Heroines of the Old Testament: Their Stories

I recently completed the Inspirational Fiction Series Daughters of the Promised Land by Jill Eileen Smith.  This four-part series is a fictional re-telling of the four Biblical heroines based on the Old Testament books Joshua, Judges, and I Samuel.   This author re-tells the life stories of Rahab a prostitute who lived in Canaan, Deborah, a prophetess and judge of Israel, Ruth, Moabite daughter-in-law of a Hebrew woman Naomi and Hannah, the mother of Samuel who was the last judge of Israel. These women lived during the time of Israel’s conquest of the Canaanite nation and the time of the judges who ruled Israel. This series is accurate with the biblical events and people, and Jill Eileen Smith has added fictitious events and characters that make this series enjoyable to read. 

Take this quiz and see if you can recognize what events and people are from the biblical accounts and what is the author’s retelling.  Choose A for the biblical account and B for the author’s retelling. The answers to this quiz will be listed at the end of this blog.

A. Rahab

1. Rahab was sold into prostitution to pay her husband’s debts.
2. Rabab falls in love with one of the Israelite spies that she helped before the fall of her home city of Jericho.

B. Deborah

1. Israel’s army leader Barak refused to battle the Canaanite general Sisera without Deborah’s presence.
2. Deborah’s husband’s name was Lappidoth.

C. Ruth

1. Naomi's husband Elimelech decided to move from Israel to Moab because of a famine in Israel.
2. Boaz who allowed Ruth to glean in his fields was widowed.

D. Hannah

1. Hannah was persecuted by her husband’s other wife because she had many children and Hannah herself was barren.
2. Hannah’s husband married another woman because of the pressure from his parents to have children in any way that he could.

The Crimson Cord

The Prophetess

Redeeming Grace

A Passionate Hope

Answers

A. Rahab

1. B
2. B

B. Deborah

1. A
2. A

C. Ruth

1. A
2. B

D. Hannah

1. A
2. B