Following Strange Commands

In the Bible, God sometimes told his people to do unusual things without knowing the outcome. Match these commands with the person to whom God spoke them.

1. This prophet was told to act out his prophecies by lying on his left side for 390 days, then his right side for 40 days.

A. Jeremiah
B. Elisha
C. Ezekiel
D. Elijah

2. God asked this follower of Christ to seek out his enemy, the chief persecutor of Christians, and pray with him.

A. Stephen
B. Ananias
C. Luke
D. Philip

3. This man walked stripped and barefoot through the streets of Jerusalem for three years at God's command.

A. Isaiah
B. Job
C. John the Baptist
D. Simon

4. This commander was given specific instructions that would destroy an enemy city's walls without touching them.

A. Gideon
B. Joshua
C. David
D. Samson

5. This devout Jew, who had kept Old Testament dietary laws all his life, was told to eat a banquet of forbidden foods.

A. Saul
B. Barnabas
C. Timothy
D. Peter

6. God told this man to pray for his friends after they falsely accused him of sin.

A. Joseph
B. Moses
C. Job
D. Amos

7. After directing him to journey down a specific road, God commanded this Jewish believer to approach a foreign dignitary's chariot.

A. John
B. Philip
C. Mark
D. Matthew

1. C. Ezekiel (Ezek. 4). Exiled to Babylon, this prophet's symbolic acts dramatized his divided nation's sin and the reasons for their punishment. The 390 days represented the 390 years Israel had worshiped the golden calves; the 40 days, the years the nation of Judah's sin and idolatry.

2. B. Ananias (Acts 9:10-19). Ananias would risk his life by meeting Saul of Tarsus, who had authority to arrest all believers. But Saul, who had been blinded, not only received his sight as Ananias prayed, but was also filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized.

3. A. Isaiah (Isa. 20). The prophet's shameful behavior illustrated his own nation's shameful actions in putting their trust in foreign military alliances instead of in God. The King of Assyria would soon lead Israel's allies away stripped and barefoot.

4. B. Joshua (Josh. 6). The Israelites' first conquest in the Promised Land would be God's. Joshua's troops marched silently around Jericho's walls on the first six days, but the priests blew the rams' horns, announcing God's presence. On the seventh day, the walls fell.

5. D. Peter (Acts 10:9-23). God commanded Peter to disobey strict dietary laws to prepare him to preach the gospel to the Roman centurion, Cornelius. Jesus had come to "destroy the barrier" between Jew and Gentile "by abolishing ? the law with its ? regulations" (Eph. 2:14).

6. C. Job (Job 42:7-10). His friends had implied Job was suffering because he had sinned against God and man. Angry with them for misrepresenting him, God appointed Job as their mediator.

7. B. Philip (Acts 8:26-29). Philip's obedience led to the conversion and baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, a divine message that God would go to any measure to bring individuals into his kingdom.

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