Three Connecting Letters, Biblical Names -- #2 Quiz

Answer: THA

Add the letters 'tha' and you end up with two different New Testament names -- Tabitha and Thaddeus.

Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, was raised from the dead by Peter, according to Acts 9:36-43. Scripture states Tabitha lived in Joppa and she was "full of good works and charitable deeds." The passage about Peter raising the woman from the dead appears on the heels of the account of Paul's dramatic encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ on a road leading to Damascus.

Meanwhile, Thaddaeus was one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus. (Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18). He was also known as Jude and as Judas, son of James (Acts 1:13 and Luke 6:16), to differentiate him from Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ. However, little is known about Thaddaeus as he is mentioned in passing reference. It is not unusual for the disciples to have two different names. For example, Peter was also known as Simon; Matthew was also known as Levi; and Bartholomew was also known as Nathanael.

Answer: SUS

Add the letters 'sus' and you get the placename Tarsus as well as the female name Susanna.

Tarsus was the home of Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. Tarsus was an ancient city in present day Turkey. According to the Website Bibleplaces.com, the modern city of Cumhuriyet Alani was built over the ruins of Tarsus.

Susanna was among a group of women who followed Jesus and helped Him with His ministry. Luke 8:2-3, in the NKJV, explains things this way: "...and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance." However, little is known about Susanna as she is mentioned in only this passage in Scripture.

Answer: LAH

Add the letters 'lah' and you get Taralah and Lahad.

Taralah is mentioned in Joshua 18:27, Scripture telling of dividing land in Canaan amongst the tribe of Benjamin. This the only place where Taralah's name appears in Scripture.

Meanwhile Lahad is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:2 and was a descendant of the tribe of Judah. 1 Chronicles 4:1-23 is devoted to listing the names of various men who were part of Judah's bloodline.

Answer: MAR

Tamar and Mary are the two names created when the letters 'mar' are added to the clue.

Tamar is the daughter-in-law of Judah who was falsely accused of being a prostitute. Tamar experienced many things in her lifetime, not the least of which were the deaths of her first two husbands, Er and Onan, who were struck down by the LORD, as per Genesis 38:6-10. The two men were sons of Judah.

However, after the two sons died, Judah apparently thought Tamar was a prostitute when he met up with her along the side of a road and as a result of the union, she gave birth to twins Perez and Zerah. (Scripture reports her face was covered during intercourse.) About three months later, when it was reported Tamar was pregnant and proclaimed a prostitute, Judah announced she should be brought out and "burned to death." However, Judah had to do some serious backpedaling when Tamar was able to prove he was actually the man who had impregnated her. (Genesis 38:18 states Judah had given Tamar his "seal and its cord, and the staff in his hand" as a pledge before he slept with her. When she was about to be put to death, she was able to produce Judah's pledge to her and her life was spared.)

David also had a daughter named Tamar who was sexually assaulted by her half brother, Amnon.

Meanwhile, Mary was the young teenage girl who gave birth to Jesus while she was still a virgin. Details about her becoming pregnant while still a virgin are given in the first chapter of Matthew as well as the first and second chapters of Luke. While pregnant, she became the wife of Joseph. Although no information is given as to how old Mary was at the time, many theologians believe she may have been fifteen years old, or younger, as it was the custom of the day for females to marry extremely young.

A number of other women in the New Testament were called Mary, including Mary Magdalene.

Answer: BEL

Add the letters 'bel' and you get the names Abel and Belteshazzar.

Abel was the son of Adam and Eve and Scripture states he was the world's first murder victim when he was killed by his brother Cain. According to Scripture, Cain was severely jealous of Abel because his offerings to the LORD were far more pleasing than his were. Details about the world's first murder can be found in the fourth chapter of Genesis.

Meanwhile, Belshazzar is the Chaldean king who is forever linked to the expression 'see the handwriting on the wall.' According to the fifth chapter of Daniel, the fingers on an disembodied hand started writing a message on the wall after King Belshazzar hosted a lavish banquet in which he, his wives and his concubines drank from goblets taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem. Scripture states the king's gathering drank the wine from the sacred goblets and "praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone."

When the king brought in the prophet Daniel to interpret the writing on the wall, no punches were pulled. Daniel told the king "God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end". The chapter concludes with these two verses from the NKJV Bible: "That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old."

Answer: HEM

Add the letters 'hem' and you get the Old Testament characters Shechem and Heman.

Shechem was the man who is notorious for violating Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah. Two of Dinah's brothers, Simeon and Levi, went on a ruthless killing spree after the defilement, as per Genesis 34:1-31. According to Scripture, Simeon and Levi killed Shechem and "all the males" in his community and took all the females and children captive. Scripture goes on to state Simeon and Levi "took their sheep, their oxen, and their donkeys, what was in the city and what was in the field, and all their wealth."

Meanwhile, Heman is most notably known for being connected with Psalm 88 in the Old Testament of the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible. The introduction to Psalm 88 in the NKJV states it is a "contemplation of Heman the Ezrahite."

Notes in the NKJV Study Bible have this to say: ""Heman is identified in 1Kings 4:31 as a gifted wise man, and 1 Chronicles 15:16-19 as one of the musically gifted Levites who ministered during the time of David. The term Ezrahite may mean 'native born'."

Answer: ISH

Add the letters 'ish' and you get Kish and Ishmael.

Kish was the father of Saul, the first king of Israel. However, not much is known about him as he is mentioned in passing reference. According to 1 Samuel 9:1, he was the "son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power."

Meanwhile, Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, an Egyptian servant of Sarah. Because Sarah was unable to conceive, she gave permission to her husband Abraham to sleep with Hagar and as a result Ishmael was born. This account can be found in the 16th chapter of Genesis, where Abraham was known as Abram and Sarah was known as Sarai. (Their names were changed to Abraham and Sarah in the 17th chapter.) The account of Hagar and Ishmael being sent away by Abraham is documented in the 28th chapter of Genesis. Ishmael is considered to be the founder of the Arab nations.

Incidentally, Ishmael is the name of five other men in the Old Testament. For example, 2 Kings 25:25 tells of Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, murdering Gedaliah.

Answer: UTH

Add the letters 'uth' and you get Ruth and Uthai.

Ruth, of course, was the Moabite woman who opted to live with her mother-in-law Naomi after the two women were left widows when their husbands died. Ruth would end up marrying Boaz and they would become parents of Obed who would become the father of Jesse. Jesse would become the father of King David, as per Ruth 4:18-22. The romance of Ruth and Boaz is told in the Book of Ruth.

Meanwhile, Uthai is mentioned in passing reference in 1 Chronicles 9:4 and Ezra 8:14. In 1 Chronicles, it states Uthai was "the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the descendants of Perez." In Ezra, it tells of the sons of Uthai being among the group of people who returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile with Ezra.

Answer: MAN

Add the letters 'man' to the clue and you get the two Old Testament names Haman and Manasseh.

Haman is the Old Testament figure who was almost successful in instigating a diabolical plan to have the Jews killed in the vast area that was ruled by the king known as Ahasuerus in the NKJV and Xerxes in the NIV. However, he was thwarted by the dynamic due of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai. After Haman was thwarted, he ended up being hanged on the gallows he had rigged for the intended execution of Mordecai. The story of Esther, Mordecai and Haman is told in the book of Esther.

Meanwhile, Manasseh was a ruthless king of Israel who ascended to the throne when he was only twelve. He ruled the nation for 55 years and had much in common with Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s. 2 Kings 21:16, in the NKJV Bible, states Manasseh "shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another."

Answer: REZ

Add the letters 'rez' to the clue and you come up with the Old Testament name Perez and the placename Rezeph.

Perez and his twin brother Zerah were the second set of twins born in the Bible. Their parents were Judah and Tamar. The story of their births is told in Genesis 38:29-30. Incidentally, the first set of twins was Esau and Jacob, the sons of Isaac and Rebekah.

Meanwhile, Rezeph is mentioned in 2 Kings 19:12 and Isaiah 37:12. According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, Rezeph means stone or fortress. The on-line dictionary states Rezeph was "a fortress near Haran, probably on the west of the Euphrates, conquered by Sennacherib." However, the community is mentioned in passing reference.