A Quick Look at Windows in the Bible Quiz

Answer: Noah

According to Scripture, Noah released a raven and a dove from a window on the gigantic ark he and his family had built to survive a flood that engulfed the world. The two birds were released from the window to determine if there was dry land.

Genesis 8:6-12 explains things this way in the NKJV:

"So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore."

Incidentally, using the NKJV, the first mention of a window in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible is Genesis 6:16. In the verse, God gives instructions to Noah to construct the ark, with one of provisions being the ark had a window.

Answer: Abimelech

Issac and Rebekah pretended to be brother and sister to deceive Abimelech, king of Gerar, much as Isaac's parents, Abraham and Sarah, had done before them. When Abimelech looked out a window and saw Isaac and Rebekah as husband and wife -- and not as brother and sister -- he was deeply perturbed.

It's a bit of a long story, but Isaac and Rebekah moved to Gerar because of a famine. Scripture reports Rebekah was extremely beautiful and Isaac feared if he was known as her husband he would be killed and Rebekah put in the king's harem. The same details basically hold for Abraham and Sarah who had moved to Gerar due to famine a number of years before.

Here's how the account of Isaac and Rebekah is recounted in Genesis 26:1-10 in the NKJV:

"There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. Then the LORD appeared to him and said: 'Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.'

"So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, 'She is my sister'; for he was afraid to say, 'She is my wife,' because he thought, 'lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.' Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, 'Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, "She is my sister"?'

"Isaac said to him, 'Because I said, "Lest I die on account of her." And Abimelech said, 'What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.' So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, 'He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.'"

Answer: Rahab

According to Joshua 2:15, Rahab let two Israelite spies "down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall" of Jericho. The spies were sent into Jericho by Joshua to glean information about the city before the Israelites conquered the inhabitants.

Scripture goes on to state arrangements were made for Rahab to display a scarlet cord in her window as a sign to invading Israelite soldiers that her life and the lives of her family should be spared.

The Israelites were true to their word and the lives of Rahab and her family were spared. Rahab's name shows up in Matthew 1:5 as part of the genealogy of Christ.

Answer: Jezebel

Jezebel, generally regarded as the most evil woman in the Bible, is the correct answer. She was despised because she vehemently opposed prophets of God and convinced Israelites to worship false gods.

Scripture states Jezebel died a gruesome death with her assistants throwing her out of an upper window on the instructions of Jehu. 2 Kings 9:30-33 gives this account in the NKJV: "Now when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and looked through a window. Then, as Jehu entered at the gate, she said, 'Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?' And he looked up at the window, and said, 'Who is on my side? Who?' So two or three eunuchs looked out at him. Then he said, 'Throw her down.' So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot."

Scripture goes on to state Jehu nonchalantly went inside to eat and drink after Jezebel was tossed out of the window. After eating and drinking, Scripture tells of Jehu ordering staff to bury the "accursed woman." According to 2 Kings 9:35, there was little left of Jezebel to bury: "So they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands."

Answer: Elisha

The story of Joash being instructed by Elisha to fire arrows out of a windwo is found in 2 Kings 13:15-19. Elisha was basically being on his deathbed when he was approached by Joash, king of Israel, who wanted to know what the future held. Elisha in turn told Joash to shoot some arrows out of a window and as a result, the prophet of God was able to predict the future for him.

Here's how the story is told in 2 Kings 13:15-19 in the NKJV:
"And Elisha said to him, 'Take a bow and some arrows.' So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, 'Put your hand on the bow.' So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. And he said, 'Open the east window'; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, 'Shoot'; and he shot. And he said, 'The arrow of the LORD'S deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.' Then he said, 'Take the arrows'; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, 'Strike the ground'; so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, 'You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times'."

The NIV offers this wording for the final verse of the passage above: "The man of God was angry with him and said, 'You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.'"

Answer: Michal

Michal, wife of David, is the correct answer. According to 2 Samuel 6:16, she "despised" her husband when she looked out a window and saw a jubilant David wearing a linen ephod and dancing "before the LORD with all his might."

2 Samuel 16:20-22 tells of Michal expressing her disapproval of David's
actions as well as David's response to his wife: "And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, 'How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!' So David said to Michal, 'It was before the LORD, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the LORD. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor'."

According to 2 Samuel 6:23, Michal had "no children to the day of her death."

Answer: Sisera

Sisera is the correct answer. The song of Deborah and Barak was performed after a spectacular victory by the Israelites over Sisera's army. According to Scripture, after Sisera's army was routed, he took refuge in the tent of Jael who drove a tent peg through his head while he was sleeping.

The victory song of Deborah and Barak can be found in Judges 5. Verses 28 to 30 features these lines of sarcasm:
"The mother of Sisera looked through the window,
And cried out through the lattice,
'Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?'
Her wisest ladies answered her,
Yes, she answered herself,
'Are they not finding and dividing the spoil:
To every man a girl or two;
For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments,
Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed,
Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?'"

Answer: Daniel

Daniel is the correct answer. According to Daniel 6, a royal decree was signed that whoever petitioned any god or man, except for the king of Babylon, would be thrown into a den of lions. Scripture tells of Daniel praying to God in his upper room with the windows opened toward Jerusalem leading to his arrest and being tossed into a den of lions. Verse 10 states Daniel "knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days."

However, when Daniel was tossed into the lions den, Scripture states no harm came to him because "he believed in his God."

Answer: Paul

Paul, who was still known as Saul, at the time escaped undetected from Damascus when the disciples let him down in a basket in a window in the city's wall. The event happened right on the heels of Paul's conversion to Christianity. Scripture reports Paul defiantly went into synagogues preaching that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The synagogue rulers were outraged and plans were made to kill Paul. To avoid death, he made his escape in a large basket.

The story is told in Acts 9:20-25 and here's how it appears in the NKJV:
"Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.

"Then all who heard were amazed, and said, 'Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?'

"But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

"Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket."

In 2 Corinthians 11:33, Paul states the basket was let down from a window in the city's wall.

Answer: Eutychus

Euthychus was the young man who fell out of a third story window in Troas when he fell asleep during one of Paul's messages. Scripture states that after Eutychus fell out of the window, the gathering rushed downstairs and found him dead. To the amazement of the crowd, however, Paul raised Eutchyus from the dead.

Afterward, Paul went back to the third story room and, after eating, preached some more, according to Scripture. Troas is in present day Turkey, south of the ancient city of Troy. The story of sleepy Eutychus is told in Acts 20:7-12.