50 Fun Facts About Kings of Israel and Judah

Which tall young man, sent to find his father's lost donkeys, was anointed the first king of Israel?

Saul was found hiding among the baggage on the day he was to be presented as king, though he stood a head taller than anyone else.

What did the young David try on and then refuse to wear when he went out to fight Goliath?

The king's own armour, bronze helmet and coat of mail included, was untested in David's eyes, so he took it off and walked out with a staff, a sling and five smooth stones.

Which king of Israel settled two women's claim to the same baby by ordering the child cut in two?

Solomon never used the sword he called for: the real mother gave up her claim to save the child, and that told him whose baby it was.

King David sent which loyal soldier to die in battle so that he could marry the man's wife, Bathsheba?

Uriah carried his own death warrant: David sent him back to the front with a letter telling the commander to leave him exposed in the fiercest fighting.

Which Phoenician princess married King Ahab of Israel and filled his court with prophets of Baal?

Jezebel was a king's daughter herself: her father Ethbaal ruled the Sidonians, and hundreds of pagan prophets ate at her table.

Which rebel son of King David was killed after his head caught in the branches of an oak?

Absalom was famous for his heavy hair, cut and weighed once a year. David had ordered his commanders to deal gently with him, and wept when the news came.

Which prophet called down fire on Mount Carmel to defeat the prophets of Baal under King Ahab?

Elijah made the test harder for himself: he had the altar and its wood drenched with water three times over before the fire fell.

Which Babylonian king's army burned the first temple in Jerusalem and carried the people of Judah into exile?

Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem twice: he first carried off its young king and its craftsmen, then burned the city about a decade later after a revolt.

Which instrument did the young David play to soothe Israel's first king when a dark mood came over him?

A harp got David into the palace and nearly got him killed there: the king twice hurled a spear at him while he played.

Which foreign widow, the heroine of her own short biblical book, was King David's great-grandmother?

Ruth married the landowner Boaz after gleaning in his barley fields; their son Obed was the father of Jesse, David's father.

Which prophet, raised at Shiloh by the priest Eli, anointed both of Israel's first two kings?

Samuel had warned the people what a king would cost them, from their sons and daughters to a tenth of their flocks, but they demanded one anyway.

Which prophet confronted King David over Bathsheba with a story about a rich man stealing a poor man's lamb?

Nathan let David pass sentence on the rich man in the story before telling him he was that man. The king confessed on the spot.

Which son of Israel's first king became David's closest friend and warned him to flee with a signal of arrows?

Jonathan was heir to the throne, yet he took David's side against his own father, and later died beside that father fighting the Philistines.

Which king lost ten tribes after vowing to chastise his people with scorpions where his father used whips?

Rehoboam had asked two sets of advisers: the elders urged a gentle answer, but he took the hard line of the young men he had grown up with.

What did the first king of the breakaway northern kingdom set up at Bethel and Dan to rival Jerusalem?

Golden calves were a political move: he feared that subjects who kept going south to sacrifice would drift back to the house of David and kill him.

King Ahab sulked on his bed and refused to eat after Naboth of Jezreel would not sell him what?

A vineyard beside the palace was wanted for a vegetable garden. Naboth would not sell his family inheritance, so the queen had him framed and stoned.

Which king of Israel reigned for only seven days before burning the royal palace down around himself?

Zimri was a chariot commander who murdered his king during a drinking bout; the army in the field at once proclaimed its own general, Omri, instead.

Which king of Judah had a tunnel cut through rock to bring spring water inside Jerusalem's walls?

Hezekiah's Tunnel still runs 533 metres under Jerusalem, and an inscription found inside tells how two teams of diggers met in the middle.

Which king of Judah took the throne aged eight and began sweeping reforms after a lost law book was found?

Josiah tore his robes when the scroll was read to him, then held a Passover grander than any since the days of the judges.

Who was the only woman to rule Judah, seizing the throne by killing the royal heirs after her son died?

Athaliah reigned for six years, unaware that one infant grandson had been smuggled away and hidden in the temple; his coronation ended her rule and her life.

Which chariot commander, known for his furious driving, took Israel's throne after a prophet had him anointed?

Jehu is thought to be the figure bowing before Shalmaneser III on the Black Obelisk in the British Museum, the only known ancient portrayal of a king of Israel or Judah.

Which empire conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BC and deported its people?

Assyria took the capital after a three-year siege and scattered the population across its empire, which gave rise to the legend of the ten lost tribes.

In 2 Kings, which invading king loses 185,000 soldiers in one night outside Jerusalem and goes home to Nineveh?

Sennacherib's own annals boast of shutting Judah's king up in Jerusalem like a caged bird, and record a payment of tribute rather than the capture of the city.

Which king of Judah reigned for 55 years, the longest reign in the history of either kingdom?

Manasseh is the villain of 2 Kings, yet 2 Chronicles adds a twist: hauled off in chains to Babylon, he repented and was given his throne back.

King Uzziah of Judah was struck with which disease after trying to burn incense in the temple himself?

Leprosy broke out on his forehead while he raged at the priests who tried to stop him, and he lived apart in a separate house until he died.

Which infant prince was hidden in the temple for six years and crowned king of Judah at the age of seven?

Joash was saved by his aunt and raised in secret under the priest Jehoiada, who armed the guard and staged a coup to crown the boy.

Which Persian king's decree let the exiles of Judah go home and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem?

Cyrus also handed back the gold and silver temple vessels that had been carried off to Babylon decades earlier.

In which city did David rule the tribe of Judah for seven and a half years before taking Jerusalem?

Hebron, already revered as the burial place of Abraham and Sarah, was where the elders of every tribe came to make David king of the whole nation.

Which sacred object did King David bring into Jerusalem while dancing before it in a linen ephod?

The Ark of the Covenant came in to shouting and trumpet blasts, while David's wife watched from a window and despised him for leaping about.

King David is traditionally credited with writing nearly half of which book of the Bible?

Psalms names David in the headings of 73 of its 150 poems; others are credited to Asaph, the sons of Korah and even Moses.

In which town was the young David tending sheep when a prophet came to anoint one of Jesse's sons?

Bethlehem's elders trembled when the prophet arrived, and seven older brothers were passed over before the youngest was called in from the flock.

The queen of which land came to Jerusalem with camels of spices and gold to test a king's wisdom?

Sheba's queen went home saying that not even half of the king's wisdom and wealth had been told to her, and left him 120 talents of gold.

Which prophet was thrown into a muddy cistern for telling besieged Jerusalem to surrender to Babylon?

Jeremiah sank into the mud at the bottom, until an Ethiopian palace official had him hauled out with ropes padded with old rags.

Which hilltop city did King Omri buy for two talents of silver and build into the capital of northern Israel?

Samaria was named, 1 Kings says, after Shemer, the man who sold the hill, and it stayed the northern capital for the rest of the kingdom's life.

Israel's first king came from which small tribe, which later stayed with Judah when the kingdom split?

Benjamin, named for Jacob's youngest son, was so minor that the future king protested his family was the least in the smallest tribe.

Which overseer of forced labour fled to Egypt and returned to become first king of the northern kingdom?

Jeroboam had been told his future by a prophet who tore a new cloak into twelve pieces and handed him ten of them, one for each tribe he would rule.

Which last king of Judah saw his sons killed, was blinded and was led to Babylon in bronze chains?

Zedekiah owed his throne and even his name to Babylon, which had installed and renamed him; he rebelled anyway and was caught fleeing near Jericho.

Which daughter of Israel's first king married David and lowered him from a window to escape her father?

Michal bought David time by laying a household idol in his bed, with goat hair at its head, and telling the guards he was ill.

Israel's first king was rejected by God for sparing the king and the best livestock of which enemy people?

Amalekites were meant to be wiped out, but the king kept the best sheep and oxen; the prophet heard the bleating and said that obedience beats sacrifice.

Which quick-witted wife of the wealthy fool Nabal talked David out of a massacre and later married him?

Abigail rode out to meet David's armed band with loaves, wine, sheep and fig cakes. Her husband died about ten days later, and David sent for her.

How did King Ahab try to cheat a prophecy of death at Ramoth-gilead, where a random arrow killed him anyway?

He wore a disguise instead of his royal robes, but an archer shooting at random hit a gap in his mail and he bled to death in his chariot.

At which fortress city on the edge of the Jezreel Valley did Pharaoh Necho kill a reforming king of Judah?

Megiddo saw so many ancient battles that the word Armageddon is usually traced to its Hebrew name, Har Megiddo.

Which king of Tyre sent cedar logs and craftsmen for both David's palace and the first temple in Jerusalem?

Hiram was paid in wheat and olive oil, and later received twenty towns in Galilee that pleased him so little he gave the district a scornful name.

On the eve of his final battle, Israel's first king secretly visited a medium by night in which town?

Endor's medium was wary because the king himself had driven her trade out of the land; the spirit she raised told him he would die the next day.

In which Philistine city did the fugitive David pretend to be insane in front of King Achish?

Gath was the home town of Goliath, so David had reason to be afraid there; he scratched at the gate and let spit run down his beard until the king dismissed him.

From which people did King David capture the stronghold of Zion that became his capital, Jerusalem?

Jebusites were so sure of their walls that they jeered that even the blind and the lame could keep David out.

Who was the last king of the northern kingdom of Israel, jailed for plotting with Egypt against his overlord?

Hoshea had taken the throne by killing his predecessor, then stopped paying tribute and sent envoys to Egypt; his capital fell after a three-year siege.

Which pharaoh raided Jerusalem five years after Israel split in two and carried off the palace's gold shields?

Shishak is usually identified with Shoshenq I, whose list of conquered towns is carved at Karnak; Judah's king replaced the lost shields with bronze ones.

King Mesha, whose victory stone in the Louvre boasts of ending Israel's rule, reigned over which kingdom?

Moab's king was a sheep breeder who had paid Israel a huge tribute of lambs and wool; his inscription names Omri as the oppressor of his land.

Which prophetess did Judah's high priest consult about a law book found during repairs to the temple?

Huldah, wife of the keeper of the wardrobe, confirmed the scroll's warnings and said the disaster would wait until the king was in his grave.