This Old Testament Quiz Might Be Easy to 'Hate'

Answer: Rebekah

Genesis 24:58-61 tells of Rebekah's family blessing her prior to her leaving Mesopotamia to meet for the first time her new husband Isaac in Canaan. Accompanying Rebekah on the journey was Abraham's unnamed servant and Rebekah's nurse.

In their blessing, the family stated: "Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands; and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them."

The chapter goes on to tell of Isaac and Rebekah becoming husband and wife. Later, they would become parents of the first set of documented twins -- Esau and Jacob.

Answer: Abimelech

When Abimelech, king of the Philistines, visited Isaac he was surprised, pointing out the king hated him. Genesis 26:27 quotes Isaac as saying, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?"

Scripture goes on to tell of Abimelech explaining he visited Isaac because he could clearly see the LORD was with him and that he wanted to establish a covenant with him.

After the two men agreed to a covenant, Scripture in the NKJV states Isaac "made them a feast, and they ate and drank."

Answer: Esau

Esau loathed his twin brother Jacob and talked openly about killing him, as per Genesis 27:41. The hatred erupted after Jacob tricked their father Isaac into giving him the blessing that was intended for Esau.

Genesis 27:41 in the NKJV tells of the severe hatred: "So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, 'The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob'."

Scripture goes on to tell of Jacob fleeing to Haran to escape his brother's wrath. Later, the two brothers would set their differences aside and live in peace with each other.

Answer: Joseph

Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, was hated by his brothers partly because their father favored him. For example, Genesis 37:4 in the NKJV states: "But when his brothers saw that their father loved him [Joseph] more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him."

Eventually their hatred festered to such an extreme that Joseph's brothers planned to kill him. While they didn't kill him, they did end up selling Joseph into slavery.

Answer: Jephthah

Jephthah is the correct answer. He was the son of Gilead and an unnamed prostitute. Judges 11:1-7 tells of Jephthah being hated by his half brothers and as a result he fled to the land of Tob.

Later the same people who despised Jephthah would do an about face and request him to be their leader.

Answer: Samson

Samson had an unnamed Philistine wife who accused him of hating her, as per Judges 14:16. According to the verse, the woman was angry Samson would not tell her the answer to a riddle he had posed to a group of men at their wedding feast.

The NKJV quotes the woman as telling Samson: "You only hate me! You do not love me! You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me."

Scripture goes on to tell of the woman weeping for seven days because Samson would not reveal the answer to the riddle. Finally, Samson had enough and revealed to her the answer to the riddle. However, shortly after finding out the answer, Samson's wife revealed the answer to others.

According to Scripture, Samson became so angry with the woman's actions he divorced her and then gave her to the best man at his wedding.

See Judges 14:1-20 for details.

Answer: Saul

Saul, the first king of Israel, hated David. In fact, Saul's hatred was so strong, he spent most of the time in his latter years trying to track down David and kill him. This even though Saul's daughter Michal was David's wife and Saul's son Jonathan was David's best friend.

Try as he may, Saul was always unsuccessful in his demented vendetta to slay David.

Answer: Amnon

Amnon was hopelessly in love with his half sister Tamar. His love was highly misguided as Scripture tells of Amnon sexually assaulting Tamar. And after Amnon sexually assaulted the young woman, his love turned to hatred.

2 Samuel 13:15 in the NKJV states: "Then Amnon hated her [Tamar] exceedingly, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her."

Scripture goes on tell of Tamar's full brother Absalom killing Amnon.

Answer: Ahab

Ahab, an evil king of Israel, hated Micaiah, a prophet of God. The reason for the hatred? Ahab was upset with Micaiah because he always told him the truth and prophesied bad news.

1 Kings 22:8 in the NKJV quotes Ahab as saying, "I hate him [Micaiah] because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil."

Scripture goes on to tell of Micaiah predicting Ahab's death in battle and sure enough the prediction came true.

Answer: Psalms

The verse is from Psalm 69:4, a Psalm written by David. Psalm 69 is a plea from David to God to help him in a time of great distress.

Some Christians view Psalm 69 as a Messianic Psalm foreshadowing the suffering of Jesus Christ.

Out of one hundred and fifty Psalms, David is credited with writing more than seventy of them.