Hope This Bible Quiz Doesn't Put You to Sleep - #2

Answer: Elijah

Elijah is the correct answer. According to 1 Kings 18, Elijah and the prophets of Baal had a showdown to see who could call upon a higher power to ignite a sacrificial offering on Mount Carmel. The 450 prophets called on Baal and Elijah called on the LORD with Elijah being the clear winner, according to Scripture.

During the showdown, when the prophets of Baal were not getting any response to their request, Elijah started taunting them. 1 Kings 18:27, in the NKJV, tells of Elijah's taunting: "At noon Elijah began to taunt them. 'Shout louder!' he said. 'Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."

Elijah is well known for many things, but perhaps the best known story involving him is his duel with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.

Answer: Jacob

Jacob is the correct answer. According to Genesis 28:10, Jacob was traveling west from Beersheba to Haran when he camped for the night. Verse 19 in the same chapter states the place had been called Luz, but Jacob "called the name of that place Bethel." According to notes in the NKJV Study Bible, Bethel literally means 'House of God.'

Genesis 28:12-15 tells of Jacob's dream. In the NKJV, the verses state: "He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: 'I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.'"

Answer: David

David is the correct answer. According to 1 Samuel 26, David and Abishai sneaked into King Saul's camp and found the monarch sleeping with a spear beside his head. And this at a time when Saul was devoting practically all his time to kill David simply because of a severe case of jealousy.

1 Samuel 26:6-7, in the NKJV, states: "So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the people lay all around him. Then Abishai said to David, 'God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please, let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will not have to strike him a second time!'"

David, however, refused to follow Abishai's advice, allowing Saul to live.

According to Verse 12, the visit by David and Abishai was undetected because the LORD caused Saul and his soldiers to fall into a "deep sleep."

Answer: Ahasuerus

Ahasuerus, who is also known as Xerxes in the NIV Bible, is the correct answer. According to Esther 1:1, Ahasuerus/Xerxes ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. The book of Esther begins with the account of the king dumping Queen Vashti during the third year of his reign. It would put things in motion for Esther to become queen and play a pivotal role in preventing the extermination of Jews in the immense area ruled by Ahasuerus/Xerxes.

Esther 6:1-3 tells of the king being unable to sleep and then learning about the heroics of Mordecai: "That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. Then the king said, 'What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?' And the king's servants who attended him said, 'Nothing has been done for him.'"

The king's sleepless night would prove to be a major turning point in the book of Esther. Scripture goes on to tell of the king opting to honor Mordecai, the foster father of Esther. Scripture also goes on to tell of Haman, the architect of a diabolical plan to kill all the Jews, being hanged on the very gallows he had constructed for the execution of Mordecai.

Answer: Nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnezzar is the correct answer. According to Scripture he had a dream that deeply troubled him to the point he was unable to sleep. Making things worse, Nebuchadnezzar could get none of the wise men in his kingdom to tell him what he had dreamed, let alone the meaning of the dream. At least, no one could meet the king's demands until Daniel entered the scene.

According to Daniel 2:3-9, Nebuchadnezzar refused to tell the wise men what he had dreamed with the view that if they were indeed wise they could easily tell him what he had dreamed.

In a nutshell, Daniel accurately told the king his dream pertained to an image with a belly and thighs of bronze. The prophet of God accurately interpreted the dream stating it represented the rise of four different kingdoms. (Daniel 2:27-45.)

Answer: Darius

The correct answer is Darius. According to Daniel 6, enemies of Daniel conspired to have him killed. Scripture tells of Daniel's enemies reporting to Darius that Daniel had been seen praying to God. This after his enemies enacted a decree that anyone caught praying to a god, rather than to the king, should be put to death by being cast into a den of lions.

According to Scripture, Darius did not want to kill Daniel, but felt he was bound by the decree and had no choice in the matter.

Daniel 6:16 indicates Darius was clearly on Daniel's side. The verse, in the NKJV, states: "So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, 'Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.'"

Daniel 6:18-23 tells of Daniel being miraculously spared from death after Darius spent a sleepless night. The passage states: "Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, 'Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?' Then Daniel said to the king, 'O king, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.' Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God."

Answer: Wicked and evil

According to Proverbs 4:14, such people are wicked and evil. (The NIV describes them as wicked and evildoers.)

Here's how verses 14-17 reads in the NKJV:
"Do not enter the path of the wicked,
And do not walk in the way of evil.
Avoid it, do not travel on it;
Turn away from it and pass on.
For they do not sleep unless they have done evil;
And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness,
And drink the wine of violence."

Answer: 1 Thessalonians

The verses are found in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-7.

To put the verses in context, here's how they appear in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 in the NKJV:
"But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."

Answer: Joseph

Joseph is the correct answer. According to Scripture, the angel told Joseph to take his wife Mary and Jesus to Egypt because Herod had issued a decree that all the male children aged two years and under in the area of Nazareth should be killed.

Matthew 2:13-15, in the NKJV, states: "Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, 'Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.' When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 'Out of Egypt I called My Son.'"

Answer: Peter

Peter is the correct answer. Acts 12:5-7, in the NKJV, states: "Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, 'Arise quickly!' And his chains fell off his hands."

The chapter goes on to tell of Peter appearing at the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, after his miraculous jail break.