Bible Parents and Grandparents Quiz

Answer: Athaliah

My grandmother Athaliah was absolutely evil! She was the daughter of the former King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, so they were my great-grandparents. They were not known for being overly-kind people either, so it came as no surprise to anyone that their daughter turned out like she did. All of her actions were designed by her to ensure that SHE would sit on the throne of Israel, but some other people who protected me had other plans of their own. Eventually, I became the king, and I was only 7 years old at the time! I tried to be a good king, and for as long as the high priest, my uncle Jehoiada was alive, I did well.

When he died though, I listened to some bad ideas from my advisers and did some things that were very wrong, including encouraging the people to worship false gods. My reign over the nation of Israel lasted for a total of 16 years.

Answer: Cush, Ham and Noah

My father's name was Cush; my grandfather was Ham, and HIS father was Noah, the man who had built the ark before the Great Flood had come. My name can either mean "rebellious one" or "valiant one". Both aspects of my personality can be found in either translation of my name. I was quite a bit rebellious against God and I was a mighty hunter.

Later, I extended this empire northward along the Tigris River region and founded a second group of capitals; Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah and Resen.

Answer: Jonathan and Saul

King David, who was a truly great friend of my father, Jonathan, once rewarded me handsomely. The usual practice in those days was to put a king's descendants to death, so that they wouldn't try to overthrow the throne of the new ruler, but the newly anointed king David didn't do that at all. David had become the new king of Israel upon the deaths of my dad and the previous king named Saul, who had been my grandfather.

I was lame in both of my feet due to an accident that occurred while I was just an infant. King David did NOT have me killed, as was the custom of our day. Instead, he HONORED a promise that he had made to his best friend in life; my daddy, Jonathan.

Even though my grandfather (King Saul) had tried to kill David on a number of occasions (mostly out of jealousy), my father and David remained friends forever. In fact, my daddy once protected David from a fit of rage that my grandfather threw, and helped David escape with his life.

Answer: Eunice and Lois

"When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also."

The apostle Paul wrote this epistle (or letter) to me personally. He knew my folks, at least my mom and grandma. My dad was not Jewish like them; he was Greek, and I'm not really sure exactly what happened to him, but they raised me to believe in God. My daddy may have died or just disappeared one day, but my Mama and Grandma made SURE that I was raised right in God's Word!

Answer: Zebedee

Many Biblical scholars believe that our mother was called Salome, because of scriptures in Mark 15:40 and Matthew 27:56).

Jesus once called us the "sons of Thunder" (Boanerges). This may have been because our dad, Zebedee, was a man with a loud voice, or it may have been because WE had such loud voices. Our mama, Salome, was probably the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus, so she may have felt that a "family" favor might be in order. Jesus agreed with her, up to a point, but NOT in the way she might have imagined. The account in Matthew 20:20-23 puts the incident and His answer to us all this way:

"Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father."

Answer: Seth and Adam

Enos was the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam.

In the King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 4:25-26 reads this way:

"And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD."

(Note that men began to "call upon the name of the Lord", in the last verse. This may imply that men began to pray to God in a manner of public worship or it may mean that they began to call themselves by the name of the Lord in an effort to distinguish themselves from the "ungodly" people that they lived among.)

Answer: Uzziah and Jerusha

My dad was king Uzziah and my mom was Jerusha. Funny thing about my mother's name - it meant "married to" or "taken as a possession of". Well, she WAS married to my dad, so I guess that makes sense. His name meant something like "strength of the Lord".

My dad became the king of Judah when he was only sixteen years old! He reigned for a long time; fifty-two years, to be exact. One day, though, he thoroughly messed up and decided to act like a priest instead of a king. The priests tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen. For his error in judgment, God struck him down with leprosy, a terrible skin disease. I became king in his place.

Lesson learned by my father, even if he was too late in learning it -
Never, ever, ever try to do the job of God's holy priest if you are not qualified to fill the office; whether you are the king or not.

Answer: Mahalath

I know, (sigh).

This all sounds so complicated, but aren't all families like that? Your cousin and your nephew may have the same name, but one of them is on your mom's side and one of them is on your dad's? Or maybe your sister likes someone on your aunt's cousin's side of the family? Way back then, nearly everyone was related, much more closely than we are today, because there were simply less people on the planet. If you stop and think about it, everybody on the earth is STILL related to everyone else, just more distantly now. So, the red people, the yellow people, the white people, the brown people, and the black people are ALL kin to each other because we all belong to the human Family Tree and God loves each of us alike!

Answer: Mary

Yes, that would be MARY MARK. Interesting initials, kind of like Eminem, huh? Rhoda was just a young visitor to her house, and in her excitement or fear, she didn't even open the gate to let Peter in!
(Maybe she was just a bit scatter-brained, like me sometimes.)

She did at least have the presence of mind to let others know about it, though, and the grown men she told were skeptical of her tale. (Maybe they were a bit scatter-brained too!)

Anyway, my mother had a brother named Barnabas, who had traveled around with the apostle Paul on his early missionary journeys. Barnabas was kind of a nickname for him; since his real name was Joseph.

(Not much is known about my dad.)

Answer: Isaiah

Mahershalalhashbaz has a meaning that is close to "Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey". This was God's way of saying the following, as found in Isaiah 8:3-4.

"...Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria."

So, even before I learned to talk, the countries of Syria and the interior parts of Israel were in DEEP trouble!

My name was an indicator of God's judgment. After all, HE is the one who told my daddy what to call me!