ANSWERS to “Quiz about Bible Characters”

This quiz is designed to test your knowledge about the people who appear in the Bible.
The CORRECT answers are in bold, blue text.

Adam & Eve
A. Famous for inventing maple syrup
B. First man and woman created.
C. The name “Adam” is similar in Hebrew for the Hebrew word for “dirt.”
D. You can read about them in the book of Revelation.
E. You can read about them in the book of Genesis, which means “beginnings.”
F. They liked to eat apples, especially if they were on a tree that was “off limits.”

Cain & Abel
A. They were brothers and always got along great.
B. They were brothers, but they did not always get along great.
C. One of them was the world’s first murderer.
D. Their construction company built the first ancient stone Cathedral in France.
E. Because they were good fishermen, they were Jesus’ favorite disciples
F. One of them was a farmer, and the other was a shepherd.

Noah
A. He is famous for being swallowed in the belly of a whale.
B. He is famous for building a huge boat to save all the animals.
C. There is a famous children’s book about him, but he does not actually appear in the Bible.
D. You can read his story in Genesis.
E. Besides the boat, a rainbow is another important part of his story.
F. After the great flood, sin was wiped out, and so Noah and his family all lived perfect, sinless lives from then on.

Mozart
A. He was one of the first people to cross the Red Sea with his brother Moses.
B. He played religious music on a harpsichord for King Ahab during church services.
C. He was born long after the Bible was written, and is not in the Bible at all.
D. He was not in the Bible, but was named after a famous painting of Moses (thus “Moz” and “art”)
E. His first name was actually “Wolfgang.” (And isn’t it scary to think that he had parents who thought that “Wolf-gang” was a great name for their new baby?)

Abraham & Sarah
A. A married couple in Genesis who both changed their names; formerly known as “Abram” and “Sarai.”
B. Abraham is known as the “Father of the Jews” because he received two key promises from God. 1) to be the patriarch of a great nation with descendants as numerous as the stars, and 2) to receive and be able to live in the “Promised Land,” a place “flowing with milk and honey.”
C. Abraham almost sacrificed his first son on the altar until an angel stopped him.
D. Abraham saw a burning bush that talked to him and convinced him to lead his people.
E. Sarah had a child whose name, “Isaac,” means “laughter” because she laughed in doubt when God told her that she, in spite of her old age, would have a baby.

Jacob
A. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob together are known as the “Fathers of the Jewish People”–That is because Abraham’s son was Isaac, and Isaac’s son was Jacob. Then Jacob had twelve sons, whose descendants became known as “the twelve tribes of Israel.” (From then on, all Jewish people could trace their family tree back to one of the twelve sons of Jacob, and ultimately, all the way back to “The Fathers of the Jewish Peope”–Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).
B. Jacob was the guy who owned “Jacob’s Well,” which was a popular restaurant and bar in downtown Jerusalem.
C. Jacob had a wrestling match with an angel one night which symbolized him wresting between his fear of meeting with his angry brother vs. risking the meeting in order to try to make things right between them.
D. Jacob had a twin brother named “Esau” who was older than him and also quite hairy; their father, Isaac, was nearly blind, so when it came time for him to give his blessing to his oldest son, Jacob put on animal hair and pretended to be his older twin in order to “steal” his father’s blessing.
E. Actually, Esau willingly traded the rights of the firstborn son to his twin brother Jacob one day when he was hungry and Jacob had a nice pot of stew to bribe him with.

Joseph
A. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son of the twelve boys because Joseph built an Ark, got swallowed by a whale, and climbed Jacob’s ladder faster than anyone else in the Holy Land Olympic Games of 2000 BC.
B. Joseph became well known for his ability to interpret the meaning of dreams.
C. Joseph is the name of the star in the Broadway hit, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” written by a 20th century playwright and based on the life of Joseph in the Bible
D. Joseph was well known for being a good cook, including his invention of ground up meat that often falls out from between the buns, which is why it is called a “Sloppy Joe.”
E. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and sold him into slavery, but in spite of that he forgave them and made sure they all had enough food to eat during a years-long famine.

Moses
A. Moses saw a burning bush and heard God ask him to lead the Israelite (Jewish) people out of slavery in Egypt, but surprisingly Moses told God, “No. Please find someone else.”
B. Moses enthusiastically volunteered to become the leader of the Jewish people when he saw how much they were suffering under the ruler of Egypt, and no matter how much the Israelites complained in the desert, Moses always kept a smile on his face.
C. Moses is well-known for baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River.
D. Moses helped the Israelite people escape from Egypt by crossing the Red Sea.
E. Moses spent forty years leading the Israelite people in the desert, during which time he received the Ten Commandments and helped teach them what it meant to follow God’s laws.
F. Moses’ name comes from the fact that he was found floating in a basket in a river and rescued to be raised by royalty instead of murdered like the other Hebrew babies in Egypt.
G. Actually, it was Moses who first made the “Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and it was Moses who gave it to Joseph as a famous Christmas present in 1586 BC.

Ruth
A. Ruth was a famous baby in biblical times, which is why the candy bar we have today is called “Baby Ruth.”
B. There is a book in the Bible which tells about her faithfulness, devotion to her family, and courage.
C. Ruth and her husband Boaz are found in Jesus’ family tree, and show that even Jesus’ ancestors demonstrated great faith and devotion.
D. Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi created a plan to get Boaz to marry Ruth.
E. Ruth was not actually in the Bible; she is the mother and namesake of famed baseball slugger Babe Ruth.

Samuel
A. Samuel’s mother (Hannah) had been childless, and after praying for a baby for a long time, Samuel was born. She was so grateful she dedicated her son to serve God, and left him in the Temple to be raised by Eli the priest.
B. When Samuel was a boy, he kept hearing God call his name at night, thinking it was the priest Eli calling him, but finally Eli realized God was calling the boy, so he told Samuel to answer, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”
C. Samuel was the first “judge” of Israel, after winning a close election against Moses.
D. Samuel was the last “judge” of Israel, and from then on Israel decided they wanted to be ruled by Kings like other countries around them had.
E. Samuel was the first fisherman that Jesus called to be his disciple.

King Saul
A. Saul was chosen to become the first King of Israel.
B. Saul was a foot taller than everyone else.
C. Saul was so jealous of the boy David (who would later become the next King) that one day while David was playing the harp for Saul, Saul threw a spear at David twice, but David just ducked and kept playing the harp.
D. Saul killed Goliath, a giant and intimidating Philistine soldier, in order to protect the boy David against the evil villain.
E. David killed the giant and intimidating Philistine soldier named “Goliath” when David was just a boy. King Saul decided to let the boy David go into battle against the giant, but Saul did at least gave David his armor. However, the armor didn’t fit, so David didn’t even wear it into battle.

King David
A. Widely considered by the Jewish people to be their greatest King because of his faithfulness to God, his brave success on the battlefield, and his ability to lead the nation.
B. In spite of his greatness, David was not perfect. He fell in love with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers. He then sent that soldier into a dangerous battle and instructed the other soldiers to withdraw, letting that soldier be killed in battle so he could then marry Bathsheba. A prophet named Nathan confronted David about his adultery. David asked for God’s forgiveness and got it, but their first baby later died.
C. King David had other sons, including Solomon, who would become the next King of Israel.
D. King David wrote and probably sang many of the Psalms that are found in the Bible.
E. King David had a son who turned against him and tried to seize power from him. But when that son was killed in battle, David still grieved for him.

King Solomon
A. King Solomon was able to keep all of the “12 tribes of Israel” working together as one nation just like his father King David had done.
B. King Solomon was extremely poor, and never could afford a haircut, so he is well known for having long hair, which gave him the extreme strength he used to tear down the temple.
C. King Solomon grew extremely wealthy and ruled for 40 years, during which time he built the Temple, the palace, rebuilt cities ruined by battles, and had foreign slaves complete many other major projects funded with taxes and other payments he received.
D. King Solomon was known for his great wisdom, and some of the Proverbs in the bible are attributed to him.
E. King Solomon married hundreds of foreign wives, including the daughter of the King of Egypt, but eventually that also led him to worship their gods and turn away from the one true God.

Job
A. The book of Job is about a good man who suffered. Many of the Jewish people believed that God rewarded good people with good things in this lifetime, and punished evil people with bad things, so the book of Job was written to challenge that idea.
B. The book of Job is actually an ancient “help wanted” listing, showing the kinds of “jobs” that were available for people back in biblical times, such as scripture writers, robe makers, temple cleaners, and beard trimmers.
C. The book of Job shows that even in biblical times, religious people could have legitimate disagreements about God–some may think that God always rewards the righteous, and punishes the wicked. But other people might wonder if that is always true when they notice that even good people suffer sometimes.
D. The book of Job includes friends; at first the friends comfort Job by sitting with him quietly while he is suffering. But then the friends make him angry by trying to explain why they think God let the bad things happen to him, including the suggestion that Job must have secretly or unknowingly sinned. So they accused Job of thinking that God was wrong to “punish” him; they insisted that he must have done something to deserve it.
E. God himself finally speaks to the friends and to Job. God explains the reason why bad things happen to good people, so ever since then, nobody has ever had to ask “Why?” when bad things happen to good people.

Jonah
A. Jonah worked for forty years to build an ark that would hold two of every kind of animal on earth.
B. Jonah was swallowed by a whale to punish him for being a sinner.
C. Jonah was swallowed by a whale to save him from drowning, and to give him another chance to do what God wanted him to do with his life.
D. Jonah finally did give a stern warning in the capital city of his enemies, and then he retreated to a hill overlooking the city hoping to watch while God destroyed his enemies.
E. Jonah pouted when God had mercy on his enemies, so God tried to teach Jonah about God’s mercy by making a plant grow up to give Jonah shade, then ordering a worm to eat the roots of the plant and kill it, so Jonah would see that the people of the city were more important to save than the plant.

Rembrandt
A. Rembrandt was a great artist who was ordered by King Solomon to paint lots of biblical scenes that would later appear in the bible.
B. In the Bible, Rembrandt was the name of one of the “sons of Zebedee,” and that is who the famous artist was named after because his father, born nearly 1500 years later, happened to be named “Zebedeee.” And by the way, “Zebedee” is one of the most fun names in the Bible to say five times as fast as you can.
C. Nobody knows for sure who Rembrandt is, so some liberal scholars from the West Coast argue that he might have been in the Bible.
D. Rembrandt was a famous artist who lived long after the Bible was written, but whose breathtaking artwork was definitely influenced by the Bible.
E. Rembrandt sculpted the first Mount Rushmore, except it pictured famous biblical kings and was carved right in the stones of the great Egyptian pyramids.

John the Baptist
A. He was originally known as “John the Methodist” because he was baptized as a baby by a roaming Methodist circuit rider. It wasn’t until later in life that he converted to the Baptist faith, changed his name, and was immersed.
B. John the Baptist baptized many people in the Jordan River, including Jesus.
C. John the Baptist connected baptism with the idea of people turning from their sins and deciding to do what God wants them to do. That is why he initially resisted the idea of baptizing Jesus, because he knew that Jesus was not a sinner.
D. John the Baptist was someone who inspired Jesus, and Jesus was in grief when he later learned about John the Baptist’s cruel and unjustified death.
E. Even before John the Baptist and Jesus were born, there was a special relationship between them. Mary, the mother of Jesus, went to visit Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and when she did, Elizabeth felt her baby jump for joy, and she gave a blessing to Mary and her unborn baby, Jesus.

Jesus
A. Jesus’ name means “He Saves”
B. Jesus was Jewish, and so were his parents.
C. The Jewish leaders were impressed with Jesus’ teaching; they waved palm branches when he came to town and wanted to help his group of followers succeed.
D. Jesus first miracle was changing water into wine at a wedding party.
E. Jesus was criticized for associating with sinners, like the time he went to eat at the home of Zacchaeus, who was a hated tax collector.

Matthew
A. Matthew was one of Jesus’ disciples who later wrote down his memories about the life of Jesus.
B. Matthew was Jewish, so he especially retold the stories that “proved” that Jesus’ life fulfilled what the Jewish people had been expecting to see in the future “Messiah.”
C. Matthew tells about Jesus’ family tree, but he only traces it back to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people; Luke is the other gospel writer who traces back Jesus’ family tree, but he goes all the way back before Abraham to Adam, to show that Jesus is related not just to Jewish people, but to every human being.
D. Matthew includes the “Sermon on the Mount” in chapters 5-7, the longest example of a sermon by Jesus that we have.
E. Before Matthew was a disciple, he was a tax collector; Jesus went to his office and asked Matthew to follow him. Later they were eating a meal together, and the Jewish leaders criticized Jesus for spending time with a tax collector, because they were hated people in that area.

Luke
A. Luke wrote a gospel, and was angry that his gospel was not the first one included in the Bible.
B. Luke is the only gospel writer that also wrote about what happened after Jesus’ earthly life, and what the disciples did after that. His second book is called “Acts, of the Apostles” and tells about the first few years of the early church.
C. Luke and Matthew are the only two gospel writers to tell about Jesus’ birth, but while Matthew tells about the wise men following the star to find and worship Jesus, Luke tells about the shepherds coming to visit the baby Jesus after the angels visited them. Mark and John, the other two gospels, do not give any details about Jesus’ birth.
D. The gospel of Luke includes four stories about the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
E. Many of the stories found in Luke can be found almost word for word in either Matthew or Mark, or both, so it is unlikely that they were all just remembering the same things and telling them exactly the same way. Therefore, biblical scholars have long puzzled over which gospel was the “original” and written first, or whether the stories that they share in common were all copied from some other shared source that does not exist today.

Judas
A. Judas was Jesus’ best friend.
B. Judas is famous for being a traitor.
C. Judas cooperated with the Jewish authorities; some think he did it for the reward money, but most people think he had deep disagreements with Jesus and thought that if the authorities confronted Jesus, that Jesus would then start a giant rebellion and overthrow the Roman oppressors of the Jewish people.
D. Judas acted like Jesus’ friend all the way up to the end, including letting the authorities know who Jesus was by giving him a brotherly kiss.
E. When Jesus was crucified, Judas felt so guilty about it that he offered to carry the heavy cross for Jesus to make it easier for Jesus.

Simon Peter
A. Simon Peter was originally a fisherman; he and his brother Andrew were partners with James and John, who were the sons of Zebedee. After Jesus helped them catch a miraculous amount of fish with one cast of the net, all four of them left fishing behind and became Jesus’ first disciples.
B. Simon Peter is usually just known as “Peter.” He was originally just named “Simon.” Jesus added the name “Peter” because “Peter” means “rock,” and he said that Simon Peter was the “rock” on which Jesus would build his church, essentially naming Simon Peter as the first leader of the church after Jesus.
C. Simon Peter is the disciple who first asked Jesus if he could walk on the water with Jesus, and he also quickly got afraid and sank in the water. He was a leader–the first to do things, yet he also frequently failed, but Jesus was always there to help him.
D. Simon Peter is famous for betraying Jesus after the last supper.
E. Simon Peter is famous for denying that he even knew Jesus shortly after pledging his loyalty at the last supper.

Thomas
A. Thomas was a disciple who became famous for doubting that the risen Christ was real, so he said he would not believe unless he himself actually touched Jesus. That is where the phrase “doubting Thomas” came from, although that phrase is not written in the Bible.
B. Thomas is actually the formal name for a modern-day movie star in the movie, “Tommy Boy.”
C. In John’s gospel, Thomas is also given the nickname “Didymus.” Both names actually mean “twin,” raising unanswered questions as to whose twin he was. Luke’s gospel mentions him together with Matthew, but little is actually known about that.
D. Even though he is famous for temporarily doubting that Jesus actually rose from the dead, Thomas is the disciple who bravely declared that the disciples should accompany Jesus to Jerusalem, even if it meant that they would die with Jesus, and after the other disciples tried to persuade Jesus not to go because it would be too dangerous.
E. Comparatively little is known about Thomas because he is seldom singled out in the stories we have in the Bible, but some scholars think that he was also known as the original “Mr. T.”

Nicodemus
A. Nicodemus was the father-in-law of Zebedee, the dad of some of Jesus’ disciples. Nicodemus had a successful career selling insurance and then loved golfing and fishing during his retirement years.
B. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, which means that he was a well-educated religious leader for the Jewish people. Overall, the Pharisees did not like Jesus, but Nicodemus went to talk to Jesus one night in secret to find out more about what Jesus was teaching.
C. Nicodemus is famous for being the person who was talking to Jesus when Jesus uttered the famous quote found in John 3:16, which is often held up on signs behind home plate in professional baseball games.
D. The bible is not clear whether Nicodemus was persuaded by Jesus to follow him or not, but later in the Bible Nicodemus stood up for Jesus during his trial and unsuccessfully tried to keep Jesus from being crucified.
E. Nicodemus is one of the people who retrieved Jesus’ body after the crucifixion, donated the expensive ointments and spices to prepare it for burial, and put Jesus’ body in the tomb.

Lazarus
A. Lazarus is famous because of a Bible school song that celebrates his life with the words, “Lazarus was a wee little man; a wee little man was he,” and something about him climbing up in a tree because Jesus he wanted to see.
B. Lazarus is famous for being raised from the dead by Jesus after he had died and been buried in a rocky tomb for four days.
C. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha, and all of them were dear friends of Jesus. When Jesus was talking to Mary and Martha about their brother’s death, there is a famous two word verse in the Bible that says, “Jesus wept.”
D. Jesus told a story once that contrasted a rich man and a poor man. Interestingly, in the story Jesus told, he gave the poor man the same name as one of his best friends, Lazarus, but he did not give the rich man an individual name. By giving the poor man the name and face of his beloved friend, Jesus’ story goes against the norm; many rich people have “made a name for themselves,” while “the poor” often go nameless, referred to as a group, or otherwise dehumanized.
E. The event of raising Lazarus from the dead was so shocking that many people instantly believed in Jesus, but it also caused the Jewish leaders to quickly decide that they must have Jesus killed or soon everyone would believe in him instead of their brand of more “traditional” religious leadership.

Mary Magdalene
A. Mary was the mother of Jesus, and probably Magdalene was her maiden name.
B. Mary Magdalene was not the same Mary who was Jesus’ mother. There was a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee called “Magdala,” which probably means she was from that town.
C. Mary Magdalene followed Jesus from place to place, and even though she is not formally listed as one of the twelve (all male) disciples, she is actually mentioned more often in the gospels than many of the male disciples.
D. Mary Magdalene stayed nearby even when Jesus was crucified; she was the first person to go to the tomb on Sunday morning, and to encounter the risen Christ; she is the one who ran back to tell the disciples that Jesus was risen.
E. Mary Magdalene became famous for catching more fish in a single day than all of the sons of Zebedee working together could catch in a week.

Herodias
A. Herodias was a pretty good writer and always wanted to write a book of the bible, but in spite of her best efforts, none of her writings ever made it into the final version of the bible we have today.
B. Herodias’ second marriage was to King Herod Antipas, the “King Herod” who had John the Baptist imprisoned and later beheaded, and also the same King Herod who had a role to play in the crucifixion of Jesus.
C. Herodias had a daughter from her previous marriage to King Herod’s half brother (she created a scandal by divorcing him, made worse when King Herod also divorced the wife he had at the time, so that he could marry Herodias). After Herodias’ daughter did a dance at a party that pleased King Herod, leading King Herod to promise that he would do anything for the young woman she asked, Herodias and her daughter demanded that King Herod have John the Baptist beheaded while he was in prison and immediately bring them his head on a platter. They didn’t like John the Baptist because he criticized Herodias’ and King Herod’s unseemly marriage, but until the women forced his hand, King Herod had not wanted to kill John the Baptist because he thought John was a holy man and popular with the crowds.
D. Herodias is the name of a rare carnivorous flower found in the upper mountain regions of the Middle East.
E. Herodias was the mother of three of the early disciples, best known for their singing ability, called “Peter, Paul, and Mary.”

Pharisees
A. The Pharisees were ancient sailors who lacked the experience or certification to sail on rough seas, thus the name Pharisees (“fair-seas”).
B. The Pharisees were a group of strict, by-the-book Jewish religious leaders who Jesus often criticized because they were so focused on keeping every tiny detail of the Jewish law that they failed to care about people in need. So he thought they were missing the main point of being religious people.
C. The Pharisees were offended by Jesus’ teachings, and so they were behind the plot to have Jesus killed.
D. Jesus told a story contrasting a Pharisee and a tax collector who came to the Temple to pray. The tax collector was a sinner, but said he was sorry and asked God for forgiveness. But the Pharisee pointed at the tax collector with spite, and proudly prayed, “Oh God, I thank you that I am not like that sinner over there.” Jesus said that the tax collector, who was humble, was the one God forgave, and that story is the kind that made the Pharisees angry at Jesus.
E. There were other groups of Jewish people besides Pharisees; for example, the Sadducees were a group that believed there was no afterlife (which I remember as a believe that is “sad, you see”), and the Zealots, who believed the Jewish people would get a military-style leader who would summon the help of angels to fight against the mighty Roman Empire and free the Jewish people from their oppression.

Paul (the Apostle)
A. Paul never met Jesus in Jesus’ earthly lifetime, but after having a spiritual encounter with the risen Christ, he suddenly converted from a devout Jewish man who persecuted Christians to the leading voice of his day trying to get people to become Christians.
B. Jesus told Peter that he was going to be the “Rock, upon which I build the church,” but Peter did not take the message beyond the small Jewish area of Palestine; by contrast, Paul traveled the known world at that time, preaching to Gentiles (non-Jewish people).
C. Because Paul was preaching to Gentiles, and Peter was preaching mainly to Jewish people, the two early church leaders came into conflict with each other about certain key beliefs, such as whether Christians were obligated to keep all of the Jewish laws.
D. Paul was old and had a white beard and his son was named Zebedee (I love that name!) He was also timid and mild-mannered–it was hard to figure out his true thoughts.
E. Paul was incredibly brave, venturesome, and bold–one of the most fascinating characters in ancient history. He was shipwrecked, frequently beaten, imprisoned, and nearly killed because of his beliefs. Yet as quickly as he arrived in a town, he started preaching, and often won enough converts to Christianity to start a brand new church; because of his extensive and constant travels, he then corresponded with those new churches by letter to answer their questions and encourage them to resolve their disputes.

Philemon
A. Philemon was a slaveholder who was also a Christian.
B. The Book of Philemon is a letter that the Apostle Paul sent to Philemon trying to get him to free and forgive his runaway, fugitive slave named Onesimus, who after running away had also become a Christian.
C. Philemon is the shortest letter that we have in the Bible that Paul wrote, and that is why it is the last of Paul’s letters in the Bible.
D. Philemon fell asleep while Paul was preaching, and fell backward out of a window, killing him. But Paul prayed and brought him back to life, and he never fell asleep in church again after that.
E. The book of Philemon does not tell us whether or not Philemon obeyed Paul’s request and freed the runaway slave Onesimus, but the book of Colossians mentions Onesimus as a “dear and faithful brother, who belongs to your group,” and that is a significant clue because Philemon was part of the church at Colossae–it therefore appears that Philemon did forgive him, free him, and accept him as a Christian brother instead of a slave, all because of their shared faith in Christ.