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them."

The story of Jonah and the Whale is found in the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament (in chapter 1).

Jonah, a prophet of the Lord, was given a task by God to deliver a message of condemnation to the Assyrian city of Nineveh. But Jonah, knowing that God might show mercy if the Ninevites repented (and he didn't like that possibility), tried to run in the opposite direction (verse 3): "But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord."

As you might imagine, God wasn't about to let that defiance go, so he sent a storm to endanger the ship. The sailors figured out that Jonah was the reason for their peril, and Jonah told them how to resolve the situation (verses 11 to 15):

"Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?" For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you." Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, "O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you." So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging."

The Lord sent a great fish to swallow Jonah up, and eventually spit him out after three days and nights - but only after Jonah repented of his disobedience.