Bible People Who Grieved for Loved Ones Quiz

Answer: Abraham

Abraham, the husband of Sarah, is the correct answer. According to Scripture they were the parents of Isaac and the grandparents of Jacob and Esau.

All of Chapter 23 of Genesis is devoted to recounting Sarah's death and Abraham's purchase of land for her burial.

Incidentally, Sarah is the only woman in the Old Testament and the New Testament to have her age given at the time of her death. According to Genesis 23:7, she was one hundred and twenty years old when she died.

Answer: David

Scripture states David was overcome with grief, and anger, when Uzzah was struck dead by the LORD. Uzzah was struck dead when he reached out to steady the sacred Ark of God that was being pulled by oxen. Details about Uzzah's death and David's grief can be found in 2 Samuel 6:5-10. The passage states David opted not to move the ark of God to the City of David, putting it "aside" into the house of Obed-Edom. Scripture goes on to tell of the LORD blessing the house of Obed-Edom and David going back to get the Ark of God with "gladness".

Answer: Elisha

Elisha was deeply saddened when Elijah, his mentor, was taken away in a chariot of fire, Scripture states. According to Scripture, Elijah was suddenly taken upward to heaven as he was walking along with Elisha who was overcome with grief. Elijah's sudden departure is recorded in 2 Kings 2:11-13.

Elisha knew Elijah's departure was imminent. The sons of the prophets of both Bethel and Jericho had mentioned to Elisha that his "master" Elijah would be taken away by the LORD on that very day. Elisha told the prophets to be quiet, as it was simply the case that he did not want to hear the sad news that Elijah would no longer be with him. (See 2 Kings 2:1-6 for details.)

Answer: Jacob and Esau

Jacob and Esau were adversaries in their younger years; Scripture tells of Esau scheming to kill his brother after he deceived Isaac into blessing him over Esau. (See Genesis 27.)

However, Genesis 32:1-23 and Genesis 33:1-17 tell of the twin brothers making up and basically agreeing to forget the past.

Then Genesis 35:25-27 tells of the former combatants coming together in grief to bury their father. The death of Isaac follows a few verses after Scripture telling of Rachel dying giving birth to Benjamin.

Answer: Widows in Joppa

The correct answer is 'widows in Joppa'. Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, was raised from the dead by Peter, according to Acts 9:36-43. She lived in Joppa, a community now known as Jaffa and is part of Tel Aviv, on the Mediterranean Sea.

Verse 39 tells of Peter being taken to an upstairs room where Dorcas' body was and "all the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them."

Moments later, their tears would turn to ecstasy when Dorcas was raised from the dead.

Answer: Jairus

Jairus was the father of an unnamed twelve-year-old girl who died and then was miraculously raised from the dead by Jesus.

Jairus, according to Mark 5:22 and Luke 8:41, was one of the rulers of a synagogue.

The raising of his daughter from the dead is one of more popular stores in the New Testament. As morbid as it sounds, there was laughter after the little girl's death. In the accounts in Mark as well as Luke 8:49-56, it tells of people weeping for the dead girl outside her home. However, when Jesus appeared and stated the girl was not dead but was simply sleeping, the 'mourners' laughed at him. In other words, they saw Jesus as someone who was demented with no concept of reality. A few moments later, however, their laughter turned to total amazement when Christ raised the girl from the dead.

It must have been an amazing roller coaster of emotions for Jairus and his unnamed wife. They were no doubt overcome with grief regarding the death of their little girl and then the next thing you know, they are experiencing ecstasy with the girl brought back to life by Jesus. (See Mark 5:37-42 for details.)

Answer: Unnamed widow

Luke 7:11-17 tells the heart-rending story of Jesus raising a widow's only son from the dead at Nain by simply uttering a sentence. According to the passage, Jesus and His disciples were near the gate of the city when they saw a dead man being carried out with his tearful mother looking on. Scripture goes on to tell of Jesus touching the open coffin and commanding the dead man to "arise"; miraculously, he came back to life. The passage concludes with these seven words in the NKJV: "And He presented him to his mother."

According to the Website Christiananswers.net, Nain means "green pastures" and "lovely." The same website reports Nain is about 25 miles southwest of Capernaum. This is the only time Nain is mentioned in the Old and New Testaments.

Answer: Mary and Martha

Mary and Martha were sisters of Lazarus, who was raised from the dead by Jesus at Bethany, as per John 11. According to Scripture, Jesus shed tears when he saw the grieving that was taken place at Lazarus' tomb. Christ's tears are recorded in one of the shortest verses in the entire Bible. John 11:35 simply states "Jesus wept".

Shortly after this, no one was crying. Their tears were replaced by total joy, and complete amazement, when Christ commanded Lazarus to come out of the tomb -- and he did just that!

The report of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead at Bethany is perhaps Christ's most famous miracle. Scripture states the man had been dead for four days and in John 11:39, Martha was not keen about the stone being rolled away from her brother's tomb because of concern about the "stench" from the body.

Answer: Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene, according to Scripture, was the first person to see Jesus after His resurrection, as per John 20:11-18. Mary had gone to the tomb three days after the crucifixion, filled with grief, when to her amazement she saw the resurrected Christ. As was the case with many of Christ's resurrection appearances, Mary did not at first recognize Jesus. See John 20:11-18 for details.

Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:2 make reference to Jesus driving seven demons out of Mary.

Answer: Cleopas

The account of a resurrected Jesus appearing before Cleopas and his unnamed friend can be found in Luke 24:13-35. This is the only time Cleopas' name appears in Scripture.

Cleopas and his friend didn't realize it was Jesus they had met on the road to Emmaus until He had accepted their invitation to stay with them at their house and they were breaking bread and giving thanks. Scripture says their eyes were opened and they recognized Christ and then He disappeared from their sight. (See Luke 24:13-27 for details.)