Judges of Israel Quiz

1. Samson's great strength came from his hair. According to Judges 16, who discovered the secret of his strength and betrayed him?

1. Delilah
2. Miriam
3. Rahab
4. Timnah

2. Gideon defeated the massive Midianite army with only 300 men. What unusual weapons did his men use?

1. Bows and arrows fired from surrounding hills
2. Chariots of iron captured from the Canaanites
3. Slings and stones, like David later used
4. Torches hidden inside clay jars, plus trumpets

3. Deborah was unique among Israel's judges. What two roles did she hold simultaneously?

1. Judge and wife of the military commander Barak
2. Prophet and judge — and she is the only female judge recorded in the Bible
3. Prophet and judge — she also led Israel's army into battle
4. Queen and high priestess

4. Before Samson was born, an angel appeared to his mother with instructions. What was Samson forbidden to do as part of his Nazirite vow?

1. Eat any meat, touch weapons of war, or leave Israel's borders
2. Eat pork, worship foreign gods, or marry a non-Israelite
3. Touch a dead body, eat grapes or drink wine, and cut his hair
4. Work on the Sabbath, touch blood, or cut his hair

5. Gideon asked God for a sign involving a fleece of wool on two consecutive nights. What were the two signs?

1. Dew on the fleece but dry ground on the first night; dry fleece but dew on the ground on the second night
2. Fire consuming the fleece on the first night; dew falling only on the fleece on the second night
3. The fleece being lifted by wind on the first night; remaining still in a storm on the second night
4. The fleece turning white on the first night; turning black on the second night

6. The book of Judges contains a repeating cycle of four stages. What is the correct order?

1. Obedience → Blessing → Disobedience → Curse
2. Peace → Sin → Oppression → Repentance
3. Sin → Oppression → Crying out to God → Deliverance by a judge → Peace → Sin again
4. War → Conquest → Prosperity → Forgetting God

7. Jephthah made a rash vow to God before battle. What did he vow, and what was the tragic consequence?

1. He vowed never to speak again if God gave him victory, meaning he could not lead Israel afterwards
2. He vowed to dedicate his entire household to God's service, losing all his family to temple service
3. He vowed to fast for 40 days, which weakened him so that he could not consolidate his victory
4. He vowed to sacrifice the first animal he saw — but his daughter came out to meet him first

8. Samson's final act of strength was to destroy a Philistine temple. How many people were said to die in this event?

1. About 1,000
2. About 3,000
3. About 5,000
4. About 500

9. Which judge was left-handed and used this unexpected trait to assassinate the Moabite king Eglon?

1. Ehud
2. Othniel
3. Shamgar
4. Tola

10. The final chapters of Judges (19-21) contain a horrifying account involving a Levite's concubine. What tribe was responsible for the atrocity that triggered a civil war?

1. Benjamin
2. Dan
3. Manasseh
4. Reuben

11. How did Gideon test his soldiers to narrow them from 10,000 to 300?

1. He asked who was afraid, and 9,700 left; then he chose 300 by lot from the remainder
2. He had them run a race and chose the fastest 300
3. He picked the 300 tallest and strongest men
4. He watched them drink from a stream — 300 lapped water with their hands while the rest knelt down to drink

12. Shamgar is one of the briefest judges mentioned. What weapon did he use to kill 600 Philistines?

1. A jawbone of a donkey
2. A millstone
3. A sling and stones
4. An oxgoad

13. Abimelech tried to make himself king over Israel after Gideon's death. How did he die?

1. A woman dropped a millstone on his head from a tower, and he had his armour-bearer run him through so it would not be said a woman killed him
2. He was assassinated by his brothers who survived his earlier purge
3. He was killed in battle by a Philistine soldier
4. He was struck by lightning during a storm

14. Samson killed 1,000 Philistines single-handedly. What weapon did he use?

1. A large wooden beam from the city gate
2. A sword he took from a Philistine soldier
3. His bare hands
4. The jawbone of a donkey

15. The book of Ruth is set during the period of the judges. Ruth was from which nation?

1. Ammon
2. Edom
3. Midian
4. Moab

16. Deborah's victory song (Judges 5) is considered one of the oldest pieces of poetry in the Bible. Who does the song most harshly criticise?

1. Sisera the Canaanite commander who fled from battle
2. The Israelites who had worshipped Baal
3. The Philistines who had oppressed Israel
4. The tribes of Israel who refused to join the battle

17. The angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon while he was doing what?

1. Ploughing his father's field at dawn
2. Praying at the city gate at sunset
3. Sleeping under a broom tree, exhausted from fleeing enemies
4. Threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding it from the Midianites

18. After Samson's hair was cut, he woke and said he would escape as before and shake himself free. What had he not realised?

1. Delilah had already alerted the Philistine soldiers
2. His legs had been chained while he slept
3. It was still dark and his sense of direction was gone
4. The LORD had left him

19. How many judges are named in the book of Judges?

1. 10
2. 12
3. 15
4. 7

20. The book of Judges ends with the repeated phrase that summarises why Israel kept falling into sin. What is it?

1. 'In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit'
2. 'The Israelites forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs'
3. 'The people did not know the LORD or remember the works He had done for Israel'
4. 'There arose another generation who did not know the LORD or the works He had done for Israel'