Oh Mother, My Mother Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bathsheba

The four sons of King David and Bathsheba (the wife he gained after organising the death in battle of her first husband, Uriah) are noted in 1 Chronicles 3:5 of the KJV as Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, but it is the last of these that became a well-known personality in his own right when he succeeded his father on the throne. King Solomon was noted for his wisdom and believed to have reigned from around 970-931 BC.

The Bible also records the fate of Bathsheba's eldest child, an unnamed son who died shortly after birth. His death is generally interpreted as punishing David and Bathsheba for the fact that he was conceived before their marriage.

Answer: Rachel

Rachel was the second of Jacob's two wives, but was the woman who he had originally fallen in love with before being tricked into marrying her elder sister, Leah, instead. As such she is described as his favourite wife, and her eldest son - who was born after many years of childlessness - became his father's favourite and the famous recipient of a "coat of many colours" (Genesis 37:3). Rachel died as a result of giving birth to her second son, Benjamin, who she originally named Ben Oni (meaning "son of my sorrow").

Answer: Naomi

The story of Naomi in the Bible focuses on her relationship with her two widowed daughters-in-law Ruth and Orpah, so the names of her dead sons are not as generally well-known. They are also not entirely consistent across different versions as the KJV names them as Mahlon and Chilion, while the NIV spells the latter as Kilion.

The Book of Ruth describes how Naomi returned from Moab to Judea with Ruth and encouraged her daughter-in-law to remarry to gain the protection and support of a man. Ruth married a man named Boaz and had a son, Obed, who was cared for by Naomi and described as Naomi's son in Ruth 4:17.

Answer: Rebecca

The biblical Rebecca was the wife of Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah. Genesis 24 tells the story of how Abraham sent a servant to his homeland to select a wife for his son and how the servant decided to pick a woman who was prepared to offer him water for his camels from the local well - which might seem somewhat peculiar but was intended as a test of the potential bride's kindness.

Rebecca and Isaac were childless for 20 years until she fell pregnant with twin sons. Esau was the first born of the twins and was a keen hunter who preferred an outdoors lifestyle and was his father's favourite. By contrast, Jacob was happier close to home - "a plain man, dwelling in tents" Genesis 25:27) - and the favourite of his mother.

Answer: Tamar

There are several women named Tamar mentioned in the Bible, but the one in question appeared in the Book of Genesis. She was initially married to Er but was widowed when he was deemed evil and killed by God. Er's father, Judah, then arranged for his younger son, Onan, to marry Tamar as any children they had would be deemed to be Er's children. Onan wasn't particularly happy with this plan and deliberately avoided a potential conception, an act that led God to kill him as well. A desperate Tamar then chose to seduce Judah himself rather than wait to be given to yet another of his younger sons and ended up giving birth to twin sons, Perez and Zerah.

The twins themselves are notable for having been born in the "wrong" order. Perez was born first, but Zerah had initially stuck his arm out of the womb first and was therefore marked as the elder of the two by the midwife.

Answer: Jochebed

Jochebed may not be the first name that springs to mind when asked to name major female characters of the Bible, but her story is generally well-known. She was the mother who placed her infant son Moses in a raft made from rushes and set him afloat on the River Nile. Doing this saved his life as the Egyptian Pharaoh had decreed that all Israelite baby boys should be drowned as he deemed them a future threat to his position, but ironically it was the Pharaoh's daughter who retrieved Moses from the river and adopted him as her own son.

Moses and his elder siblings appeared in the Book of Exodus when Moses was tasked with leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Miriam was mentioned as a prophetess, while Aaron acted as his brother's spokesman.

Answer: Leah

Leah, the first and least-favourite wife of Jacob, was the mother of six of his twelve sons and only daughter, Dinah (although the text of the Bible does leave some room for ambiguity about whether Jacob and his partners had other children in addition to those that were listed by name). Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah were the eldest four, while Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah were born many years later following a gap when Jacob fathered children with the personal maids of both his wives.

Leah and her sister Rachel were also first cousins of Jacob, as his mother, Rebecca, was the sister of their father, Laban.

Answer: Eve

Eve became the first woman to appear in the Bible after being created by God from the rib of the first man, Adam. After falling victim to the temptation of the forbidden fruit and their subsequent ejection from the Garden of Eden, Eve also became the first mother to appear in the Bible when she and Adam became parents to sons named Cain and Abel.

The 'biblical firsts' surrounding this family continued when Cain killed Abel, making them respectively the first murderer and first human to die. Seth was born much later and was believed by Eve to be a replacement for the son she had lost: "For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel" (Genesis 4:25).

Answer: Asenath

Mannaseh (or Menashe) and Ephraim were the two sons of Joseph and his Egyptian wife, Asenath. The pair were born during the seven years of plenty that preceded seven years of famine that their father had famously predicted by interpreting the Pharaoh's dreams. When Joseph's father Jacob finally met his grandsons he blessed them as his own sons and their names were given to two of the Tries of Israel.

Asenath was mentioned only three times in the Book of Genesis and in addition to being Joseph's wife was identified only as a daughter of Potipherah, a priest from the town of On.

Answer: Bilhah

Dan and Naphtali were the two sons of Jacob to be born to Bilhah, the maid servant of his favourite wife Rachel. After Rachel failed to conceive a child after many years of marriage (despite her sister Leah having several), she grew desperate and appointed her servant to have her husband's children on her behalf. She then brought up Dan and Naphtali as her own sons.

In addition to his two wives and Bilhah, the other woman to bear some of Jacob's twelve sons was Zilpah - the maid servant of Leah and sister of Bilhah. Zilpah's sons were adopted by Leah and named Gad and Asher.