Steal the Moment -- A Look at Thieves in the Bible Quiz

Answer: Rachel

Rachel is the correct answer. The unusual story is told in the 31st chapter of Genesis. Verse 19 tells of Rachel stealing the household gods after her husband Jacob had a quarrel with her father Laban. Verses 34-35, in the NIV Bible, tells what happened when Laban went looking for his missing items: "Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel's saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing. Rachel said to her father, 'Don't be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I'm having my period.' So he searched but could not find the household gods."

Answer: Benjamin

Benjamin, the son of Jacob and Rebekah, is the correct answer. It's a bit of a long story but Joseph was the second most powerful man in Egypt at the time and his eleven brothers had come to buy grain after a famine had struck their land. The brothers, however, did not recognize Joseph as it had been a number of years since they had sold him into slavery, as reported in the 37th chapter of Genesis.

Prior to his brothers leaving with their grain, Joseph had the silver cup planted in Benjamin's sack. After they had left, Joseph sent the steward of his house to catch up with the eleven brothers, telling them there was suspicion of stolen property in their midst.

The silver cup, of course, was found in Benjamin's sack. The story goes on with Joseph revealing his true identity to his brothers and then arrangements being made for the brothers and their families, as well as Jacob, to move to Egypt. As a result, the family of Jacob was reunited in Egypt.

Answer: Ai

The correct answer is Ai. It's at this community Joshua and the Israelites experienced stinging defeat followed by glorious victory.

According to the seventh chapter of Joshua, after Achan stole a large amount of booty in the capture of Jericho, the LORD turned against the Israelites and they were defeated in battle at Ai. It's one of those long stories, but the Israelites invaded Jericho and were attempting to conquer Ai as it had been allocated to them as 'The Promised Land.'

Joshua 7:21, in the NIV, tells of Achan making his confession of guilt to Joshua: "When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

After Achan made his confession, his fate was sealed.

Joshua 7:22-26, in the NKJV, states: "So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD. Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, 'Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.' So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day."

The Web site Christiananswers.net reports Achan means "one who troubles."

Answer: Judges

The story of Micah is told in the 17th chapter of Judges.

According to Scripture, Micah stole eleven hundred shekels of silver from his mother and then had a change of heart and confessed his crime. After returning the silver to his mother, she turned around and used 200 shekels of silver to make an idol. Scripture reports the idol was eventually placed in Micah's house.

Judges 17:4-6, in the NIV, states: "So after he [Micah] returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol. And it was put in Micah's house. Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit."

According to the Web site Christiananswers.net, the story of Micah illustrates the lawlessness of the times in which he lived.

It's interesting to note that eleven hundred shekels of silver is the same amount of money Delilah was promised from each of those asking her to betray Samson. The betrayal of Samson appears in the chapter just before the account of Micah. Judges 16:5, in the NIV, states: "The rulers of the Philistines went to her [Delilah] and said, 'See if you can lure him [Samson] into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.'"

Answer: True

It's extremely macabre, but true. Scripture tells of the bodies being stolen with David taking action to bring back the bodies.

2 Samuel 21:12-14 in the NIV states: "He [David] went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead. (They had stolen their bodies from the public square at Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them after they struck Saul down on Gilboa.) David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there, and the bones of those who had been killed and exposed were gathered up. They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Saul's father Kish, at Zela in Benjamin, and did everything the king commanded."

Answer: Malachi

The passage is found in Malachi, regarded as one of the Minor Prophets in the English Bible.

Malachi 3:8, in the NKJV, states: "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'in what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings."

Notes in the NKJV Study Bible offer this insight: "The tithes were the gifts to the Lord that the Law required There were three: two that were annual and one that came every three years. The tithe supported the priests and the Levites, and also the widows, orphans and foreigners. (Deuteronomy 14:28-29)"

Incidentally, the last twelve books in the Old Testament are called the Minor Prophets simply because they are much shorter than the books of the Major Prophets. The Major Prophets include Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel and Daniel. However, the writings of the Minor Prophets are seen as just as relevant. According to Bible.org, the term Minor Prophets originated in the fourth century, during the time of Augustine.

Answer: Jericho

The man was traveling between Jerusalem and Jericho. Notes in the NIV Study Bible state the two communities are 17 miles apart and a traveler would descend from about 2,500 feet above sea level to about 800 feet below sea level. "The road ran through rocky, desert country, which provided places for robbers to waylay defenseless travelers," the study notes state.

According to Wikipedia, Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world.

Answer: 2 Peter

The passage in question comes from 2 Peter 3:10.

The same passage in the NIV states: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare."

Tradition holds that 2 Peter, as well as 1 Peter, was written by Peter one of the original Twelve Disciples.

Answer: Cash from a money bag used by Jesus and the disciples.

Judas, of course, was the disciple who later betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver, Scripture states. According to John 12:6, Judas was in charge of the money collected for Christ's ministry, "but because he was a thief... he used to help himself to what was put into it." Whenever a list of names of the Twelve Disciples appears in Scripture, Judas is last.

Answer: True

True. Matthew 28:12-15, in the NKJV, states: "When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, 'You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 'If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.' So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day."

Notes in the NKJV Study Bible have this to say about the ruse: "Besides being a lie, this was a very weak explanation. If a guard was found sleeping at his post or if a prisoner escaped, the guard would have been put to death (See Acts 12:19, 16:27-28, 27:42). It may have been possible for one guard to sleep, but it is highly improbable that all of them slept at the same time. Also, sleeping people do not make good witnesses: If they were asleep how did they know what happened?"