Questions and answers
Easy Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
Who was Naomi's husband, the man who took his family from Bethlehem to sojourn in Moab during the famine?
- AElimelechCorrect
- BMahlon
- CChilion
- DBoaz
Answer: Elimelech
Ruth 1:1-3 · ESV
Elimelech left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons because of famine, and he died in Moab, leaving Naomi a widow in a foreign land. His field is the property that will need a redeemer at the end of the book, and his name is the one the transaction at the gate is meant to preserve.
Ruth 1:1-3 names Elimelech, Naomi, and their sons and reports his death in Moab; Ruth 4:3 identifies the parcel of land as his.
Why not this one. Mahlon was one of the two sons who went with him, not the head of the household. Both sons also died in Moab, which is what left three widows together.
Medium Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
What did Samson stake on his riddle at the wedding feast in Timnah?
- AThirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothesCorrect
- BThirty shekels of silver and a young goat
- CThirty donkeys and the harness for them
- DA field and a vineyard in the valley below
Answer: Thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes
Judges 14:12-13 · ESV
Samson wagered clothing against his thirty companions if they could solve the riddle within the seven days of the feast, and they wagered the same against him. When they threatened his wife and got the answer out of her, he paid the debt by going down to Ashkelon, striking down thirty men there, and taking their garments.
Judges 14:12-13 sets the terms of the wager, and Judges 14:19 records how Samson paid it.
Why not this one. A young goat does appear in the account, since Samson later brings one when he goes to visit his wife. But the wager was garments, not silver or livestock.
Hard Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
Three cities of refuge were set apart west of the Jordan. Which three?
- AKedesh, Shechem, and HebronCorrect
- BBezer, Ramoth in Gilead, and Golan
- CShiloh, Gibeon, and Bethel
- DJericho, Gezer, and Lachish
Answer: Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron
Joshua 20:7-8 · ESV
Kedesh in Galilee, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Hebron in Judah were spaced north, center, and south so that a manslayer anywhere in the land could reach one. All three were Levitical cities, which placed the accused under priestly oversight and a hearing rather than under the vengeance of his victim's clan.
Joshua 20:7 names the three west of the Jordan, and Joshua 20:8 names the three on the east side.
Why not this one. These three are genuine cities of refuge, but they are the eastern set, appointed in the territory of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh across the Jordan.
Easy Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
To which town did Naomi return from Moab with Ruth?
- ABethlehemCorrect
- BHebron
- CShiloh
- DBeersheba
Answer: Bethlehem
Ruth 1:19 · ESV
Bethlehem in Judah was the family's home town, and the whole town was stirred when the two women arrived after ten years away. The setting matters, because the book closes by tying Bethlehem to the line of David, and Matthew and Luke will take that line further still.
Ruth 1:19-22 records their arrival in Bethlehem, and Ruth 4:17 ends the account with Obed, Jesse, and David.
Why not this one. Hebron is the other famous town of Judah, given to Caleb as his inheritance. Ruth's account is set in Bethlehem from the first verse to the last.
Medium Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
Gideon’s army was reduced from 32,000 men down to how many before the battle against the Midianites?
- AFive hundred men
- BOne thousand men
- CThree hundred menCorrect
- DSix hundred men
Answer: Three hundred men
Judges 7:7 · ESV
Gideon started with thirty-two thousand. The first cut followed the standing rule that the fearful be sent home, and twenty-two thousand went. The ten thousand left were brought down to the water, and only three hundred lapped with the hand to the mouth while the rest knelt to drink. God kept the number small on purpose, so Israel could not boast that its own hand had saved it.
Judges 7:2-8; Deuteronomy 20:8
Why not this one. Six hundred echoes elsewhere in this stretch of Scripture, Shamgar striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad and later David's band of six hundred. It never attaches to Gideon, and doubling three hundred feels safer than the real figure precisely where the account means to leave no margin.
Hard Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
After Gideon died, which of his sons murdered seventy of his brothers on one stone and made himself king over Shechem?
- AJotham
- BAbimelechCorrect
- CTola
- DZebul
Answer: Abimelech
Judges 9:1–5 · ESV
Abimelech was Gideon's son by a concubine in Shechem. He worked his mother's relatives, took seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, hired worthless and reckless men with it, and killed his seventy brothers on one stone at Ophrah. He then ruled three years before Shechem turned on him and a woman dropped a millstone on his head at Thebez.
Judges 9:1-5, 22, 53
Why not this one. Jotham is the brother who matters most in the chapter and is easy to mistake for its main actor. He was the youngest, the only one who escaped the slaughter by hiding, and he stood on Mount Gerizim and told the parable of the trees who wanted a bramble for king before fleeing for his life.
Easy Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
What was Samson’s final act?
- AHe pushed apart the pillars of the temple, killing himself and thousands of Philistines.Correct
- BHe called on God and struck down the Philistine army with a jawbone.
- CHe prayed for strength, broke his chains, and slew the guards of Gaza.
- DHe pulled down the city gates and carried them to the top of a hill.
Answer: He pushed apart the pillars of the temple, killing himself and thousands of Philistines.
Judges 16:30 · ESV
Blinded and grinding at the mill in Gaza, Samson was brought out to entertain a crowd at a festival for Dagon, with three thousand more watching from the roof. He asked the boy leading him to set his hands on the two central pillars and prayed that God would remember him one last time. His hair had begun to grow back after it was shaved, and the house fell on the lords and all the people in it.
Judges 16:22, 28-30
Why not this one. That happened in the same city, which is what makes it easy to confuse. Ambushed overnight in Gaza, Samson tore the gates loose with their posts and bar and carried them up a hill facing Hebron. It was a mid-career escape, not the end.
Medium Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
What son was born to Ruth and Boaz, whom the women of Bethlehem said would be a restorer of life to Naomi?
- ASalmon
- BJesse
- CObedCorrect
- DMahlon
Answer: Obed
Ruth 4:17 · ESV
The women of the neighborhood named the child and blessed the LORD for not leaving Naomi without a redeemer. They told her the boy would restore her life and sustain her in old age, and that the daughter-in-law who loved her was better to her than seven sons. Naomi took him to her chest and nursed him, and the woman who came home empty ends the book holding a grandson.
Ruth 4:14-17
Why not this one. Jesse is in the very next line of the genealogy, which is why the names slide. He was Obed's son and David's father, born a generation after the events of the book. Obed is the child actually placed in Naomi's lap.
Hard Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
The judge Jephthah came from which territory east of the Jordan, and was the son of a prostitute driven out by his half-brothers?
- ABashan
- BGileadCorrect
- CAmmon
- DMoab
Answer: Gilead
Judges 11:1–2 · ESV
Jephthah was a mighty warrior from Gilead, east of the Jordan, the son of a prostitute whose half-brothers drove him out so he would inherit nothing. He settled in the land of Tob and gathered worthless men around him. When Ammon made war, the very elders who had expelled him came asking him to lead, and he made them swear it before the LORD at Mizpah.
Judges 11:1-11
Why not this one. Ammon is the name attached to this account, but on the wrong side. The Ammonites were the enemy Jephthah negotiated with and then defeated. Gilead is Israelite territory east of the Jordan and also the name given as his father's, which is part of why the brothers could call him an outsider.
Easy Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
On the final circuit around Jericho, what did the people do when the priests blew the long trumpet blast?
- AThey shouted a great shoutCorrect
- BThey sang the song of Moses
- CThey lit torches along the walls
- DThey fell on their faces in silence
Answer: They shouted a great shout
Joshua 6:16, 20 · ESV
Israel had marched in silence until Joshua gave the word; at the long blast the people shouted and the wall fell down flat, so that they went up into the city. The city was taken by obedience to a strange command, not by siege.
Joshua 6:10 orders the silence, Joshua 6:16 gives the command to shout, and Joshua 6:20 records the shout and the collapse of the wall.
Why not this one. Silence was commanded for the marching days, which makes this tempting, but the silence ended at the trumpet blast. The wall fell as the people shouted.
Medium Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
At whose instruction did Ruth go to the threshing floor at night, uncover Boaz’s feet, and lie down there?
- ABoaz’s foreman
- BNaomiCorrect
- CAn elder of Bethlehem
- DHer own initiative
Answer: Naomi
Ruth 3:1–4 · ESV
Naomi told Ruth she was seeking rest for her, laid out that Boaz would be winnowing barley that night, and gave her precise instructions to wash, anoint herself, dress, wait until he had eaten and drunk, then uncover his feet and lie down. Ruth answered that she would do all of it. She then went further than she was told, asking Boaz outright to spread his wings over her as a redeemer.
Ruth 3:1-9
Why not this one. Ruth is decisive everywhere else in the book, clinging to Naomi on the road and going out to glean among strangers, so crediting the plan to her fits the character. Chapter 3 is explicit that the plan was Naomi's, down to the timing and the words. What Ruth added was the request for marriage itself.
Hard Old Testament — Joshua, Judges & Ruth
Where did the six hundred surviving men of Benjamin hold out for four months?
- AThe rock of RimmonCorrect
- BThe rock of Etam
- CThe cave of Adullam
- DThe stronghold of Mahanaim
Answer: The rock of Rimmon
Judges 20:47 · ESV
Six hundred men fled into the wilderness and stayed at that rock while their towns burned. Those six hundred are the whole remaining tribe, which is why Israel then had to find wives for them without breaking its oath at Mizpah.
Judges 20:47 records the six hundred at the rock of Rimmon for four months, and Judges 21 records the search for wives.
Why not this one. The rock of Etam is a real refuge in the same book, the cleft where Samson stayed after striking the Philistines. It belongs to Judah's territory and to a different account.