Book of Judges Quiz: Samson and the Collapse

1. How was Samson's birth announced, and what instructions were given about his upbringing?

1. An angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah's barren wife — telling her she would conceive a son who must be raised as a Nazirite: no wine, no unclean food, no razor to touch his head
2. God spoke through a prophet who came to the tribe of Dan — announcing that a judge would be born to deliver them from Philistine oppression
3. God spoke to Samson's father Manoah in a dream — instructing him to raise the boy as a warrior for Israel
4. The angel appeared to the whole congregation at Shiloh — proclaiming the coming birth of a deliverer from the Philistines

2. What was the source of Samson's extraordinary physical strength?

1. God gave him special muscles as a physical miracle — visible from birth as an unusually large and powerful child
2. He drank a special water from the spring at Dan that gave him superhuman strength throughout his life
3. He exercised by lifting stones from the age of five — his strength was natural but exceptional, not supernatural
4. His strength was connected to his Nazirite vow, particularly the uncut hair — the Spirit of God was the ultimate source, but the hair was the outward sign of the consecration that channelled it

3. What was Samson's riddle at his wedding, and what was the answer the Philistines obtained by threatening his wife?

1. 'I am a man of riddles — what has teeth but cannot bite, and what has eyes but cannot see?' Answer: a comb and a skull
2. 'Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.' Answer: honey from a lion's carcass (Samson had killed a lion and found honey in its body)
3. 'What goes on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?' Answer: a man at different stages of life
4. 'What is sweeter than honey, what is stronger than a lion?' Answer: love — 'What is sweeter or stronger than the love between a man and woman?'

4. What did Samson do when he found out his wife had been given to his best man?

1. He burned down the city gate of Ashkelon and left
2. He caught 300 foxes, tied them in pairs with torches between their tails, and let them loose in the Philistines' standing grain, vineyards and olive groves
3. He challenged his former best man to a duel and killed him
4. He went to war with the Philistines single-handedly and killed 1,000 men with a donkey's jawbone

5. What weapon did Samson use to kill 1,000 Philistines at Ramath Lehi?

1. A bronze sword he took from the first Philistine he killed
2. A wooden club from a carob tree — shaped and hardened in fire
3. His bare hands — he killed each Philistine by breaking their neck
4. The jawbone of a donkey — a fresh donkey's jawbone

6. What feat of strength did Samson perform when surrounded by Gazans who planned to ambush him at dawn?

1. He broke through the city wall with his bare hands, creating an escape route
2. He lifted the portcullis (iron gate) that twelve men could not budge and bent it until it broke
3. He took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts, tore them loose and carried them — bar and all — to the top of the hill that faces Hebron
4. He uprooted the main pillar of the gatehouse and threw it into the crowd that had gathered against him

7. How many times did Delilah ask Samson the secret of his strength before he finally told her?

1. Four times — three false answers (binding with bowstrings, new ropes, weaving his hair with a loom) followed by the truth about his uncut hair
2. Once — Samson told her immediately but bound her to secrecy; she betrayed him after receiving enough silver
3. Seven times — corresponding to the seven days of his wedding feast
4. Three times — after the third refusal she wept until he gave in

8. What happened to Samson after the Philistines captured him and his hair was shaved?

1. He was executed immediately — the Philistines were afraid to keep him alive even without his strength
2. He was kept in chains and displayed to the public — a living symbol of Philistine power over Israel
3. He was paraded through all the Philistine cities as a trophy before being imprisoned at Dagon's temple
4. They gouged out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and set him to grinding grain in the prison at Gaza

9. How did Samson die, and what was his final prayer?

1. 'Let me die with the Philistines' — he prayed for God to take him quickly and then pulled the temple down on himself and the crowd
2. 'Sovereign LORD, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.' He pushed the pillars of Dagon's temple and killed more at his death than during his life
3. He died in battle against Saul's army — his final prayer was for the strength to fight on despite his blindness
4. He died quietly in prison, praying for Israel's deliverance before his strength finally left him

10. What is the story of Micah's idol in Judges 17-18, and what does it represent?

1. A cautionary tale about a Canaanite who infiltrated Israel and led one man astray with idolatry
2. A heroic story of one faithful Israelite who maintained true worship in a land full of apostasy
3. A temple-origin story explaining how the tribe of Dan established legitimate worship at their new northern city
4. Micah stole silver from his mother, returned it, and the silver was used to make an idol; he hired a wandering Levite as his personal priest — later Danites stole both the idol and the Levite as they migrated north

11. What was the identity of Micah's Levite priest, revealed at the end of the Danite story?

1. He was a son of Aaron — a genuine descendant of the priestly line who had become a hired minister
2. He was Jonathan son of Gershom son of Moses — a grandson of Moses serving as a pagan priest for hire
3. He was Phinehas son of Eli — who later became the corrupt priest at Shiloh
4. He was unnamed — the text deliberately withholds his identity to show that the name of God's servant had been forgotten

12. What happened to the Levite's concubine in Gibeah that triggered the Benjaminite civil war?

1. Benjaminite men of Gibeah surrounded a house demanding the Levite be handed over — the concubine was given out instead and was abused all night; she died on the doorstep at dawn
2. She was falsely accused of adultery by Benjaminite elders — her death during trial caused the other tribes to demand justice
3. She was killed by a Benjaminite soldier during a raid — the Levite pursued justice but the tribe of Benjamin refused to hand over the murderer
4. She was sold into slavery by the men of Gibeah — the Levite cut her free and the tribes went to war over the principle of enslaving an Israelite woman

13. How did the Levite call all Israel to act against Benjamin?

1. He cut his concubine's body into twelve pieces and sent one to each tribe of Israel — all who saw it said 'Such a thing has never been seen or done before'
2. He stood at the entrance to Shiloh and called all Israel to witness — displaying his concubine's body as evidence of Benjamin's sin
3. He went to the tabernacle at Shiloh and made a burnt offering — the priests then summoned all Israel to hear his case
4. He wrote a letter to every tribal elder describing what had happened — the elders then assembled at Mizpah for justice

14. What was the outcome of the Benjaminite civil war?

1. Benjamin submitted and handed over the guilty men — the war never actually broke out
2. Benjamin was nearly annihilated — only 600 men survived; almost the entire tribe was wiped out before the other tribes repented of bringing Benjamin to the brink of extinction
3. Benjamin won decisively — the other tribes were punished by God for disobeying the LORD's command to make peace first
4. The war was inconclusive — a peace treaty was made and the guilty men of Gibeah were tried and executed

15. The repeated phrase 'In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit' appears at the end of Judges. What does this suggest about the book's purpose?

1. It functions as a theological explanation for the chaos: without covenant faithfulness to the divine King, human society degenerates; it also anticipates the need for the monarchy described in 1 Samuel
2. It is a critique of theocracy — the book argues Israel needed a human king to maintain order from the beginning
3. It is a straightforward historical observation — the author notes the absence of central government as a neutral fact
4. It is an indictment of Moses — who should have established a monarchy rather than the judge system

16. Which two Israelite tribes did NOT participate in the battle against Benjamin according to Judges 21?

1. Dan and Naphtali — the northernmost tribes were too far away to participate in time
2. Jabesh Gilead (not yet counted as a tribe) and the people of Jabesh who provided wives for Benjamin's survivors
3. Judah and Simeon — the southernmost tribes who formed their own coalition separate from the northern tribes
4. Reuben and Gad — the eastern tribes who had already returned home after the Transjordan allotment

17. What does the parallel between Judges 19 (Gibeah) and Genesis 19 (Sodom) suggest about Benjamin?

1. It is a positive comparison — just as Lot was saved from Sodom, the Levite was saved from Gibeah, showing God's protection of his servants
2. It suggests that Benjamin had descended to the moral level of Sodom — an outsider was treated as a potential victim rather than a guest, mirroring the most notorious sin-city of Genesis
3. It suggests that the author of Judges used the Sodom story as a literary template without intending a moral comparison
4. It suggests that the Benjaminites were related to the Sodomites by ancestry — both groups shared the same moral character

18. Samson is listed in Hebrews 11 among the heroes of faith. How can his life be understood as an expression of faith given his obvious moral failures?

1. His faith was in his own strength — Hebrews 11 lists him as a physical hero whose courage was a form of faith in action
2. Samson had secretly repented of all his sins before his death — the text does not record this but Hebrews 11 reveals it
3. Samson is listed as a warning example — Hebrews 11 includes him to show that even flawed faith can be honoured by God
4. Samson's final prayer and act demonstrated faith — he called on God, trusted God's power, and God answered; his inclusion recognises that faith can coexist with moral failure and that God uses imperfect instruments

19. How many years did Samson judge Israel, and during whose oppression?

1. 20 years during Philistine oppression — which continued after his death until Samuel and David
2. 23 years during Ammonite oppression — the same period as Jephthah's twenty-three year rule east of Jordan
3. 40 years during Midianite oppression — his rule began with Gideon's battles and ended with the defeat at Aphek
4. 7 years during Moabite oppression — a short rule that nevertheless broke Philistine power in the southwest

20. What was the name of Samson's father, and from which tribe did Samson come?

1. His father was Caleb of the tribe of Judah — the same Caleb who had taken Hebron from the Anakim
2. His father was Gilead of the tribe of Manasseh — the same Gilead after whom the Transjordan region was named
3. His father was Manoah of the tribe of Dan — whose wife was barren before the angel announced Samson's birth
4. His father was Micah of the tribe of Ephraim — the same Micah whose idol was stolen by the Danites