The king sent this reply: To Rehum the commanding officer, Shimshai the secretary and the rest of their associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates: Greetings.

• Ezra 4:17

So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.

• Nehemiah 2:9

During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

• Esther 2:21

the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses.

• Ezekiel 23:23

The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed.

• Acts 16:38

He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

• Acts 21:32

The End Times Quiz series, at least the birth pains, is complete.  But I am continuing the people of war quizzes, every other week.  We have looked at Commander, Leader, Soldier, and Warrior.  There should be enough references to centurion and spy (spies) to keep these quizzes going.  There are twelve references to sailor, not all military, but that is a possibility.

Having “officer” in a sentence does not mean that the officer is a military officer.  He could be an officer of a different government department

This quiz is made up of ten questions about verses mentioning an “officer.”

The verses are in biblical order.  All questions are from the Old Testament, except for the last two.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What were the 600 Egyptian chariots with officers chasing in the first mention of officer in the NIV?
2	What happened to the best of the officers in question 1?
3	What did the officers do that made Moses angry when they sought revenge against the Midianites in order to cleanse the Israelite camp after a plague?
4	When David continued to succeed in battle each time Saul gave him a mission to accomplish, what pleased the troops and officers?
5	Where did David obtain the gold shields that eventually went to the temple?
6	God wanted to prove to evil King Ahab that He was God, and not the false gods Ahab and Jezebel worshipped.  He sent a prophet to proclaim Ahab would defeat Ben-Hadad using what type of officers under provincial commanders?
7	Elisha gave the king a prophecy that signified a “great harvest” when there was both a drought and Samaria was being besieged.  The officer scoffed that God could not pull that off.  Elisha then prophesied that he would see it, but not eat any of it.  How did Elisha’s prophecy about the officer come to pass?
8	Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be killed.  Daniel asked the officers why this order was made.  What was the reason?
9	Judas went before the chief priests and officers of what group to decide how to betray Jesus and later he went with those officers to do what they had planned?
10	Who visited Festus with Bernice by his side, causing Festus to gather an audience of high ranking officers and other officials, and they brought the prisoner Paul before this person?

My military training became interwoven with my life.  I was accused of having military bearing at times.  My wife accused me of acting like an officer when I disciplined the children, but if she had dealt with the issue before I got home, I could have been the fun Dad when I got home.  She preserved that role of being the fun Mom and then telling me the boys had been naughty when I got home from work.

And my old war stories become fond memories when it becomes story telling time, and the stories are true.

But I never felt like an officer in the Army.  I did my job.  I followed orders.  I kept the mission at the forefront when there were conflicts in orders.

And the NCOs under me and those in other units within the company trusted me more than they did the other officers.  In my mind, that showed how poor of an officer I was when the troops trusted me, but all the career officers were not to be trusted.  I was definitely doing something different.

Maybe it was Jesus within me, otherwise, I simply was not the kind of officer that the troops expected.

But to illustrate how I did not fit in, the photo above is the only officer in the battalion who smiled, and the idiot even gave a toothy smile. Definitely not like any of the other officers. It stood out when they combined all the photos to show all the commissioned officers in the unit. Sorry, I did not get that memo.

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What were the 600 Egyptian chariots with officers chasing in the first mention of officer in the NIV?	Exodus 14:7
2	What happened to the best of the officers in question 1?	Exodus 15:4
3	What did the officers do that made Moses angry when they sought revenge against the Midianites in order to cleanse the Israelite camp after a plague?	Numbers 31:14-15
4	When David continued to succeed in battle each time Saul gave him a mission to accomplish, what pleased the troops and officers?	1 Samuel 18:5
5	Where did David obtain the gold shields that eventually went to the temple?	2 Samuel 8:7
6	God wanted to prove to evil King Ahab that He was God, and not the false gods Ahab and Jezebel worshipped.  He sent a prophet to proclaim Ahab would defeat Ben-Hadad using what type of officers under provincial commanders?	1 Kings 20:14
7	Elisha gave the king a prophecy that signified a “great harvest” when there was both a drought and Samaria was being besieged.  The officer scoffed that God could not pull that off.  Elisha then prophesied that he would see it, but not eat any of it.  How did Elisha’s prophecy about the officer come to pass?	2 Kings 7:2
8	Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be killed.  Daniel asked the officers why this order was made.  What was the reason?	Daneil 2:12-16
9	Judas went before the chief priests and officers of what group to decide how to betray Jesus and later he went with those officers to do what they had planned?	Luke 22:4, 52
10	Who visited Festus with Bernice by his side, causing Festus to gather an audience of high ranking officers and other officials, and they brought the prisoner Paul before this person?	Acts 25:23

Oxford language gives the first definition of officer as “a person holding a position of command or authority in the armed services …”

Then other definitions included things like an ecclesiastical officer or a probation officer.

What I remember from those times is a misquote of Shakespeare.

As Google AI states:  ” ‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown’ is a common, though slightly misquoted, version of the Shakespearean line ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’ from Henry IV, Part 2. The phrase means that leadership and success come with significant burdens, responsibilities, and sacrifices that can weigh heavily on a person’s mind and make it difficult to find rest or peace.”

And maybe that is why I think back to those days.  I served my time and no one got hurt.  Okay of my two “lovable” drunks, Trout and Pike, Pike pulled a knife on the Sergeant of the Guard reentering the barracks area one night, and he nearly cut his own finger off.  The sergeant, the one he attacked, bandaged him up and sent him to the infirmary for stitches.  I cannot remember ever seeing Pike again.  We had him agree to an administrative discharge and he was back in the States, only coming back from the hospital to the barracks to get his personal items.

Otherwise, no one got hurt.

Yes, you laugh at the good times.  You praise God that the bad times were not that bad.  But the sacrifice and the responsibility of so many people’s lives weigh heavily, years after it was over.

I guess those that did not feel that weight were the officers that the troops could not trust.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	What were the 600 Egyptian chariots with officers chasing in the first mention of officer in the NIV?	Exodus 14:7	The Israelites
2	What happened to the best of the officers in question 1?	Exodus 15:4	The best officers drowned.
3	What did the officers do that made Moses angry when they sought revenge against the Midianites in order to cleanse the Israelite camp after a plague?	Numbers 31:14-15	They allowed the Midianite women to live when those women (the prostitutes among them) tempted the Israelites to go astray.  Later, after the error was corrected, the officers offered the gold in the spoils to the Lord to atone for their disobeying orders.
4	When David continued to succeed in battle each time Saul gave him a mission to accomplish, what pleased the troops and officers?	1 Samuel 18:5	Saul gave David higher and higher rank in the army
5	Where did David obtain the gold shields that eventually went to the temple?	2 Samuel 8:7	In victory over the Arameans from Damascus, taken from Hadadezer’s officers.
6	God wanted to prove to evil King Ahab that He was God, and not the false gods Ahab and Jezebel worshipped.  He sent a prophet to proclaim Ahab would defeat Ben-Hadad using what type of officers under provincial commanders?	1 Kings 20:14	Junior officers
7	Elisha gave the king a prophecy that signified a “great harvest” when there was both a drought and Samaria was being besieged.  The officer scoffed that God could not pull that off.  Elisha then prophesied that he would see it, but not eat any of it.  How did Elisha’s prophecy about the officer come to pass?	2 Kings 7:2	The Arameans thought they heard chariots approaching, and they thought Egypt and the Hittites had come to the aide of Israel.  They abandoned everything and ran.  Four lepers went to the camp to surrender – just to get food – and when they saw no one, one of the lepers returned to Samaria to announce the camp was abandoned.  The officer in question was the officer of that gate, and the starving people trampled him to death running out the gate to get the food abandoned by the Arameans.
8	Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be killed.  Daniel asked the officers why this order was made.  What was the reason?	Daneil 2:12-16	No one could interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream until Daniel stepped forward to do so.
9	Judas went before the chief priests and officers of what group to decide how to betray Jesus and later he went with those officers to do what they had planned?	Luke 22:4, 52	Officers of the temple guards
10	Who visited Festus with Bernice by his side, causing Festus to gather an audience of high ranking officers and other officials, and they brought the prisoner Paul before this person?	Acts 25:23	King Agrippa

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here is the First United Methodist Church, downtown, Houston, TX singing Lead on O King Eternal.

Here is the 90^th birthday celebration for Queen Elizabeth singing Lead us, Almighty Father, Lead us.

Here is Hymns of Grace with Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead us.

Here is Congregacion Maria de Jesus singing Lead me, Lord (in Thy Righteousness).

If these songs seem familiar, I copied the songs from the Leader Quiz, from about a month ago.  Some officers command.  Other officers lead.  And this post should give a shout out to police officers.  I found a song that had great words regarding police officers, but it was shouted rather than simply sung.  You might have liked it, but it hurt my ears, ruining the message of how they go into trouble while others are trying to get away.  And to all of my friends who were non-commissioned officers (NCO), nothing could be done without you.

But in the end, Jesus Christ is our true commander, leader, and friend.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.