Comprehensive Judges 1 Quiz: Questions and Answers

Answer 1: C: Judah succeeded against the mountain but failed in the valley, and the chapter states the reason plainly: the inhabitants there had chariots of iron. The Lord was with Judah when he drove out those in the mountain; the text does not say the Lord withdrew.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:19 (KJV): “And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.”

Answer 2: A: Adonibezek said that seventy kings, each with their thumbs and great toes cut off, had gathered their meat under his table. He recognized this as God’s repayment for what he had done to those kings. The seventy kings are not described as going to Jerusalem; it was Adonibezek alone who was brought there after his capture.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:7 (KJV): “And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me.”

Answer 3: E: Othniel the son of Kenaz was Caleb’s younger brother. He took Kirjathsepher and received Achsah as his wife. He was not Caleb’s nephew or son; the text identifies him plainly as Caleb’s younger brother.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:13 (KJV): “And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.”

Answer 4: D: The house of Joseph attacked Bethel, whose former name was Luz. Kirjatharba was the former name of Hebron, and Kirjathsepher was the former name of Debir; each of these three cities had a distinct prior name given in this chapter.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:23 (KJV): “And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)”

Answer 5: C: After pursuing and catching Adonibezek, they cut off his thumbs and his great toes. He was later brought to Jerusalem, where he died, but the act performed at the moment of capture was the mutilation described in verse 6.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:6 (KJV): “But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.”

Answer 6: A: Caleb gave Achsah both the upper springs and the nether springs when she asked him for water. She explained that she had already been given a south land, and Caleb responded by giving her both kinds of springs. The south land was hers before this exchange; the springs were given in addition to it.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:15 (KJV): “And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.”

Answer 7: E: The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem, and the text says the Jebusites continued to dwell there alongside Benjamin. Judah had earlier fought against Jerusalem and taken it, but it was in Benjamin’s territory where the Jebusites remained afterward.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:21 (KJV): “And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.”

Answer 8: B: The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain and would not allow them to come down into the valley. This reverses the pattern seen elsewhere in the chapter, where it is Israel that fails to act against the enemy. Dan drove no one into the mountain; it was the Amorites who pressed Dan back into retreat.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:34 (KJV): “And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:”

Answer 9: C: Caleb promised his daughter Achsah in marriage to whoever struck Kirjathsepher and took it. The reward was Achsah herself, not the city or a portion of land; Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, won the city and received Achsah as his wife.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:12 (KJV): “And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.”

Answer 10: B: The children of the Kenite went up out of the city of palm trees to join the children of Judah. The wilderness of Judah in the south of Arad was their destination, not their point of departure.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:16 (KJV): “And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.”

Answer 11: E: The man left for the land of the Hittites, built a city there, and named it Luz, the same name Bethel had carried before it was conquered. He gave his city Bethel’s old name, not the name Bethel itself. He and all his family were spared because he had shown the entrance to the city.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:26 (KJV): “And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.”

Answer 12: D: The chapter notes that the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba. Kirjathsepher was the former name of Debir, and Luz was the former name of Bethel; each city had its own prior name recorded in this chapter.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:10 (KJV): “And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.”

Answer 13: A: Judah’s proposal was mutual: come fight with me in my lot, and I will likewise fight with you in your lot. The chapter makes clear this was a reciprocal arrangement, not a promise of land, spoils, or protection.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:3 (KJV): “And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him.”

Answer 14: C: Judah and Simeon together attacked Zephath, utterly destroyed it, and the city was renamed Hormah. This was a total destruction, not a conquest with tribute imposed or a transfer to another tribe.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:17 (KJV): “And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.”

Answer 15: B: When Israel was strong, they put the Canaanites to tribute rather than driving them out. The text presents this as a failure: the stated command was to drive them out, not to extract tribute from them.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:28 (KJV): “And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.”

Answer 16: A: The battle at Bezek produced ten thousand men slain. The number seventy appears later in the same chapter in reference to the kings whom Adonibezek himself had mutilated, not the casualties at Bezek.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:4 (KJV): “And Judah went up; and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.”

Answer 17: E: The Amorites had forced Dan into the mountain and would not let them down into the valley, but the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed over those same Amorites, bringing them to tributary status. Dan could not accomplish this in their own territory.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:35 (KJV): “But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.”

Answer 18: D: Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, and they continued living among them there. Manasseh’s failure involved Bethshean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo, not Gezer.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:29 (KJV): “Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.”

Answer 19: C: After his thumbs and great toes were cut off at Bezek, Adonibezek was brought to Jerusalem, and he died there. Bezek was the site of his capture and mutilation, not his death.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:7 (KJV): “And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.”

Answer 20: A: The children of the Kenite who went up with Judah are identified as the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law. They departed from the city of palm trees and settled in the wilderness of Judah in the south of Arad. The name Kenaz, which belongs to Othniel’s father, is not related to the Kenites; the text names Moses’ father-in-law as their ancestor.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:16 (KJV): “And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.”

Answer 21: E: Zebulun did not drive out the Canaanites of Kitron and Nahalol; instead they continued to dwell among Zebulun and became tributaries. The Canaanites did dwell among Zebulun, but the text specifies their status was one of tribute, not free coexistence.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:30 (KJV): “Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.”

Answer 22: B: When Achsah came to Othniel, she moved him to petition her father Caleb for a field. She then went herself and asked Caleb for springs of water. The field request came first, and the spring request came after she dismounted and spoke to Caleb directly.
KJV Reference: Judges 1:14 (KJV): “And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou?”