Oh, You Have that Name Too? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Romans

Romans 16:6 states, "Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you" (from the NASB). This is all the Bible says about her. Clearly, however, she was a devout Christian who provided for the Roman church in one form or another.

The Bible isn't clear whether she was a Hebrew or a Gentile Christian. It's very possible that she was a native Roman, a Gentile. At the same time, the Greek name "Mary" was originally a Hebrew name, as it comes from "Miriam". Acts 12:12 states that Mark's mother, named Mary, used her house as a gathering place for some Christians. Some people believe that Mark's mother is the same Mary as the one in Romans 16, but this is purely a conjecture.

Just so I'm clear, the Marys in the New Testament are Christ's mother; Mary Magdalene; Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus; Mary, the mother of James; Mary, the wife of Clopas; Mary, the mother of Mark; and this Mary of Rome. If anybody is interested, I have other quizzes that are about these other Marys.

Answer: Mered and Bithia

The only mention of this other Miriam is in 1 Chronicles 4:17. Her mother is described as Bithia, a Pharaoh's daughter, who married Mered, a son of a man named Ezrah. Some other translations spell her name as Bithiah. In addition to their daughter Miriam, Mered and Bithia had two sons, Shammai and Ishbah.

According to Rabbinic tradition in the Midrash, Bithia (or Bithiah) was the same Pharaoh's daughter who adopted Moses. The book of Exodus doesn't give the name of the Pharaoh's daughter, nor does Chronicles explicitly link Bithia to Moses or Exodus, but again, the Jewish Midrash connects them. The tradition also claims that Bithia gave up her Egyptian gods and converted to Judaism.

Exodus 2 does state that Moses's sister talked to the Egyptian princess and convinced her to let Jochebed nurse Moses for a while, before returning him to his adoptive mother. If Bithia is the same princess who adopted Moses, then she probably named her biological daughter "Miriam" after Moses's sister!

Answer: True

This is true. According to 1 Chronicles 3:1, David's second son was Daniel, and this Daniel's mother was Abigail, one of David's many wives.

Ezra 8:2 lists Daniel, the son of Ithamar, as one of the men who traveled with Ezra (the book's writer) in his journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. Ithamar was apparently one of Aaron's sons. Therefore, this Daniel was related to Moses and from the priestly line, the tribe of Levi.

There is also the Daniel from the book of Daniel, the one who survived the lion's den. Interestingly, he is from the tribe of Judah and of royal blood! See Daniel 1:1-6. King David was also from the tribe of Judah and royal. The Bible never says that this Daniel was the same as David's son from 1 Chronicles, but he most likely descended from David in some way.

Answer: Manessah

Even though the characters' names are spelled the same way, according to the website behindthename.com, the masculine and feminine have different meanings. The feminine "Noah" means "motion", while the masculine means "rest, comfort".

The female Noah was from the tribe of Manessah. Her father's name was Zelophehad. She had four sisters, Mahlah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Numbers 27 also says that Zelophehad had no sons and he died. Noah and her sisters went up to Moses and told him that they deserved to receive the inheritance that was normally given to a man's sons when the man died. Moses brought the issue to God and God told Moses that the young women were correct. They received their inheritance.

Furthermore, God commanded Moses to inform the other Israelites that if any man had no sons when he died, then the inheritance belonged to the daughter(s). (If the dead man had neither sons nor daughters, then the man's brothers were given the inheritance, etc.)

Answer: Yes

2 Samuel 5:13-14 state that David took many more wives and concubines in Jerusalem and he had many more sons and daughters. With Bathsheba, he had Solomon, Nathan, Shammua, and Shobab. 1 Chronicles 3:5 states this too.

I wonder if David and Bathsheba named him "Nathan" after the prophet. See 2 Samuel 12 for the conversation between the prophet and David regarding Bathsheba.

Answer: Judah's

Bathsheba or Bath-shua was originally married to Uriah. David lusted for her, murdered her husband, and committed adultery with her. She became one of his wives, and according to 1 Chronicles 3:5, they had four sons together.

1 Chronicles 2:3 states that Judah married a Bath-shua. They had three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. For whatever reason, Genesis 38:1-5 shorten her name from "Bath-shua" to just "Shua".

Answer: Justus

Acts 4:12 says that there is no name under heaven beside Jesus Christ in which people can be saved. While Christians trust in Jesus for salvation, it doesn't mean that there is nobody else named Jesus. Rather, regardless of how many people out there with the name "Jesus", the Bible says that there is only one Savior.

Paul calls the other Jesus "Justus". There are many Bible people with more than one name, or with a nickname (like Simon Peter, Mary Magdalene, John Mark, etc). In Colossians 4:11, Paul explains that most of the Christians who worked with him were Gentiles and that Jesus Justus was one of the few who were Hebrews.

Answer: Barnabas

Acts 4:36-37 claim that this Joseph was from the tribe of Levi. He apparently was a rich man, because he owned land. However, he sold the land and gave the money to the apostles. They called him Barnabas, which means "son of encouragement".

He later became an apostle himself. He traveled with Paul a lot. According to Colossians 4:10, Barnabas's cousin was Mark (John Mark, whose mother was Mary).

Answer: Simon Peter's

In Matthew 16:17, Christ gave Simon, the son of Jonah, the name Peter because the fisherman told Christ that he thought that Christ was the Son of God and the Messiah.

Some translations use "barjona", "bar-Jonah", or similar phrases. "Bar" means "son" in Hebrew and Jona is evidently another spelling for Jonah.

Answer: Joseph

Matthew 1 lists Christ's genealogy. Joseph, the husband of Mary, was considered Christ's earthly father. Matthew 1:16 states that Jacob was the father of Joseph, Christ's stepfather, so one *could* say that this Jacob is/was Christ's grandfather.

Now, this is interesting. In the Old Testament, Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons, one of whom was Joseph. Rachel was Joseph's mother. In the Bible, there are two different Jacobs who both had sons whom they named Joseph!

Christians believe that Christ came from the tribe of Judah. Judah was another son of Israel.