Single Male Seeks . . . Trivia Quiz

Answer: Boaz

When Ruth asks to be taken under Boaz's protection (she basically proposes to him!), he replies, "The LORD bless you, my daughter. . . This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask" (Ruth 3:10-11). Ruth's loyalty to her mother-in-law, whom she follows out of Moab, is also renowned.

Answer: Salmon

Rahab the harlot hid the spies who came to Jericho. For her help she was spared when the city was besieged. She later married Salmon and gave birth to Boaz, and consequently she is in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (see Matthew 1:5).

Salmon's begetting of Boaz is found in Ruth 4:21, but his marriage to Rahab is not mentioned in the Old Testament. Some Jewish traditions have Rahab marrying Joshua, instead of Salmon!

Answer: Moses

Moses married Zipporah, who was daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian. In Exodus, she "took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched [Moses's] feet with it." This is a rather cryptic passage. (Exodus 4:25).

Answer: David

David married Michal, the daughter of Kind Saul. He also took Uriah's wife Bathsheba and then had him killed by ordering him to the front lines in battle. He also married Abigail, who was formerly wed to Nabal, who refused to give David and his men food. Finally, in his old age, David was warmed bodily by the young maid Abishag.

Answer: Hosea

God commanded Hosea, saying, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD" (Hosea 1:2). He even had to buy his wife back at one point. All of this was symbolic of God's undying love for his people.

Answer: Ezekiel

God told Ezekiel, "Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover the lower part of your face or eat the customary food of mourners." The death of his wife and his refusal to mourn her was a sign for Israel, for God said, "I am about to desecrate my sanctuary-the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your affection . . . You will not mourn or weep but will waste away because of your sins and groan among yourselves. Ezekiel will be a sign to you; you will do just as he has done.

When this happens, you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD" (Ezekiel 24:15-25).

Answer: Solomon

"But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites . . . And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart" (1 Kings 11:1-3).

Answer: Elkanah

"And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb" (1 Samuel 1:4-5). Hannah would, however, eventually give birth to Samuel and dedicate him to the Lord.

Answer: Samson

Absalom was also known for his long hair, but it was Samson who married the woman of Timnath. She, however, was eventually given to another man, and Samson took up with Delilah, who cut his hair and called his enemies to bind him. (See Judges 16.)

Answer: Amnon

"Amnon was so vexed," says 2 Samuel 13:2, "that he fell sick for his sister Tamar." Amnon sent for his half-sister Tamar to bring food to his bed and feed him by hand. He then raped her. Her full brother Absalom later slew him in revenge. Their father David seemed more upset at Amnon's slaying than he was with Tamar's rape. Absalom later rebelled against his father.

Answer: Benjamites

This horrifying story of the Benjamites is recounted in the book of Judges, which tells what society was like in the days when Israel was without a king. A Levite sojourned with his concubine in Gibeah, a city of the Benjamites. Then "the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him" (Judges 19:22).

The man therefore threw out his concubine, and they abused her all night.

When he left in the morning, he found her dead. He cut her up into twelve pieces and sent her to all the tribes of Israel, to rally them to war against the Benjamites.

Answer: Sodomites

The most common contemporary understanding of this story is that two angels came to Sodom and sojourned with Lot. The men of the town (thinking the angels men) gathered about Lot's door and demanded that Lot throw them out to be violated. Lot offered them his two virgin daughters instead, but they refused.

Instead, they threatened to violate Lot as well: "And they said, Stand back . . . now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door" (Genesis 19:9). Fortunately for Lot and his daughters, the angels at that moment helped them all to escape.

Answer: Esau

"And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah" (Genesis 26:34-35).

Answer: Shechem

Genesis 34:1-2: "And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her." There is some debate among scholars as to whether or not Shechem raped Dinah, or simply seduced her.

At any rate, it is enough to prompt her brothers, Simeon and Levi, to slay every male of the city. Jacob, however, is not so enraged by her defilement: "And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?" (Genesis 34:30-31)

Answer: Reuben

Genesis 35:22: "And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it." To sleep with a father's concubine was considered an act of rebellion. This is why Absalom openly goes into his father's concubines on the roof when he prepares to rebel against David.