A Quick Look at Ten Kings & Queens in the Bible Quiz

Answer: Saul

Saul was the first king of Israel. His reign was initially marked with military victories over other armies, but before long he would become bogged down with an insatiable desire to kill David. He ended up seeking occult advice and Scripture indicates his doom was sealed as a result.

It's interesting to note Saul didn't want the position of king in the first place. According to 1 Samuel 10:22, he was attempting to hide among some baggage before he was found and brought out by the people to be proclaimed as their king.

The story ends in 1 Samuel 31:1-13 with Saul committing suicide.

Answer: David

David was a ferocious warrior but he was also a talented musician, excelling on the harp. According to 1 Samuel 16:23, King Saul had a distressing spirit depart from him whenever a young David played the harp.

According to Scripture, when David was still an unknown shepherd boy -- before he slayed Goliath -- he would play the harp for Saul to refresh his spirit.

1 Samuel 16:23, in the NKJV, explains things this way: "And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him."

Saul's appreciation of David would be short lived, however.

Answer: Solomon

According to 1 Kings 10:10 in the New King James Version Bible, the queen of Sheba was a big fan of Solomon. In fact, Scripture states she gave Solomon a massive array of gifts, including one hundred and twenty talents of gold -- or about 4.5 tons. With gold selling at about $1,300 US an ounce, 4.5 tons (or 144,000 ounces) would be worth about $190 million U.S. And that's just some of the booty she gave him. Scripture says the Queen of Sheba arrived in Jerusalem with "a very great caravan" that, in addition to gold, also carried spices and large quantities of precious stones.

1 Kings 10:10 states "there never again came such abundance of spices as the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon."

She, of course, was dazzled by Solomon's wisdom and immense prominence, and according to Scripture, she traveled to Jerusalem to see for herself what all the talk was about.

According to notes in the NKJV Study Bible, Sheba was located in southwestern Arabia, present-day Yemen.

Answer: Ahab

Ahab, the king of Israel, was a bitter adversary of Elijah. Ahab's wife was Jezebel and she is generally regarded as the most wicked woman in the Bible. According to Scripture, Ahab and Jezebel worshipped false gods and Elijah strongly condemned the couple. Spurred on by his wife, Ahab executed a number of prophets of God and attempted to kill Elijah as well.

According to 1 Kings 16:33, Ahab "did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him."

The story of Ahab can be found in 1 Kings, Chapters 16 through to 22.

Answer: Zedekiah

Zedekiah was the last king of Judah. According to 2 Kings 24:19-20 and Jeremiah 52:2-3, Zedekiah did "evil in the sight of the LORD". He was a son of Josiah, and his mother's name was Hamutal. The 39th chapter of Jeremiah tells of Zedekiah's capture by the Babylonian army.

He certainly didn't receive any preferential treatment. Jeremiah 39:7 tells of Zedekiah's eyes being put out and him being bound with bronze shackles and taken to Babylon.

Answer: Rehoboam

Rehoboam replaced his father Solomon as king. Scripture reports he got off to a bad start when he ignored the advice of his father's advisers and followed the advice of young men he had grown up with, as per 1 Kings 12. And from there things got worse.

The ten northern tribes broke away and before long Rehoboam was left ruling over a much smaller domain than his father Solomon and his grandfather David. According to 1 Kings 14:21, Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king and he reigned for seventeen turbulent years.

He was succeeded by his son Abijah.

Answer: Ishbosheth

Ishbosheth is the correct answer. (In the NIV, he is known as Ish-bosheth.)
He ruled over the northern ten tribes of Israel for two years after the death of his father Saul, as per 2 Samuel 2:10. Meanwhile, David ruled over Judea and the country was beset by a bloody civil war. Eventually David's forces won out with a key turning point in the war being the assassination of Ishbosheth by Rechab and Baanah.

Answer: Vashti

Vashti refused a request of King Ahasuerus, also known as Xerxes in the NIV Bible, to appear before a banquet and show her beauty. Ahasuerus opted to depose of her as queen after consulting with his wise men. The feeling was if she wasn't deposed, other women in the kingdom would be disobedient to their husbands.

I personally like Vashti as she is a person who stood on her principles regardless of the consequences. She was the first women's libber. In my opinion, she should be looked upon as a heroine in Scripture. After all, her disobedience played a role in saving the Israelites from mass genocide, because after she was deposed, Esther ascended to the throne. If Vashti hadn't taken a defiant stand, it was unlikely Esther would have become queen. Unfortunately, after Vashti is deposed, she is never again mentioned in Scripture.

Answer: Athalia

The sordid story of Queen Athaliah is found in the 11th chapter of 2 Kings as well as the 22nd and 23rd chapters of 2 Chronicles. She was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (2 Kings 8:18) and she was the original 'queen of mean'. In fact, she makes Leona Helmsley look like a Girl Guide.

When her son Ahaziah died, she was unstoppable in her blood-thirsty mission to have herself installed as queen. To this end, she killed all Ahaziah's children except Joash, the youngest, as per 2 Kings 11:1-2. (The only reason she didn't kill Joash is the fact he was placed in hiding.) In other words, she killed her own grandchildren to cement her hold on power.

Athaliah reigned for six years and was killed in an insurrection. 2 Kings 11:20 states "all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was calm" when the news was announced that Athaliah had been killed with a sword at the palace.

Incidentally, two different kings were named Ahaziah. The first Ahaziah was the son of Ahab and Jezebel and reigned as king of Israel. The second Ahaziah was the sixth king of Judah. His father was Joram in the NKJV or Jehoram in the NIV.

Answer: Candace

Acts 8:26-40 tells of Philip converting the Ethiopian eunuch to Christianity, making him the first believer in Africa in a resurrected Jesus Christ. Scripture states the eunuch was a man of "great authority" under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. According to notes in the NIV Study Bible, "Candace was the traditional title of the queen mother, responsible for performing the secular duties of the reigning king, who was thought to be too sacred for such activities."