A Journey Through Exodus Trivia Quiz

Answer: Midian

Moses witnessed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. When he saw no-one was looking, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. However, his crime was discovered and Pharaoh ordered him to be killed. Moses fled to the land of Midian. The area known as Midian is today located in western Saudi Arabia, southern Jordan, southern Israel, and the Sinai peninsula.

Bible reference: Exodus 2:11-15

Answer: Aaron

Miriam was the older sister of Aaron and Moses. Her name is of Hebrew origin and means "bitter" or "rebellious".

Bible reference: Exodus 15:20

Answer: Straw

Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go into the wilderness for three days to hold a feast and offer sacrifices to their God. However, Pharaoh was not sympathetic and told the Egyptian slave-drivers to stop providing the Hebrews with straw for making bricks. But he still required them to produce the same number of bricks as before. Pharaoh thought their request for leave meant that they didn't have enough work to do.

Bible reference: Exodus 5:6-17

Answer: Jethro

Zipporah was the wife of Moses and the daughter of Jethro, a priest of Midian, hence Moses' father-in-law. In Chapter 2 of Exodus he is identified as Reuel but in Chapter 3 he is called Jethro. In Hebrew, the name Reuel means "friend of God" while Jethro means "eminent" or "excellent". Some Biblical scholars think that the reason for the discrepancy is that Reuel was his actual given name whereas Jethro was a title, similar to "His Excellency".

Bible reference: Exodus 2:21-22, 3:1

Answer: Canaan

According to Exodus 3:8, God promised to bring the Hebrews out of Egypt to a large fertile land, a land of "milk and honey", in which the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites lived. This was the land of Canaan, sometimes referred to as the Promised Land. Today the land known as Canaan comprises the modern-day areas of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Jordan, and the southern portions of Syria and Lebanon.

The Hebrews were a group of Jewish people who were descended from Abraham and Jacob. They became known as the Israelites after they settled in Canaan.

Bible reference: Exodus 3:8

Answer: Turning water to blood

Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let the Hebrews go so God sent a succession of plagues to exert pressure on him. It took ten plagues, including the death of the king's son, to make Pharaoh relent and let Moses lead his people out of Egypt.

The ten plagues were, in order:
1. Turning water to blood
2. Frogs
3. Gnats
4. Flies
5. Death of the livestock
6. Boils
7. Hailstorm
8. Locusts
9. Three days of darkness
10. Death of the firstborn male (humans and animals)

Bible reference: Exodus Chapters 7-12.

Answer: blood

To avoid the slaughter of their firstborn sons, God instructed the Hebrews to choose a lamb or a young goat, kill the animal, then take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts and above the doors of their houses. God said he would then pass over those houses when he went through Egypt, killing every first-born male, both human and animal. This is the origin of the Jewish celebration of Passover.

Biblical reference: Exodus 12:1-36.

Answer: near the Red Sea

After the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn son, Pharaoh agreed to let the Hebrews go and the Egyptians were glad to see the back of them. However, after the Hebrews left, Pharaoh and the Egyptians began to regret the loss of their slaves and the wealth the Hebrews took with them. So the Egyptian army set off in pursuit and caught up with the Hebrews by the Red Sea. At God's command, Moses parted the waters of the Red Sea to allow the Hebrews to cross it by walking on dry land. The waters then closed over the Egyptians and every one of them perished.

Bible reference: Exodus 14

Answer: A piece of wood

Moses led the Hebrews away from the Red Sea and into the Desert of Shur. They wandered in the desert for three days without water. After three days, they came to a place called Marah, which means "bitter", so-called because the water there was bitter and unfit to drink. The Lord showed Moses a piece of wood which Moses threw into the water, which then became sweet.

Biblical reference: Exodus 15:22-25

Answer: Manna

Manna was the food provided by God each morning (except the Sabbath). The Hebrews were instructed to gather only what they needed for the day and not to store it up - with the exception of the day before the Sabbath when they would gather enough for both that day and the Sabbath. It was like white, like coriander seed, and it tasted like wafers made with honey. The Hebrews ate manna for the forty years of their journey to the Promised Land.

Bible reference: Exodus 16