Bible People Who Were Stoned Trivia Quiz

Answer: Achan

Achan was stoned shortly after he confessed to stealing forbidden items from Jericho when the Israelites conquered the city. The account of Achan's thievery and his stoning is found in Joshua 7. When the Israelites received divine instructions before their miraculous conquest of the the city, they were told to "abstain from the accursed things" and to consecrate all the gold and silver to the LORD.

Because Achan refused to follow God's instructions, Scripture states the LORD turned His back on the Israelites and they suffered a stinging military defeat at Ai.

In Joshua 7:21, Achan confessed to Joshua he stole "a beautiful Babylonian garment", a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels and two hundred shekels of silver. Shortly after his confession, Achan was then stoned by the Israelites.

Answer: Adoram

The people of Israel were livid over policies enacted by King Rehoboam and Adoram paid the price with his life. 1 Kings 12 tells of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, becoming king of Israel and making a crucial mistake when he opted to
follow the advice of the young men he grew up with rather than listen to the elders who had advised his father.

When Rehoboam learned people were becoming burdened by policies that had been enacted, he sought guidance from his young friends. It boggles the mind, but the advice given to Rehoboam was to completely ignore the concerns of the people and to tell them if they thought his father was tough, he was much tougher. According to Verses 10-11 in the NKJV, he was instructed to tell the people, "My little finger shall be thicker than my father's waist! And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!"

When Rehoboam foolishly followed the advice of his friends, things quickly degenerated in Israel. At one point, the king sent Adoram, who was in charge of revenue for the nation, to meet with citizens and they responded by stoning him. Before long, the country would be involved in a full scale civil war with the northern ten tribes breaking away resulting in two nations -- Israel and Judah.

Answer: Ahab

Ahab was vile and evil. In addition to being a ruthless opponent of Elijah and other prophets of God, Ahab is known for his involvement in the stoning of Naboth so he could gain ownership of his vineyard. And as to be expected, Ahab's evil and vile wife Jezebel was front and center in orchestrating Nabob's death by stoning.

Scripture states Naboth's vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of King Ahab, and Ahab desperately wanted to own the property. When Naboth refused to sell the property to Ahab, his death was imminent. Naboth's story is told in the 21st chapter of 1 Kings.

Answer: Zechariah

Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, was ordered stoned by Joash, king of Judah. According to 2 Chronicles 24:20, the spirit of the LORD came upon Zechariah and he told the people they had forsaken the LORD and as a result He had forsaken them.

Scripture goes on to tell of Zechariah being stoned in the court of the house of the LORD, on the orders of Joash.

Zechariah, in this instance, is not to be confused with a prophet of God who wrote the Old Testament book Zechariah.

Answer: True

True. In the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers, as told by Jesus in Matthew 21:33-45, a servant of the landowner was stoned by people who had leased the land. Another servant was beaten and a third one was killed, as per the parable. (No details are given as to how the third servant was killed.)

The parable goes on to tell of the landowner sending his son to the vinedressers with the belief he would receive respect. To the contrary, the vinedressers opted to kill the son, stating, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance."

Christians believe the parable is in direct reference to Jesus, God's only Son, coming to earth in the form of a man and being crucified by the people.

Answer: Paul and Barnabas

Paul and Barnabas, two workers in the early church, were in Iconium when they learned of a plot to stone them. According to Acts 14:1-6, Paul and Barnabas had considerable success in preaching the Gospel message in the city which is now part of present day Turkey. In fact, the passage tells of "a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks" believing in a resurrected Jesus Christ.

"But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren," Verse 2 states in the NKJV.

The passage goes on to tell of Paul and Barnabas fleeing from Iconium and going to the nearby cities of Lystra and Derbe after learning of a plot to have them stoned.

Answer: Paul

Paul was stoned at Lystra and when a mob had determined he was dead they departed. Miraculously, Paul survived with details appearing in Acts 14:19-20. According to the passage, when the disciples gathered around Paul, he miraculously rose up and went into the city. The next day, Paul and Barnabas departed to Derbe to do more evangelizing.

Lystra was a city in central Anatolia, now part of present day Turkey. It was at Lystra Paul met up with Timothy, a young and timid worker in the early church.

Answer: Stephen

Stephen, the first martyr of the early church, was stoned, as per Acts 7:59. He was one of seven Grecian Jews appointed as elders in the early church. Scripture tells of Stephen going on trial before the Sanhedrin on charges of blasphemy.

At one point during his trial, Stephen exclaimed, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" After he made the statement, the Pharisees became livid and in a fit of uncontrollable rage, "they ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him." While he was being stoned, Scripture states Stephen called upon God saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Just before he died, he is quoted as saying, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin."

Answer: The scribes and Pharisees

The scribes and Pharisees were livid when they caught a woman in adultery and they planned to stone her, according to Luke 8:1-12. However, before having her stoned, they apparently wanted to humiliate her and as a result they took her to where Jesus was teaching a group of people.

When the scribes and Pharisees presented the woman to Jesus and the gathering, they were shocked at Christ's response. In Verse 7, Jesus made the famous statement: "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."

The scribes and Pharisees, knowing they were not without sin, quietly left, one by one, after Jesus made the statement.

After telling the woman to go and "sin no more", Jesus made the famous declaration in Verse 12: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

Answer: John

There are two different accounts in the Gospel of John telling of people being furious with Jesus and wanting to stone Him. In both instances, however, they were unable to achieve their objective with Jesus miraculously passing by them.

The first account is found in John 8:48-59 and the second account in John 10:31-39.

In the first account, Verse 59 states the people took up stones to throw at Him; "but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by."

In the second account, Verse 39 states the people "sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand."