Do you know your Bible battles?

Sometimes, the most memorable battles are ones that didn't happen. By leading the Israelites through the sea and collapsing the waves after them, God protected them from Pharaoh's forces.

David only brought a sling and five stones into the battle, but it was enough to fell Goliath before he could harm David.

In Revelations 20, an angel chains the devil into a pit and seals it for 1,000 years, after which time he "must be loosed for a little while."

Abraham (then known as Abram) mounted a rescue party and routed the enemy camp at night, saving Lot and recovering all his property from the looters.

Melchizedek is mentioned in the New Testament because of his choice of offerings. In Hebrews, Christ is described as a "priest in the order of Melchizedek" because he blessed bread and wine at the Last Supper.

St. Michael is the archangel who pursued Satan and, together with his forces, cast the demons out of heaven. The battle between the two is described in Revelation 12.

Their pursuit was delayed by the appearance of a pillar made of cloud. Later, it became a "pillar of fire and of cloud" (Exodus 14:24).

"Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed." (Exodus 17:11) When Moses was too tired, Aaron and Hur propped him up, one on each side.

Joshua led many battles for the Israelites during their wandering years. In a sense, Moses was the staff and Joshua the sword of the army.

Each of the 12 tribes of Israel contributed 1,000 men for a total of 12,000 marching on the forces of Midian. Afterward, they killed all the males of Midian and many of the women, too.

As the story goes, Joshua and his army marched around the walls of Jericho at the Lord's command. At the end, the Israelites gave a shout and the walls fell down.

Out of all the people of Jericho, Rahab and her household were the only ones to be spared after the battle. She and her family took up residence in Israel afterward.

They set an ambush for the people of Ai. The main army pretended to retreat in disarray, so the king of Ai and all his men pursued them. But the Israelites had set an ambush and set fire to the city as soon as the defending army left it, causing them to be routed.

The retreating army of the Amorites not only had to escape the wrath of the Israelites but the "great stones from heaven" as well. See Joshua 10:11.

When the Israelites lost a battle, they would turn to their prophets to ask God the reason. More often than not, the answer was that they had done something he forbade, such as stealing or worshiping false idols.

Gideon planned on taking over 30,000 men into battle but was told to put his men through a series of tests so that the Israelites did not think they were responsible for their own success. Instead, after launching a surprise attack on the enemy camp, they successfully defeated the Midianites with only 300 fighters.

The Ark of the Covenant was believed to be God's dwelling place on Earth, and it was the most sacred object the Israelites had. For it to be captured in battle was a crushing blow to the nation.

Goliath was a fearsome Philistine warrior who challenged the Israelites to one-on-one battle. David was the only man (rather, boy) who accepted.

After they realized that Goliath was dead, the Philistines fled, abandoning their camp. The Israelites were easily able to drive them off, then loot the camp.

The attack on the Amorites was successful because the army of Israel came upon them swiftly and suddenly. Their camp was in disarray from the surprise and they soon fled.

Sometimes the Israelites just needed a little external motivation to do the right thing. Saul's plan worked, and he quickly raised an army to defend the people of Gilead.

While the Midianites were sleeping, Gideon and his small army surrounded the camp and created a terrible racket by blowing trumpets and breaking clay pots. Their ingenuity led to a victory over an army hundreds of times larger than their own.

Gideon was inspired to walk down to the Midianite camp and listen to what the soldiers were saying. One soldier described a dream in which a small loaf of bread rolled down the mountainside and crushed his tent; the other said the dream was a portent that Gideon would win.

Saul's stubborn persecution of David and his refusal to follow the Lord's instructions meant that his armies didn't have the strength they needed to defeat the Philistines. Saul, after sustaining an arrow wound and learning his sons had been slain in battle, desired to die before the Philistines reached him.

This was a low point during David's reign -- he sacrificed a loyal soldier on the front lines of battle in order to marry the man's wife, who was then pregnant with David's child.

Absalom plotted for several years, slowly building allegiances and winning over the hearts of the people by promising to deal with their troubles fairly. David only discovered the plot after Absalom had been declared king by another faction.

Because the Israelites repented, Jerusalem was not destroyed by the invading army. Nevertheless, it was a blow to see the temple treasures carted away.

Seven is a number of perfection in the Bible. Thus, it's unsurprising that it would also be the number of times Joshua and his army had to march around Jericho.

Ahab was not a hero in the Bible; he and his wife Jezebel were frequently the stories' antagonists. Ultimately, he met his end in battle after ignoring the prophets.

The Assyrians at first exacted a tribute from Israel and later conquered many cities when Israel stopped paying. Israel was a vassal state to Assyria for some time.

2 Kings 24 describes how Jerusalem fell because of the sins of Manasseh who "filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon."

During the Babylonian exile, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were forced to relocate to Babylon as a servile race. Ultimately, the Israelites were treated well there, but they mourned the loss of their true home.

As Paul says, "the weapons of our warfare are not worldly" (2 Corinthians 10:4) and that Christians should "put on the armor of light" (Romans 13:12).

He speaks of how no stone will be left upon another after a battle that takes Jerusalem. It's also considered a reference to his own crucifixion.

The beast and those who follow it are cast down into a "lake of fire and brimstone" in Revelations 19 by the rider of a white horse and the hosts of heaven.