A Quick Look at Weddings in the Bible Quiz

Answer: Laban

Poor Jacob. He thought he was marrying Rachel, the apple of his eye, but Laban, his father-in-law, pulled a fast one. Rather than Rachel, Jacob ended up marrying her older sister Leah. This even though Jacob had an agreement with Laban that he would work for him for seven years if he could win Rachel's hand.

When he was confronted about the situation, Laban told Jacob it was not the local custom for the oldest daughter to be married first. As a result, Jacob agreed to work for Laban for seven more years to be able to marry Rachel.

For details, see Genesis 29:15-30.

Answer: Saul

Saul, the first king of Israel, demanded David produce one hundred Philistine foreskins to win the hand of his daughter Michal. Scripture states Saul despised David and he thought by asking him to produce one hundred foreskins could very well result in his death. To Saul's amazement, and no doubt disappointment, David produced two hundred Philistine foreskins and won Michal's hand.

For further details, see 1 Samuel 18:17-30.

Answer: Ezra

After the Babylonian exile, Ezra commanded the Israelites to divorce their foreign wives. In fact, all of Chapter 10 of Ezra is devoted to improper marriages, with names listed of men who had taken pagan wives. The chapter also tells of the people making a covenant with God. Additional details pertaining to marriages between the Israelites and pagans can be found in Chapter 9 of Ezra.

Answer: Asenath

Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, was given as a wife to Joseph by the Pharaoh, as per Genesis 41:45. The same verse states the Pharaoh gave Joseph a new name -- Zaphnath-Paaneah. Meanwhile, Genesis 46:20 tells of Joseph and Asenath being the parents of two boys, Manasseh and Ephraim.

Answer: Ahasuerus

Ahasuerus was the king of Persia and his queen was Esther, a Jewish orphan who was raised by her cousin Mordecai. (In the NIV, Ahasuerus is know as Xerxes.) Esther became a queen after Ahsuerus dumped Vashti. Later Ester and Mordecai would join forces to prevent Haman from carrying out a scheme to kill all the Jews in the Persian empire that stretched from India in the east to Ethiopia in the west.

For details, see the Book of Esther.

Answer: 1 Corinthians

The correct answer is 1 Corinthians, with the seventh chapter devoted to instructions for those who are married and those who are single. For the record, Paul did not write Acts or Hebrews. Philemon was written by Paul but it does not contain any advice about marriage. Rather, it is a heart-felt plea by Paul to Philemon to accept his run-away slave Onesimus back into his fold as an equal in Christ.

Answer: Herod

Herod is the correct answer. Matthew 14:1-12 tells of Herod marrying Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, with John the Baptist denouncing the union. The passage tells of John being tossed into prison because of his opposition to Herod's marriage, and then being beheaded.

Answer: The church

The church is the correct answer. Revelation 19:7-8 explains things this way in the NKJV: "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."

Revelation was written by John while in exile on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. Tradition holds the writer is the same John who was a member of the original Twelve Disciples.

Answer: Peter

Going strictly by Scripture, Peter was the only member of the original Twelve Disciples known to be married, as Matthew 8:14-15 tells of Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law who was sick in bed with a fever. However, no name is given for Peter's mother-in-law or for his wife.

Answer: Cana

Jesus was in Cana when turned water into wine, as documented in John 2:1-12. It was the first of a number of miracles performed in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Cana was a community in Galilee.

John 4:46-54 also tells of Jesus healing a nobleman's son who had been on the brink of death with a high fever.