Handmaidens, Servants and Slaves in the Bible Quiz

Answer: Abraham

Eliezer was the servant of Abraham, who was also known as Abram. Eliezer came from Damascus, as per Genesis 15:2. Many theologians believe Eliezer was the unnamed senior servant who found a wife for Isaac. In Genesis 24, the unnamed servant is requested by Abraham to go to the land of his relatives to get a wife for his son.

Genesis 24:12-14 tells of the servant praying in this matter. The passage, in the NKJV Bible, states: "Then he said, 'O LORD God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, 'Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink' -- let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master."

Verse 15 goes on to state that before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. The rest, as they say, is history.

Answer: Rachel

Rachel is the correct answer. Rachel's father Laban gave Bilhah as a handmaiden to her, as per Genesis 29:29. At the time, Rachel was barren and she granted permission to her husband Jacob to sleep with Bilhah to produce children, as per Genesis 30:33-34. According to Genesis 35:25, she bore two sons for Jacob -- Dan and Naphtali.

According to Scripture, Rachel and her sister Leah were both married to Jacob, but Jacob loved Rachel and didn't have any feelings for Leah.

Answer: Leah

Zilpah, according to Scripture, was the handmaiden of Leah. After a number of years when Leah was unable to conceive, she gave permission to her husband Jacob to sleep with Zilpah to produce children. She bore two sons, Gad and Asher, according to Genesis 30:9-12. Scripture records that Leah's father Laban had given Zilpah to her as an aide, as per Genesis 29:24. Little else is known about her.

However, according to Wikipedia, Jewish tradition has it that Zilpah was buried in Tomb of the Matriarchs in Tiberias.

Answer: Sarah

Hagar, according to Scripture, was the handmaiden for Sarah, who was also known as Sarai. Hagar was from Egypt and after Sarah had been unable to conceive for a number of years, she granted permission to Abraham to sleep with Hagar, as per Genesis 16:3.

The union resulted in the birth of a son who was named Ishmael. He would become the forefather of a great nation, according to Genesis 17:20. Traditionally, Ishmael is regarded as the father of the Arab nation.

Answer: David

Abishag basically served as a nurse for King David when he was elderly and frail. 1 Kings 1:3, she is described as "young" and "beautiful" and was found after an extensive search was conducted for a woman to care for David. According to 1 Kings 1:1, David was "very old" and he "could not keep warm even when they put covers over him."

1 Kings 1:2, in the NIV, states: "So his attendants said to him, 'Let us look for a young virgin to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.'"

According to 1 King 1:4, Abishag "took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no sexual relations with her."

Answer: Namaan

The story of Naaman, commander of the army of Syria, is found in the 5th chapter of 2 Kings. After coming down with leprosy, Naaman followed the advice of an unnamed Jewish slave girl who served his wife. In 2 Kings 5:23, she told him to see the "prophet in Samaria." The end result is this: Elisha the prophet told Naaman to bathe himself seven times in the Jordan River. Afterward, he was cleansed of the dread disease.

2 Kings 5:15, in the NKJV Bible, states: "And he [Namaan] returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, 'Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel'."

Answer: Elisha

Gehazi, according to Scripture, was a servant of Elisha, a prophet of God. He was struck with leprosy because of his greed and deception and disobedience to Elisha.

After Naaman was cured of leprosy he offered Elisha a reward which the prophet declined. Scripture reports Gehazi caught up with Naaman after his departure and asked to receive a talent of silver and two sets of clothing. Naaman promptly responded to Gehazi's request, giving him two talents of silver and two sets of clothing.

Later, Gehazi would deny his actions to Elisha and after he left the prophet's presence, Scripture reports he was leprous, as white as snow. The account of Gehazi being afflicted with leprosy is found in 2 Kings 5:20-27.

Answer: Unnamed centurion

According to Scripture, an unnamed centurion asked Jesus to heal his unnamed servant who was seriously ill. Scripture states Christ was impressed with the centurion's faith as he said through friends Jesus didn't even have to enter his house to heal the servant. He could do the healing from afar, the centurion's friends said.

Luke 7:1-10 explains things this way in the NKJV:

"Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, 'for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue'.

"Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, 'Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it'.

"When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, 'I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!' And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick."

Answer: Unnamed masters in Philippi

The unnamed fortune telling slave girl was owned by unnamed "masters" in Philippi, according to Scripture. The fortune telling slave girl was apparently good at what she did as she earned "much profit" for her masters. However, things changed dramatically when Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, ordered a spirit to leave the girl's body. When this happened, she lost the ability to tell fortunes and with her masters no longer able to collect money from her, they ended up turning their wrath against Paul and his fellow worker Silas.

Acts 16:16-19 in the NKJV tells things this way:

"Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, 'These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.' And this she did for many days.

"But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, 'I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.' And he came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities."

Scripture goes on to tell of Paul and Silas being stripped and beaten and tossed into jail, only to end up converting the jailer and his family to Christianity.

Answer: Philemon

Onesimus is part of one of those 'amazing small-world stories'. His master was Philemon who lived in Colosse (which is in present day Turkey). Paul converted Philemon to Christianity and then preached the news of a resurrected Jesus Christ in a number of other communities in Turkey and Europe before ending up in Rome. Philemon's slave Onesimus runs away and heads to Rome and wouldn't you know it, he meets up with Paul who in turn converts the run-away slave to Christianity. Later, Paul would write the book of Philemon, a passionate appeal to Onesimus' master to accept him back, not as a slave, but as an equal in Christ.