Session 6 Study Questions

Question 1

There were Philistines present in Canaan during the time of Abraham, but when did the second wave of Philistines, the Sea Peoples, begin?

Answer 1

about 1200 BC

Question 2

For about how long did the cyclical pattern of the judges affect Israel’s history?

Answer 2

more than 300 years

Question 3

On what assumption was the religion of Canaan based?

Answer 3

The forces of nature are expressions of divine presence and activity. One can identify the gods responsible for each phenomenon, and then proper ritual can encourage them to do what the worshipper desires.

Question 4

Who was the head of the Canaanite pantheon, and what was he like?

Answer 4

El was almost impersonal, a transcendent, powerful, benevolent father figure, with little or no interest in human affairs.

Question 5

Who was the Amorite storm god whose identity became associated with Baal?

Answer 5

Hadad

Question 6

How does Merrill describe the nature of Israel’s apostasy?

Answer 6

Turning from Yahweh, the real source of prosperity and fertility, to the figment of depraved imaginations, a disloyal and covenant rebellion - “whoring after other gods.”

Question 7

According to Merrill, what was the nature and function of a judge?

Answer 7

Selected and empowered by Yahweh alone to serve as a military leader and protector.

Question 8

Who was king of Moab whom Ehud, the left-handed judge, killed what a dagger to expel the oppression that came from him in the area near Jericho?

Answer 8

Eglon, a very fat man

Question 9

How many Moabites were killed after Ehud’s assassinating the king of Moab, when they tried to flee across the Jordan to return to Moab?

Answer 9

about 10,000 (slain to the last man)

Question 10

Deborah and Barak assembled on what mountain in order to attach the forces of Jabin, king of Hazor?

Answer 10

Mount Tabor

Question 11

Who was the general who was killed by Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite?

Answer 11

Sisera

Question 12

How many men were with Gideon when he attacked the 120,000 Midianite invaders, surprising them by blaring trumpets, smashing jars, and shining torches?

Answer 12

300 men

Question 13

Who was the father of Abimelech (“my father is king”) who was the oppressive “judge” who ruled from Schechem, and was financed with funds from Baal-Berith?

Answer 13

Gideon was the father (by a Shechemite concubine)

Question 14

How many years did Jephthah the judge live after he defeated and expelled the Ammonites?

Answer 14

6 years

Question 15

Who were the three women who brought trouble into Samson’s life?

Answer 15

Philistine maiden from Timnah
Prostitute at Gaza
Delilah

Question 16

According to Merrill, why do critical scholars refuse to view the Samson stories as history?

Answer 16

Because of the superhero exploits Samson did. They prefer to describe them as sagas, designed to enhance the reputation of Yahweh.

Question 17

What is meant by the “Bethlehem trilogy” of stories?

Answer 17

1. Micah and the Levite - Dan took the Levite to be their tribal priest in northern Dan.
2. The Levite from Ephraim - follows his concubine to Bethlehem, to bring her back, but he allows her to be raped to death by homosexual Benjaminites.
3. Ruth - who comes from Moab with Naomi, and eventually marries aged Boaz to produce a son Obed, grandfather of David.

Question 18

What is signifiant about Jabesh Gilead, which ties the town to the Benjaminites and to kin Saul?

Answer 18

Men of Jabesh Gilead were killed to provide wives to Benjaminites. Saul in his early victory delivered Jabesh Gilead from an Ammonite threat.

Question 19

Compare Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth

Answer 19

Tamar was a foreigner who bore Perez, the illegitimate yet chosen son of Judah.

Rahab, the Canaanite harlot, bore Boaz to Salmon, of the tribe of Judah.

Ruth, the Moabite convert, marries Boaz, her redeemer, and bore their son, Obed, the grandfather of David.

All became part of the physical lineage leading to Jesus the Christ.

Question 20

Who was Moab, the ancestor from whom the Moabites descended?

Answer 20

Moab was the son of Lot through the incest with Lot’s oldest daughter when Lot was drunk.

Question 21

True or False: According to Merrill, Samuel’s initial “negative attitude toward kingship” was really with the character of the kingship demanded by the people (the wrong desire to be like all the other people, and the wrong timing by refusing to wait for the man of God’s own choosing).

Answer 21

TRUE

Question 22

Samuel’s initial contact with Saul came about because Saul was searching for lost what?

Answer 22

donkeys

Question 23

What three signs did Saul encounter after he had been anointed by Samuel?

Answer 23

1. Two men near Rachel’s sepulcher would tell him that the lost animals had been found.
2. Three men on their way to worship at Bethel would give him two loaves of bread.
3. At Gibeon, Saul would join a procession of prophets, singing and playing.

Question 24

What city did Saul deliver from the Ammonites who threatened to put out the right eyes of the city’s inhabitants?

Answer 24

Jabesh Gilead

Question 25

What was Saul’s rash oath that made him willing to kill his own son Jonathan?

Answer 25

Jonathan started a victory against the Philistines, and when the Philistines began to move away, Saul commanded that no one want until Saul’s victory was complete. Jonathan did not hear this oath, and he took some honey and was strengthened.

Question 26

In what way did Saul fail when he defeated the Amalekites in battle?

Answer 26

Saul spared the king Agag, and many of the better animals.

Question 27

What four suggestions does Merrill make to account for Saul’s inquiry into the identity of David and his family?

Answer 27

1. Time might have elapsed, and adolescents sometimes change drastically in a year or two.
2. Saul’s unstable mental and emotional condition might have become aggravated in this time of stress.
3. Because David’s family would become free from taxation, Saul may have inquired regarding the identity of that family.
4. Because David would marry Saul’s daughter, Saul might have also inquired after the family.

Question 28

What are three indications that Jonathan’s covenant with David was actually deferring to Yahweh’s selection of David as future king?

Answer 28

1. Jonathan pledged to David; the covenant was not mutual.
2. Jonathan clothed David in his royal attire.
3. Jonathan made the covenant with David and with the Davidic dynasty after him.

Question 29

How did Abiathar the high priest lose his position as priest?

Answer 29

Abiathar sided with Adonijah against Solomon, to prevent if possible Solomon from becoming king.

Question 30

Who was the husband of Abigail, the wife who interceded with David to calm his outrage against her husband and his men?

Answer 30

Nabal, who lived at Maon, and whose sheep had been grazing at Carmel

Question 31

What factors may have contributed to a climate of mutual trust between Achish of Gath and David, in order for David and his men to become “vassels” at Ziklag?

Answer 31

1. The rift between Saul and David left Saul without military leadership to eliminate the Philistine threat.
2. David must have conducted himself in such a way that the Philistines thought he meant to them no further harm.
3. David convinced Achish that David pledged submission in return for protection from Saul.

Question 32

Why did David kill the Amalekite runner who informed him of the death of Saul and his sons on the battlefield?

Answer 32

Because the Amalekite claimed that he himself had killed Saul as an act of mercy.

Question 33

Josiah’s mother’s name was Jedidah, which means what?

Answer 33

beloved

Question 34

In what year did Josiah begin “to seek after the God of David his father”?

Answer 34

in the 8th year of Josiah’s reign

Question 35

In what year did Josiah begin “to purge Judah and Jerusalem” from idolatry, from Sodomites, and from using the chariots of the son?

Answer 35

in the 12th year of Josiah’s reign

Question 36

In what year was the “book of the law” discovered while the Temple was being repaired?

Answer 36

In the 18th year of Josiah’s reign. It seems clear that the reforms of Josiah started well before the discovery of the “book of the law”.

Question 37

What is Woychuk’s view of the origin of the Pentateuch?

Answer 37

It is certain that all five books of the Pentateuch were in circulation long before Josiah’s day. Hilkiah recovered probably all the sacred books of the Law.

Question 38

What was Josiah’s response when he heard the Living Word of the living God?

Answer 38

He was struck with an overwhelming sense of his own sin and of that of his people.

Question 39

Who read in the ears of all the assembly “all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord”?

Answer 39

King Josiah himself

Question 40

What festival did Josiah first order the people to keep when he understood from the Law how it was to be observed?

Answer 40

the Passover

Question 41

How long did Joash serve the Lord?

Answer 41

all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

Question 42

How did king Joash die?

Answer 42

Joash was assassinated, and his servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and slew Joash in the house of Millo, which goeth down to Silla.

Question 43

Why did Amaziah, the son of assassinated king Joash, not kill all the families of the assassins?

Answer 43

Because Amaziah obeyed God’s law. (Deut. 24:16 - the fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers).

Question 44

How did Amaziah the son of king Joash die?

Answer 44

He was assassinated.