70 Fun Facts About Bible Heroes

Which judge killed a thousand Philistines with the fresh jawbone of a donkey?

He later named the spot Ramath Lehi, 'the hill of the jawbone', and God opened a spring there when he cried out for water.

God told which judge to keep only the men who lapped water like dogs, and send the rest of his army home?

His tiny force attacked the Midianite camp at night with trumpets, empty jars and torches, and the enemy fled in panic.

Which Philistine champion did the shepherd boy strike in the forehead with a stone from his sling?

He had refused Saul's armour because he had not tested it, and picked five smooth stones from the brook.

Who told King Darius that God had sent an angel to shut the lions' mouths?

The men who plotted against him were then thrown to the same lions, along with their families.

Which prophet's Mount Carmel sacrifice was consumed by fire from heaven that even licked up the trench water?

He had the altar drenched with twelve jars of water first, so nobody could accuse him of trickery.

Which queen was asked whether she had come to the kingdom 'for such a time as this'?

Approaching the king uninvited was punishable by death, so she asked the Jews of Susa to fast for three days first.

Who was told to build a ship 300 cubits long, 50 wide and 30 high?

That works out to roughly 137 metres long, or about one and a half football pitches.

Which patriarch, about to sacrifice his son, saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket?

He named the place 'Yahweh Will Provide'; the mountain, Moriah, is traditionally linked to the site of the later Temple.

Which former prisoner did Pharaoh set 'over all the land of Egypt'?

He was 30 years old and had just interpreted Pharaoh's dreams of fat and thin cows.

Who said to her mother-in-law, 'Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay'?

She was a Moabite widow, and her loyalty led her to Bethlehem, a new husband and a place in the family line of David.

Which prophet spent three days and three nights inside a great fish?

He was fleeing a mission to preach in Nineveh; when he finally went, the whole city repented and he sulked about it.

Which royal cupbearer asked the Persian king to send him to rebuild the city of his fathers' tombs?

He served King Artaxerxes and finished Jerusalem's walls despite ridicule and threats from local governors.

Who drove a tent peg through the temple of the sleeping general Sisera?

Barak arrived in pursuit only to find the enemy commander already dead, exactly as the prophetess had said a woman would get the credit.

Which woman of Jericho hid the two spies that Joshua sent to view the land?

She lowered them from a window in the city wall and marked her house with a scarlet cord so it would be spared.

Which prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel under a palm tree?

She summoned Barak to fight Sisera and went into battle with him when he refused to go alone.

Which left-handed judge hid a sword on his right thigh and killed King Eglon of Moab?

The overweight king's servants assumed he was relieving himself and waited so long that the killer escaped.

Which judge struck down 600 Philistines with an ox goad?

He gets a single verse in the book of Judges, making him one of the least-known deliverers of Israel.

Which judge made a rash vow to sacrifice whatever came out of his door first if he beat the Ammonites?

It was his only child, a daughter, who came out dancing to meet him.

Which of the twelve spies said 'Let us go up at once, and possess it'?

He and Joshua were the only two adults of that generation allowed to enter Canaan; at 85 he asked for the hill country of Hebron.

Which boy answered God's call in the night with 'Speak; for your servant hears'?

He was serving under the old priest Eli at Shiloh and became the prophet who anointed Israel's first two kings.

Which sister of Aaron led the women in dancing with tambourines after the crossing of the Red Sea?

As a girl she had watched over her baby brother's basket in the reeds of the Nile.

Which farmer, called while plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, became a prophet's successor?

He cooked the oxen over the plowing gear and threw a farewell feast for the people before following his new master.

What creatures brought the prophet bread and meat morning and evening beside the brook Cherith?

The brook eventually dried up in the drought he had prophesied, and he moved on to a widow in Zarephath.

What separated the prophet from his companion just before he was taken up to heaven by a whirlwind?

His companion picked up the fallen mantle and received a double portion of his spirit.

How many times did Naaman dip in the Jordan, on the prophet's orders, to cure his leprosy?

Naaman was furious that his rivers back home in Damascus weren't good enough, until his servants talked him round.

Who was the first Christian martyr, stoned while praying 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit'?

A young man who would become the church's greatest missionary guarded the coats of the men who stoned him.

Who fell to the ground on the road to Damascus and heard 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'

Blinded for three days, he was healed when Ananias laid hands on him, and became the church's greatest missionary.

Which disciple stepped out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus?

He began to sink when he noticed the wind, and Jesus caught him with the words 'You of little faith'.

Which Levite from Cyprus did the apostles nickname 'Son of Encouragement'?

He vouched for the newly converted persecutor when the Jerusalem church was afraid of him and later travelled with him.

Which tentmaking couple, expelled from Rome by Claudius, hosted the apostle to the Gentiles in Corinth?

They later corrected the eloquent preacher Apollos, and the apostle said all the Gentile churches owed them thanks.

Which young disciple from Lystra, son of a Jewish mother and Greek father, is addressed in two New Testament letters?

He was circumcised as an adult to avoid offending Jewish audiences, and is called 'my true child in the faith'.

Whose soul was 'knit with the soul of David' so that he loved him as his own soul?

He was the crown prince, yet he gave David his robe, sword and bow and later helped him escape his own father.

Which king of Judah began to reign at the age of eight?

At 26 he ordered Temple repairs, the Book of the Law was rediscovered, and he launched a sweeping religious reform.

Which king smashed the bronze serpent Moses had made, calling it Nehushtan?

He also dug the tunnel that still carries water into Jerusalem, and survived Sennacherib's Assyrian siege.

Which king of Judah sent singers ahead of his army and watched his enemies destroy each other?

The battle at Tekoa took three days just to collect the plunder.

Who 'walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him', without dying?

He was the father of Methuselah, the longest-lived man in the Bible at 969 years.

After the exile interpreted his forgotten dream, Nebuchadnezzar praised his God as a "revealer of" what?

The dream statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay was smashed by a stone cut without hands.

Which of David's mighty men went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion?

He also killed a huge Egyptian with the man's own spear and later became Solomon's army commander.

Which intelligent and beautiful woman talked David out of slaughtering Nabal's household?

She met David with 200 loaves, wine, sheep and raisin cakes; after Nabal died she became David's wife.

What did David secretly cut off from King Saul in the cave, rather than kill him?

He was conscience-stricken even about that, saying he would not raise his hand against the Lord's anointed.

Which scribe 'skilled in the law of Moses' led a group of exiles home from Babylon?

He read the Law aloud to the people from a wooden platform for hours, and they wept as they heard it.

Who adopted his orphaned cousin Hadassah as his own daughter?

He uncovered a plot against the king, refused to bow to Haman, and ended up riding the king's own horse in honour.

Which woman, mistaken for a drunk by the priest Eli, named her son 'because I have asked him of Yahweh'?

The priest Eli had thought she was drunk when he saw her lips moving in silent prayer.

Who married the Moabite widow after acting as her kinsman-redeemer, becoming great-grandfather of David?

He had already ordered his harvesters to drop extra grain for her to glean.

Who held up the heavy hands of Moses so that Israel would keep winning against Amalek?

Whenever his hands dropped, Amalek gained the upper hand, so they sat him on a stone and propped up his arms until sunset.

What 'stood still' and 'stayed' in the sky during Israel's battle at Gibeon?

The text says there was never a day like it before or since, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man.

What fell off the imprisoned apostle's hands when an angel struck him on the side in Herod's prison?

He then knocked at Mary's house, where a servant girl named Rhoda was so excited she left him standing at the gate.

In Babylon, the young captive resolved not to defile himself with what?

He and his three friends ate vegetables and water for ten days and looked healthier than everyone else.

What did the Nazirite strongman tear apart with his bare hands on the road to Timnah?

He later found bees and honey in the carcass, which inspired the riddle he set at his wedding feast.

How many men did God tell Israel's commander to keep for the attack on Midian, sending the rest home?

The chosen few were those who lapped water from their hands rather than kneeling to drink.

What was the height of the Philistine champion from Gath?

That is roughly 9 feet 9 inches; the Dead Sea Scrolls version gives a shorter 'four cubits and a span'.

Where did the mother of the baby Moses put him when she could no longer hide him?

Pharaoh's daughter found him in the reeds and unknowingly hired his own mother as his wet nurse.

What did the enslaved hero of the Philistine story lose when Delilah had his hair shaved off?

The Philistines then gouged out his eyes and set him grinding grain in a Gaza prison.

How many days did it take Jerusalem's wall to be rebuilt under the cupbearer-turned-governor?

The workers built with one hand and held a weapon in the other because of threats from Sanballat and Tobiah.

For how many pieces of silver was the favoured son sold by his brothers to the Ishmaelites?

His brothers dipped his coat in goat's blood and told their father a wild animal had killed him.

How many sheep did Job own before his troubles began?

He also had 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys, making him the greatest man of the East.

What did Nebuchadnezzar say the fourth man in the fiery furnace looked like?

The three came out with not even the smell of smoke on them, and the king promoted them.

How did Solomon propose to settle the dispute between two women claiming the same baby?

The real mother begged him to give the child to the other woman rather than kill it, revealing herself.

What did the dove bring back to the ark in its mouth to show the waters had receded?

A week later it was sent out again and did not return at all.

How many days and nights did it rain during the Flood?

The waters kept rising for 150 days after that before the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

What appeared on the palace wall during Belshazzar's feast?

The words Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin were read by the same exile who had once interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dreams.

What sign did Israel's reluctant deliverer ask for as proof that God would save Israel by his hand?

The next night he asked for the reverse, a dry fleece on wet ground, and got that too.

Which queen did Jehu order thrown from a palace window at Jezreel?

She had watched him with contempt from the window and mockingly compared him to the usurper Zimri before her own eunuchs obeyed Jehu.

Moses' assistant and successor as leader of the Israelites was the son of which man?

In Islam he is remembered as Yusha bin Nun, the 'attendant' who accompanies Moses in the Quran before the meeting with Khidr.

Which Assyrian king invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem in 701 BC?

Assyrian records say the siege was lifted after Judah paid tribute; the Bible says the king even stripped the Temple doors to raise the silver and gold.

How many youths from Bethel were mauled by two bears after mocking a prophet's baldness?

The bald prophet was Elijah's successor, who had just purified the spring at Jericho and cursed the jeering boys in the name of Yahweh.

What did a king of Judah build to bring spring water inside Jerusalem before the Assyrian siege?

The Siloam Tunnel channelled water from a spring outside the walls, part of a programme of fortifying towers and walls ahead of Sennacherib's arrival.

After Jericho fell, the Israelites suffered their first defeat at which small neighbouring city?

Thirty-six Israelites died in the setback, later blamed on Achan's theft of devoted plunder from Jericho.

Which prophetess confirmed the authenticity of the Book of the Law found during Temple repairs?

She assured the young king the foretold judgment would come, but not in his day, because his heart had been tender and he had humbled himself.

How many heads of Ahab's princes were piled outside the gate of Jezreel on Jehu's orders?

The chief men of Samaria did the killing and stacked the heads in two heaps, completing the extermination of the house of Ahab.