People Moses Met Trivia Quiz

Answer: Shiphrah

Exodus is the second book of the Old Testament and continues the story that began in Genesis where Jacob, his other twelve children and his grandchildren went to live in Egypt with Joseph after the drought and famine. They have long since died but their descendants have multiplied greatly.

A new king grew worried about their numbers in case they ever chose to join with their enemies in a time of war so called the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah and told them to kill any male children that were born and let the girls live.

They were God-fearing women and refused to do this and when questioned by the king they told him that Hebrew women were more vigorous than the Egyptians and had already given birth before they arrived. After this the king ordered his own people to throw the male babies into the river to drown.

Some scholars believe that the two midwives were actually Jochebed and Miriam but there is no actual mention of this is the scriptures.

Answer: Jochebed

Moses' ancestors came directly from the line of Abraham. His son, Isaac was the father of Jacob who had the twelve sons one of whom was Levi. Levi's son was Kohath and Kohath's was Amram who was the father of Moses. Kohath had a sister named Jochebed whom married her nephew Amram and is thus the mother of Moses.

Jochebed lived in Egypt at the time when the baby boys were being killed so after Moses, her youngest child, was born she hid him for three months and then made him a basket of bulrushes and put it into the Nile River.

The Pharaoh's daughter happened to be bathing in the river and she found and decided to adopt him. His sister, presumed to be Miriam, came forward and offered to find a Hebrew woman to nurse him. When she agreed, Miriam ran to get her mother who was appointed to take care of him. It is believed she looked after him until he was somewhere between the ages of 8-12 but it was enough time for him to develop loyalty to his people and learn of the Hebrew history and of their God.

Answer: Jethro

The Israelites had been forced into a life of harsh slavery since the appointment of the new king and were living as an oppressed people. When Moses was an adult he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and killed the man. When this was found out he escaped to Midian.

Moses was sitting by a well when a group of seven sisters came to water their flock and collect water. He got up to assist them when some shepherds tried to drive them away. The girls were the daughters of Jethro, the Priest of Midian, and when he heard what Moses had done, he invited him back for a meal. Moses stayed with him and married one of his daughters.

Jethro also looked after Moses' family when he left to follow God's orders and appears again later to visit him in the wilderness. He is amazed at the number of people who come to Moses asking him to sort their disputes out and warns Moses that he will wear himself out. He advised him to appoint judges to take care of minor disputes and leave only the important cases for him to deal with so that he would be free to represent them to God and to teach them Gods' laws.

In Exodus 2:18, Jethro is also referred to as Reuel and, in the Book of Judges 4:11, as Hobab (KJV)

Answer: Zipporah

Zipporah was the daughter of Jethro who became the wife of Moses and mother of his children. Her major mention in the Bible occurs in what is referred to as 'Zipporah at the Inn'. Moses had received the words from God to return to Egypt and demand the release of the Israelites. Zipporah and their son(s) travelled with him and they stopped to spend the night at an inn. According to the King James Version 4:24-26:

And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him.
Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, "Surely a bloody husband art thou to me."
So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

This is a much-discussed and debated passage. The standard interpretation is that God wanted to kill Moses for neglecting to circumcise his son and that Zipporah saves his life by acting quickly and performing the ritual herself. The big problem with this interpretation is that Moses was on the way to Egypt to follow God's command. If he was God's chosen one, why would he try to kill him on the way there?

I used a direct quote to show the other mystery which is that the passage only uses pronouns (some later editions use Moses' name) and it is never clear who was to be killed - Moses or the son? Whose feet did Zipporah throw it at - Gods', Moses' or her sons'? Who is the husband - God, Moses or her son? The account doesn't even mention which son it was.

Answer: Gershom

Moses was about forty years old when he murdered the Egyptian and escaped to Midian and about eighty when God called him to the burning bush so he lived for forty years as a shepherd married to Zipporah and fathering two sons. Stories and movies tend to have the boys as very young but they could have been anywhere from teenagers to being in their thirties.

The eldest son was Gershom meaning 'a stranger there' in Hebrew as Moses had him in exile in Midian. The youngest was named Eliezer meaning 'help of my God' referencing being saved from Pharaoh's sword.

Very little was written about the sons. We know they travelled to Egypt on the first trip and that Moses sent them to stay with Jethro before the Exodus itself. Jethro brought them all with him when he visited Moses in the wilderness and it is presumed they stayed with him after this time.

As Kohathites (descendants of Kohath) it was their duty to take care of the vessels and objects within the sanctuary this being the Ark of the Covenant, the Menorah and Table of Shewbread so its probable that they remained with the Israelites to take care of these duties.

Answer: Aaron

Moses was a reluctant leader. By adoption he had been raised as a prince of Egypt but since his exile he had been happily tending his father-in-law's sheep on the slopes of Mt Sinai. Then God spoke to him from the burning bush and his whole life changed. This first message was to go back to Egypt to talk to the leaders of the Israelites and to Pharaoh and demand their release.

Moses is worried as he fears he is not eloquent enough to sway the people so God appoints Aaron to serve as his prophet and spokesman. Aaron was his elder brother but he had remained with their kinsmen in the north-eastern region of the Nile Delta.

Aaron performs all the signs and wonders on behalf of Moses but although he accompanies him up Mt Sinai only Moses receives Gods' communications. He appears in many stories during the forty years they wandered in the wilderness.

On one of Moses' long absences on Mt Sinai he gave in to the people and created a golden calf for them to worship which nearly caused God to destroy them all but Moses successfully intervened.

One of the laws given to Moses on the Mount granted Aaron the priesthood for himself and his male descendants who included Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. He became the first High Priest of the Israelites.

Aaron died at 123 years of age in the fortieth year of exile. Like Moses, who also disobeyed God by not following a direct command, he was not permitted to enter Canaan with the Israelites.

The Gospel of Luke records that both Zechariah and Elizabeth, and, therefore, their son John the Baptist, were descendants of Aaron.

Answer: Miriam

Miriam is the elder sister of Moses and Aaron. There is no mention of any other children of Amram and Jochebed so it is presumed that she is the sister that is identified as watching over Moses in the river and who speaks to Pharaoh's daughter.

Miriam is referred to as a prophetess in the Old Testament and the Talmud (central text of Rabbinic Judaism). Both scriptures describe her as a major female prophet that helped Moses and Aaron deliver the Israelites from exile in Egypt.

Exodus 15: 20-21 (NIV) tells of her leading the women after the parting of the Red Sea:

Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. Miriam sang to them:
"Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea."

Answer: Joseph

Joseph began it all when he was sold into slavery into Egypt. He rose to become Pharaoh's right-hand man when he saved the country from famine. Then, his 70 relatives came to live and began the Israelite nation within Egypt.

Joseph lived until he was 110 and, knowing he was dying, he made the children of Israel promise that, when God delivered them, they would take his bones with them. On his death he was embalmed and buried in Egypt. Moses remembered the promise and, when they left Egypt during the Exodus, he carried Joseph's bones with him. They remained with the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years.

After their entry into Canaan, the bones were buried at Shechem in land that had belonged to Jacob. The town first appears in Genesis where Abraham built an altar there, it was also the place of Jacob's well, the place where Jacobs's sons had avenged the abduction of their sister Dinah by murdering the Shechemites and the place where Joseph was sold into slavery.

Shechem was the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel and was much-revered in the Old Testament. It was in the land which was allocated by Joshua to the Tribe of Ephraim, one of the tribes of the House of Joseph, after the conquest of Canaan.

Answer: Joshua

Joshua became the right-hand of Moses after they were in the wilderness and Aaron began his priestly duties. His first major event occurred at Rephidim where the Israelites were camped and attacked by the Amalekites. Moses told him to select some soldiers and command them into battle in which they were victorious.

He accompanied Moses up to Mt Sinai on numerous occasions, he was with him when he received the Ten Commandments and when they returned to find the Israelites worshipping the golden calf.

As Moses and Aaron were forbidden to enter the Promised Land it is Joshua who would lead their people into Canaan and succeed Moses in the Book of Joshua.

Answer: Hur

When Moses told Joshua to choose his army to fight the Amalekites he told him that he would stand on the top of the hill with the Staff of God in his hands. Thus, during the battle, he went up the hill with Aaron and Hur to watch. Moses became aware that, when his hands were raised, the Israelites were winning but, when they were down, the Amalekites had the upper hand. Thus, Moses stood with his hands raised for hours. As he got tired, Aaron and Hur gave him a stone to sit on and they then each took one of his arms and held them up until sunset when the Israelites were victorious.

This is the first time Hur is mentioned but he is obviously someone Moses trusted; at a later date, when he is going up to Mt Sinai, he tells the people to rely on Aaron and Hur. Hur was a member of the Tribe of Judah but not much else is known. There is a Hur mentioned as the grandfather of Bezalel who later designed the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. It is not entirely evident if it is the same Hur but Jewish tradition treats him as such.