They Broke the Ten Commandments Quiz

Answer: Jezebel

Jezebel's name has become associated with wicked women. She was the wife of King Ahab, a worshipper of the god Baal, and had Jewish prophets killed. The prophet Elijah asked for two altars to be set up on Mount Carmel, one for G-d and one for Baal, and for a bull to be sacrificed on each altar. Both Elijah and the Baal worshippers called for their respective gods to send fire from the heavens; only G-d responded, and Elijah ordered the false prophets to be killed. Years later, his successor, Elisha, had Jehu anointed as king, and Jehu and his men went to Jezreel, where Jehu ordered them to execute Jezebel by defenestrating her.

As Elijah had prophesied, she was eaten by dogs.

Answer: Nebuchadnezzar

The three men in question were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, all of whom were friends of the prophet Daniel (as in the one who got thrown into the lions' den). The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had a massive gold statue built, and commanded the people to worship it.

The three Jews refused to join in, despite Nebuchadnezzar's threats, so the king ordered a furnace to be heated until it was seven times hotter than usual, and for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to be burned to death in it. The guards who took the men into the furnace were burned to death themselves, but Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego all survived, with not the slightest burn or singe mark on them.

There was also a fourth man spotted inside the furnace, who was actually an angel sent by G-d to protect the men. Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed at G-d's power that he ordered for anyone who disrespected G-d to be executed.

Answer: Job

Job is the subject of a bet between G-d and Satan, where Satan bets that Job would curse G-d if G-d took everything Job had away. Satan kills Job's child and servants, makes him poor and afflicts him with boils, but despite all this, Job refuses to curse G-d. Job's wife tells him he should curse G-d and die, but Job replies, "Shall we receive good from G-d, and shall we not receive evil?" Job desperately wants to die and his friends tell him that he must have done something wrong for G-d to put him through so much, and that he should repent. G-d appears to Job in a whirlwind and speaks to him, and Job repents. G-d gives him his family and money back and restores everything to normal.

Answer: Nehemiah

Nehemiah was governor of Jerusalem for 12 years. He went back to the Persian king in Susa, but later returned to Jerusalem and discovered that the people had got into bad habits, and were breaking the Sabbath. Nehemiah found that Eliashib, the priest, had cleared out the room used to store offerings and tithes for the Levites, and allowed Tobiah, an Ammonite, to conduct business there. Nehemiah was not happy about this and had Tobiah kicked out, and the room restored to its original purposes.

He also discovered that merchants from Judah and Tyre had been coming into Jerusalem to trade on the Sabbath. Nehemiah ordered the gates of Jerusalem to be shut on the Sabbath, with his men stationed there to stop people coming in with goods to sell, and warned merchants not to spend the night hanging around outside the wall, or he would have them arrested.

Answer: Jacob

Jacob and his brother Esau were twins, the children of Isaac and Rebecca. Even when they were foetuses, the twins fought, and it was prophesied that they would fight all their lives, becoming two separate nations. The prophecy also stated that the older would serve the younger. Esau was the older of the two, and grew up to be a hunter, while his younger brother Jacob was 'a quiet man, serving in tents'. Isaac preferred Esau, while Rebecca favoured Jacob. Jacob got Esau to sell him his birthright in exchange for some lentils. Later, when Isaac was old and blind, Rebecca got Jacob to trick his father into receiving a blessing intended for Esau, by covering himself with goat skins (Esau being a hairy fellow). Isaac had his suspicions, but was convinced by the hairy hands he felt and gave Jacob Esau's blessing. Esau found out what had happened when he came back from hunting, and did not take this very well. Fearing for Isaac's safety, Rebecca had him sent to her brother Laban in Haran, on the pretext that she did not want him marrying a Canaanite girl like Esau had.

Answer: Cain

Cain and Abel were the children of Adam and Eve. Cain, the older of the two, was a farmer, and his little brother Abel was a shepherd. Both boys made offerings to G-d, but G-d only acknowledged Abel's offering. Cain took Abel out to a field and murdered him, and when G-d asked him where Abel was, he denied it.

However, G-d heard the cries of Abel's blood, and cursed Cain to give up his life as a farmer and wander the earth. Cain settled in the land of Nod, where he married and sired Enoch (not to be confused with the one in the Book of Enoch). Cain was the Bible's first killer, and Abel the first person to die in the Bible.

After his death, Eve gave birth to a third son, Seth.

Answer: David

This happened to David after he defeated Goliath and became king of Israel. He fell in love with Bathsheba at first sight when he saw her bathing, summoned her to his chambers, and made her pregnant. However, there was one problem: she was married, to a Hittite soldier called Uriah. David attempted to summon Uriah and get him to sleep with Bathsheba so that when the baby came, he would think it was his.

However, Uriah refused to leave his regiment, who were camping in the fields. David wrote to Joab, Uriah's commander, and had Uriah sent on what was essentially a suicide mission in order to get him out of the way. Uriah died in battle, and David and Bathsheba were married.

However, G-d was displeased at what David had done, and sent the prophet Nathan to warn him that his house would be punished for Uriah's murder. David and Bathsheba's first child died, Absalom - David's son by his second wife - started a civil war had sex with several of David's concubines, and Absalom's sister Tamar was raped by her half-brother Amnon.

Answer: Rachel

Rachel was the daughter of Laban, and the mother of Joseph (he of the technicolour dreamcoat fame) and Benjamin. She and her older sister Leah were both married to Jacob. Both Rachel and Leah had difficulty conceiving, and offered their handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, to Jacob as surrogate mothers. (If you're a fan of Margaret Atwood, you'll know that this is where the concept of the Ceremony in 'The Handmaid's Tale' comes from.) After Joseph was born, Jacob and his wives and children went to Canaan, but Jacob did not want to tell Laban as he worried Laban would try to stop him. Laban accused Jacob of stealing his ideals, but it was actually Rachel who had done it - she hid them in the seat cushion on her camel - as Laban had not given her or Leah their inheritance. Jacob cursed the person who had stolen the idols, saying, "With whoever you will find your gods, he will not live." Unfortunately, this curse came true when Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin.

Answer: Potiphar

If you've ever seen 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat', you'll remember this story from the song 'Potiphar'. Although Potiphar's wife is only known as 'Mrs Potiphar' in the musical, Jewish and Islamic tradition name her as Zuleikah. Potiphar was Joseph's master, captain of the Egyptian guard, and made Joseph head of the household.

His wife repeatedly tried to seduce Joseph, but Joseph turned her down each time. One time, Potiphar's wife managed to grab hold of Joseph's clothing, and held onto it after he ran away.

She claimed that Joseph had tried to rape her, and brought out his clothing as proof. Potiphar believed her and had Joseph thrown into prison. The version of the story in the musical is slightly different; Potiphar catches his wife trying it on with Joseph, as accused to her lying about rape.

Answer: Ahab

The plot in question belonged to Naboth, Ahab's neighbour. He had a vineyard in Jezreel which he inherited from his father, and Ahab wanted the land for himself to use as a garden for produce. He offered Naboth a better vineyard, or any amount of money, but Naboth refused to sell. Ahab was so angry that he refused to eat.

When Jezebel, his wife, asked what was wrong, Ahab told her about Naboth refusing to sell up. Jezebel contacted the elders in Naboth's city on Ahab's behalf, and ordered for him to be falsely accused of cursing G-d and the king. Naboth was condemned and stoned to death, and dogs drank his blood.

His sons were also killed to stop them claiming the land, and Ahab claimed the land for himself. The prophet Elijah turned up at the vineyard and cursed Ahab for his wrongdoing, and Ahab repented. Because of this, G-d did not punish Ahab, but saved the punishment for the generation after him.