BBB Bible Series: Exodus Trivia Quiz

Answer: Egypt

"All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them." (Exodus 1:5-7)

It had been over 400 years since the Israelites had first come to Egypt and they now numbered about two million people. Pharaoh was fearful of their growing strength and put taskmasters over them and made them slaves.

Answer: Moses

Here's what it says in Exodus 1:12,22:
"But the more they (Egyptians) afflicted them (Israelites), the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, 'Every son (of the Israelites) who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.'"

It was during this time that Moses was born, but his life was spared because his mother put him in a basket shortly after he was born and set it in the reeds along the bank of a river. Pharaoh's daughter found him and decided to keep him and raised him as her son. When Moses grew up he went back to his own people. One day he saw an Egyptian mistreating one of the Hebrew people and he killed the Egyptian and fled for his life into the land Midian. He married Zipporah, the daughter of a priest and had a family. He had lived there for forty years when God called him to return to Egypt and secure the release of the Israelites in Exodus 3:10.

Answer: Ask Pharaoh to please let them go

"...you (Moses) and the elders of Israel,(go) to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, 'The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'" (Exodus 3:18)

Moses had quite a task ahead of him: he first had to convince the Israelites that God had called him and they were to go with him to speak to Pharaoh. God had enabled Moses to do a miraculous sign by casting his rod on the ground, where it would then become a snake. This was pretty convincing to the Israelites but Pharaoh was not impressed with them or their God. He sent them away and, thinking the Israelites had too much time on their hands, he increased their labor, which made them not just a little angry with Moses.

Answer: A plague of blood in the waters

God sent Moses and his brother Aaron back to Pharaoh to again demand the release of the Israelites. Again Pharaoh refused, and thus began the first of ten plagues that God would send on the land of Egypt because of Pharaoh's stubbornness.

"Then the LORD spoke to Moses, 'Say to Aaron, 'Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.''" (Exodus 7:19)

Answer: The death of all the firstborn sons in Egypt

After sending the first plague God went to send a plague of frogs, followed by lice, then flies. He sent disease on the livestock, boils on the people and the livestock. He sent hail and locusts, and the ninth plague was deep darkness over the land. Pharaoh would agree to let the Israelites go during a plague but when a plague would subside he would again refuse to release them.
It was the tenth plague that not only convinced him to agree to their release but made him want to drive them out of Egypt.

"Then Moses said, "Thus says the LORD: 'About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again.'"" (Exodus 11:4-6)

Answer: By the blood of a lamb smeared on their door post

"Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, 'Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.'" (Exodus 12:21-23)

It was at this time God instituted the Passover celebration for Israel. There were a number of specific instructions about preparing the Passover feast, but basically each family was to slaughter a male lamb that was free from any blemish and smear its blood on the top and side door post. They were to roast it and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The Passover was one of the required feasts all Israelites were to celebrate every year, reminding them of their deliverance from slavery by the Lord.

Answer: They were drowned in the Red Sea

After releasing the Israelites, Pharaoh again changed his mind and took his army of 600 chariots and went after them. He found them camped in the desert beside the Red Sea. God had already warned Moses that Pharaoh was coming. He told him to stretch his rod over the Red Sea: it would part and the Israelites would pass safely to the other side, but not the Egyptian army bearing down upon them.

"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained." (Exodus 14:27-29)

Answer: The bones of Joseph

"And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he (Joseph) had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, 'God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.'" (Exodus 13:19)

Joseph was one of Jacob's sons. He preceded Jacob's family into Egypt when his brothers, jealous of the favor he had with their father, sold him into slavery. Joseph eventually rose to power, second only to Pharaoh, and made his family swear to take his bones with them when they left Egypt. His death is at the end of the Book of Genesis.

Answer: Moses received the Ten Commandments

"Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.'" (Exodus 24:12)

It had been over 700 years since God had promised Abraham, a hundred-year-old man with a 90-year-old barren wife, he would have a son, and his descendants would be more numerous the the stars of the sky, and they would become a great nation. Isaac was the son of that promise and he was the father of Jacob, who fathered the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel. During those many years the Israelites may have lost sight of who they were to God but he never lost sight of who they were to him. On Mount Sinai, with his own finger, he wrote the laws on stone tablets that would reveal who he was and how they should relate to him and to one another. These laws were intended to transform them from a people of wanderers and slaves to a nation with a purpose and a destiny.

Answer: The glory of the Lord filled it

"Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys." (Exodus 40:34-38)

God had not only promised to free the Israelites from slavery but also take them to and give them a land flowing with milk and honey. It would take forty years of wandering in the desert before that promise would be fulfilled. During that time, the Bible account shows that God proved himself to not only be the the God of the Israelites, but also the God who was for them and with them always.