BBB Bible Series: The Old Testament Book of Judges Quiz

Answer: He locked the chamber door, and the servants assumed Eglon was relieving himself and so didn't know he had been killed until well after Ehud had left.

The writer of Judges was very graphic. "Now Eglon was a very fat man... Then Ehud put forth his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into Eglon's belly. And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed upon the blade...and the dirt came out." Definitely an "R" rated episode! [Judges 3]

Answer: Sisera took refuge with Heber [an ally], and Heber's wife Jael drove a tent pin through Sisera's temple while he slept.

Judges 4:22 reads: "And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, Come, and I will show you the man you seek. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent pin was in his temples." The writer again is very graphic, and says that the pin went completely through the head and into the ground. Deborah did lead the people in song, but only after the battle was won.

Answer: A fleece was dry while the ground around it was wet.

The sundial pair of signs is from the story of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20. Hezekiah chose between the two possible signs, while in Judges 6 Gideon insisted on both fleece signs, one each on two consecutive nights.

Answer: Three companies surrounded the army at night, then blew trumpets and showed torches. The Midianites panicked and killed each other.

The 300 were chosen because when the army came to some water, most knelt to drink directly. The 300 just scooped up water and lapped it from their palms as they ran. [Judges 7: 1-7]

Answer: He determined to rule Israel, and killed all but one of Gideon's sons.

Jotham, one of Gideon's 70 sons, hid while Abimelech was killing everyone else. He then publicly cursed Abimelech and those who followed him. Abimelech ruled as the next judge--some translations say king--for three years, then there was a revolt. During the fighting a woman dropped a stone from a tower and broke his skull. Abimelech then called his armor bearer, and said "Draw your sword and slay me, so that men may not say of me, A woman slew him." The young man obliged, and Jotham's curse came to pass. [Judges 9]

Answer: Yes, but he gave her two months to mourn first.

Scholars are divided on what Jephthah actually did. Scripture clearly says that "at the end of two months she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed." However, scripture also said that the daughter "mourned her virginity" for the two months, and some believe that means that she was forced to never marry rather than that she was killed. Jephthah's story is in Judges 11 and 12; the part of the story that includes his daughter is in Judges 11: 29-40.

Answer: If they couldn't pronounce "shibboleth," they were Ephraimites.

The Ephraimites didn't have the 'sh' sound in their dialect, so said "sibboleth" instead. (A "shibboleth" is the good part of a stalk of grain--the ear or the kernels.) Wikipedia says that today a shibboleth refers to "any distinguishing practice that is indicative of one's social or regional origin." [Judges 12:1-7]

Answer: drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean.

Numbers 6 explains what a Nazirite was: "When either a man or a woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, that is, one separated and consecrated to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of wine or of strong drink, and shall drink no grape juice, or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing produced from the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. All the days of the vow of his separation and abstinence there shall no razor come upon his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long." [See Judges 13]

Answer: Shouted insults at the Philistine King from the top of a tower, easily killing all soldiers who tried to climb the tower to get him.

The riddle is an interesting story in itself (Judges 14). Samson killed a lion with his bare hands, and when later he passed that way again, he found that bees had made a home in the carcass. He ate some of the honey, and then made a bet with 30 young men at a feast that if they could guess his riddle he would give each of them a new suit of clothes, but if he stumped them they would give him 30 new festive garments. Then he told this riddle:
"Out of the eater came forth food,
and out of the strong came forth sweetness."
The rest of the story is outlined in the answer option.

Answer: If my head is shaved, then my strength will go from me.

Samson told Delilah all of these "secrets," and each time she did what he described and let the Philistines in. Amazing feats of strength saved him each time until the last (read Judges 16 and be amazed and entertained). However, at birth he had been set apart to the Lord as a Nazirite, and so no razor was supposed to touch his hair ever, and when his head was shaved he was no longer set apart to the Lord and his extra strength was gone. Why, after Delilah had told the Philistines his supposed secret three times, he still told her the secret that would defeat him, I will never understand.

Answer: He pulled the two load-bearing pillars at the center of the building and brought the building crashing down on the crowd.

Judges 16:28-30 (Amplified Bible) tells the story like this: "Then Samson called to the Lord and said, O Lord God, [earnestly] remember me, I pray You, and strengthen me, I pray You, only this once, O God, and let me have one vengeance upon the Philistines for both my eyes. And Samson laid hold of the two middle pillars by which the house was borne up, one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson cried, Let me die with the Philistines! And he bowed himself mightily, and the house fell upon the princes and upon all the people that were in it. So the dead whom he slew at his death were more than they whom he slew in his life."

Answer: a temple prostitute

Temple prostitutes are mentioned in the Old Testament, but were not part of Micah's sacred holdings. The story makes clear that the land was without sacred leadership--and that this lack was felt to be a problem. The Levite priest, who had been like a son to Micah, was the primary object of the raid. No one, including the writer of this part of Judges, seems at all concerned that Micah's Levite priest was serving Micah's forbidden graven images.

Answer: Micah saw the Danites were too strong for them and returned home.

The Danites then sacked Laish, "a people quiet and feeling secure," killed everyone, and created the city of Dan. [Judges 18]

Answer: He cut up the corpse and sent a piece to each tribe of Israel.

This sad story begins in Judges 19. If the story sounds like the mob in Sodom who surrounded Lot's house and asked for his guest (Genesis 19), it's because this activity was not uncommon in the ancient world. What we now call "sodomizing" was a way local tribes or towns showed power over those not of one's own group.

In fact, strangers were often killed. This is part of the reason why the Bible makes such a big deal about showing hospitality to strangers.

Answer: A united army almost completely wiped out Gibeah and the rest of the tribe of Benjamin.

The story in Judges 19-21 of the Levite and the concubine ends horrifically. The result of the remaining tribes coming together to revenge the Levite was itself an atrocity--they wiped out the tribe of Benjamin almost completely, refused to let their daughters marry into the tribe, then realized that the result would be to completely eliminate the tribe of Benjamin. So they wiped out the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead (non-Israelites), all children as well as men and women--except they spared the virgins and gave them to the Benjaminites for wives.