Stories of Genesis People Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lamech

This wasn't a case of one wife after the other, Lamech had two wives at the same time. This gave him the distinction of being the first man to be recorded in the Bible to have two wives (Genesis 4:19). Whether or not he was the first polygamist, however, is not known. What we shouldn't do is though is confuse this information with another Lamech who is named in the subsequent chapter (five) of Genesis. That one, the second Lamech, is a descendant of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve and, from him, would descend one of the Bible's most famous men in Noah.

The first Lamech, the one from chapter four, is the great, great, great, great grandson of Adam and Eve's murderous child Cain. In 4:19 it indicates that Lamech took both Adah and Zillah as wives and, from them, would raise the three boys of Jabal, Jabul and Tubal-cain and a daughter named Naamah.

The Bible does not provide any reasoning as to why Lamech would take two wives, however, nor does it judge him for this. More to the point, it does not condemn him for the action. It should also be noted that a number of significant Biblical leaders also had more than one wife, the most notable among these were Jacob, David and Solomon.

If there is a disturbing feature to Lamech, it arises in Genesis 4:23-24, where he brags to his wives that he has killed a man for striking him. He takes this a step further to state that if Cain's revenge was seven-fold, then his own was seventy seven-fold.

Answer: Jubal

Jubal gets a single mention in the Bible. He is the son of Lamech and Adah and he has a brother named Jabal. He also has a half-brother (Tubal-cain) and half -sister (Naamah), the offspring of Lamech and Zillah.

He is the first musician mentioned in the Bible, though his descriptions vary slightly, depending on the source:
In NRSV, he's described as "the ancestor of all those who play the lyre and pipe", in KJV he's "the father of all such as handle the harp and organ" and in NIV he's "the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes". In some sources, he is even credited with being the inventor of the flute.

(Footnote 1) Possibly the most interesting feature here is that this is one of the earliest mentions of the rise of creativity of man in the Bible, only several generations after Adam and Eve.

(Footnote 2) Jabal, Jubal's brother, is said to be "the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle." This would indicate that he was possibly nomadic and was a shepherd of sorts.

Answer: Tubal-cain

Why Tubal-cain is blessed with two names is not clear. Some have speculated that "Cain" was added to indicate a descendant of Cain and to distinguish him for Tubal, the son of Japheth. Another is that the term "Cain" stands for "smith". To add to the confusion, depending on the text you read, his name is recorded differently. For example, KJV records him as Tubalcain, NIV as Tubal-cain and the Latin Vulgate as Thubalcain.

Tubal-cain is one of the three sons of Lamech. Unlike his step-brothers Jabal and Jubal, whose mother was Adah, Tubal-cain's mother was Zillah. Adding efficacy to the thought that "cain" means smith, he is recorded in the Bible as the first blacksmith. T.C. Mitchell, in the "New Bible Dictionary" (1962) indicates that he may have discovered the "possibilities of cold forging". He has also been described as the Bible's first chemist in some quarters.

This raises some interesting possibilities and questions about Lamech and his children. Tubal-cain has been described as the first blacksmith and Jubal as the father of music. This would indicate a level of industriousness and creativity amongst Lamech and his family, not shown by those before him. It would also indicate that they had access to resources and may well have been a family of substance.

There is also a darker speculation at play here. In the next verses (Genesis 4:23-24) Lamech will boast about killing a man, which leads one to speculate that, as he is a descendant of Cain, has the family inherited that same bloodlust and has that same energy been the driving force in Tubal-cain's blacksmithing innovations, a means to develop a superior set of weaponry?

Answer: Melchizedek

Melchizedek is one of the most mysterious characters in Genesis, but before we speak of him, we need to set the scene. Chapter 14 in Genesis is all action and adventure. It contains the first war in the Bible, but it really (only) gets a mention, because it tells of Lot's presence in Sodom. Sodom is sacked and looted, and Lot is kidnapped. Abraham is now left with the choice; does he let Lot go or does he intervene. He chooses the latter and defeats the mighty Chedorlaomer and the forces of the kings of the east.

Upon his return he is greeted by two kings; the King of Sodom and Melchizedek, the King of Salem. The narrative indicates that Melchizedek is the one that makes the first move toward Abraham. Here we find out that he is also a high priest, and he delivers to Abraham a blessing from God. He also presents Abraham with an offering of bread and wine, which is considered to be a royal feast and a token of goodwill and generosity. In return, Abraham presents him with one tenth of his takings/plunder.

The chapter then takes the opportunity to contrast Melchizedek with the King of Sodom. The latter demands his people back and advises Abraham that he can keep all the possessions he managed to plunder. To him this was a straight-forward business transaction and, in his eyes, the better of the two offerings to Abraham. He simply has no idea of the depth of Melchizedek's generosity.

There are a couple of interesting speculations on Melchizedek that I will put forward here, but their elaboration is a question for another day. There is a notion that Melchizedek was Jesus Christ, sent to Earth early to complete a specific task before his forthcoming announced arrival. The other is that Melchizedek was the first King of Jerusalem and that Salem was merely an abbreviation of the name of Israel's eventual capital city.

Answer: Hagar

In some texts Hagar is referred to as a handmaiden to Sarah, in others the term slave is used. Slave appears to be a strong term, especially when viewed in today's context. Closer to the truth may be that Hagar was in indentured servitude to Sarah.

In the previous chapter of Genesis (fifteen) Abraham is promised a heir but the clock is ticking. Abraham is pushing 80 years of age and Sarah is 70. She is also losing faith in God's promise of a heir and so she cooks up plan B. She offers Hagar to Abram but on the condition that any children she bears will be hers (Sarah's). It was all well and good in theory but Sarah's attitude towards Hagar changed the moment the lass became pregnant. Treated harshly Hagar takes off into the wilderness to live alone. The Lord finds her there and instructs her to return and to submit to Sarah, but he also makes a startling revelation to her. That is, that her son to be, Ishmael, will not be the child that he promised to Abraham, but that Ishmael will have a host of children that will become the basis of a great nation.

Genesis does not indicate how Hagar came to be in Sarah's service but there is speculation that she may have been part of the retinue she obtained when she was the wife of the Pharaoh in Genesis 12:10-20.

Answer: Abimelech

This is the second time that Abraham uses this ploy. The first occasion was when he'd shifted his family to Egypt because his home town had been stricken by famine. The issue for him was Sarah's extreme beauty. The big deal about that was that other men might desire her for a wife and would kill Abraham so that the door became open for them to do so. If Sarah were to say that she was his sister, which was half true as she was his half-sister (same father, different mother) then suitors would approach him as her brother for permission to marry, which he would then decline. (See Genesis 12:12 and 20:12 KJV).

Just like in Egypt, the plan backfired in Gerar where Abimelech, as ruler, simply took her for his wife. Once again, just like in Egypt, God had to step in to rectify the situation for Abraham. First he made Abimelech extremely sick and then he appeared to the King and advised him that he was going to die because he had taken a married woman. Abimelech pleaded that he had no clue and that, as yet, he had not slept with her. God then instructed Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham and have him (Abraham) pray for him.

This incident proved to be a valuable lesson for Abraham whose actions here, despite having witnessed the great power of God in recent times, were made out of fear and faithlessness.

Answer: Ham

Chapter ten of Genesis is often called the "Table of Nations" and it provides a listing of Noah's sons and their immediate descendants and, in the same motion, the origins of the nations of the ancient world. Noah had three sons in Japheth, Ham and Shem, in that order.

Ham's first generation of sons was made up of Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. They would all help to build mighty nations. Whilst Canaan was cursed (see below), his line would give rise to the Canaanites and their land would become the Promised Land for Abraham's descendants. Ham's line would create nations in the Middle East. Among these would be Mizraim's which was also known as Egypt.

One of the most familiar stories that involved Ham was the curse (Genesis 9:22-27). Erroneously known as Ham's curse, the hex was actually aimed at his youngest son, Canaan. The event occurred after the Great Flood. Noah had built himself a great vineyard and then became inebriated upon its fruits, collapsing naked in his tent. Ham looks inside the tent and then informs his brothers about seeing his father in a naked and drunken state. This doesn't sound like a big deal but Noah's reaction upon waking seems to suggest otherwise. He rages at Ham for what he has done to him and, as retribution, condemns Ham's son Canaan to be subservient to the descendants of Shem and Japheth. Pretty harsh for something that, on the surface, appears to be a case of embarrassment. This has made scholars question as to whether or not there was more to the story than we're being told.

Answer: Keturah

Tradition would dictate that Abraham took Keturah as his wife after Sarah had died but this is not recorded with any certainty in Genesis. Some have argued that, considering Abraham's age (140 years old at the time) and the fact that he had six children with Keturah, that there is a good chance he married her before Sarah died. At the very least, relations were had. 1 Chronicles 1:32, tends to muddy these waters a little by advising that Keturah was Abraham's concubine.

Keturah would be the mother to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah, none of whom would receive the same covenants from God that were afforded to Abraham and Isaac. For his part, Abraham lived to be 175 and was buried in the family cave at Machpelah, alongside Sarah.

Answer: Dinah

Genesis 34:1 describes Jacob shifting his rather large family to the city of Shechem, which is located in Canaan. At this time, his sons are all men. We only ever hear of the one daughter, Dinah. That doesn't mean that Jacob didn't have other daughters, it is just that scripture only tends to name the people that are crucial to the story. In this instance Dinah, the daughter of the unloved wife Leah, is crucial, not only to the story but the history of Jacob's family.

Dinah had established a social network in Shechem and was walking to meet with them when she callously attacked and raped by the city's prince, the son of Hamor, who was also known as Shechem. Hamor and his son then presented themselves before Jacob and his sons. Shechem, who shows no remorse for his actions, professes his love for Dinah and requests her hand in marriage. Jacob's sons meet the request, initially, with deceit and later with violence.

They agree to the request on the condition that the men of the city are circumcised. Once the deed is done and the city's men are recovering from the ordeal, Jacob's sons lead an assault on the city and slaughter all of its men.

Answer: Moab

I wanted to open this paragraph with the statement that Lot had two daughters, however, there is conjecture amongst scholars that he may have had four daughters, two married and two that were betrothed. This story concerns the latter whom Genesis describes as virgins. Lot, his wife and these two daughters were living in the depraved city of Sodom. After an incident where the menfolk of Sodom attempted to rape two angels that had come to visit Lot, the family fled the city as God rained sulphur and fire on it, with the aim of destroying it. Lot's wife, famously, looked back and turned to salt and the girl's prospective husbands were destroyed along with Sodom.

Lot and the girls fled to the town of Zoar but, fearing that the same fate awaited this city that was rendered upon Sodom, Lot fled to a cave in the hills. This is where panic set in for the girls. They saw themselves as the last people on Earth, that they would never have husbands, nor would they bear children. Sodom must have been a bad influence on them because the plan they came up with was a shocker. On consecutive nights, they got their father so drunk he had no idea what was happening, then, while he was in this state, the girls had sex with him and became impregnated.

The eldest daughter (their names are not mentioned) would give birth to a son named Moab. He would become the leader of the Moabites who would become great enemies of the Israelites. The younger daughter would also have a son, named Ammon (or Ben-ammi in some sections), who would become the leader of the Ammonites and they too would be extremely unfriendly with the Israelites.