Moses is the most filmed figure in the Hebrew Bible, and the films have quietly rewritten large parts of him. Twelve questions taken only from Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy: his family, his failures, and the reason the text gives for keeping him out of the land.
Open “Bible Trivia: Moses” on its own page — if the module does not load.
Every question, with the answer and the reason
The interactive module above runs in a sandbox of its own, which means its text is not part of this page. So here is the whole thing in full: all 12 questions, the options as they appear, the answer, and why that answer and not the one beside it. Nothing is held back to make you play first.
Easy
These turn on something stated outright in the text. If you have read the book, you have met the answer.
Where was the infant Moses hidden from Pharaoh’s order?
- In a shepherd’s tent in Goshen
- In a grain store at Pithom
- In a basket among the reeds of the Nile — correct
- In a cave on the eastern border
Answer: In a basket among the reeds of the Nile
Exodus 2:3. The basket is daubed with bitumen and pitch and set at the river’s edge, not floated downstream as the retellings usually have it.
Who found the infant Moses and took him in?
- Pharaoh’s wife
- A Hebrew midwife
- A priest of On
- Pharaoh’s daughter — correct
Answer: Pharaoh’s daughter
Exodus 2:5–10. She also, without knowing it, hires Moses’ own mother as his nurse, which is the point of the scene.
Through what does God first speak to Moses in the wilderness?
- A pillar of fire by night
- A bush that burns without being consumed — correct
- A voice from a whirlwind
- An angel at a well
Answer: A bush that burns without being consumed
Exodus 3:2–4, at Horeb. The pillar of fire comes later, in Exodus 13, and the whirlwind belongs to the book of Job.
How many plagues does Exodus record against Egypt?
- Seven
- Twelve
- Ten — correct
- Nine
Answer: Ten
Exodus 7–12. Nine is a common answer because the death of the firstborn is often counted apart from the rest, but the text runs the sequence as one series.
Medium
These need a detail held in place — a name, a sequence, a number that only means something next to another number.
What was the name of Moses’ wife?
- Zipporah — correct
- Jochebed
- Elisheba
- Miriam
Answer: Zipporah
Exodus 2:21, a daughter of the priest of Midian. Jochebed is Moses’ mother (Exodus 6:20), Elisheba is Aaron’s wife (Exodus 6:23) and Miriam is his sister.
Where did Moses flee after killing the Egyptian?
- Edom
- Canaan
- Midian — correct
- Cush
Answer: Midian
Exodus 2:15. He settles there, marries, and is still there when the burning bush scene opens in Exodus 3.
What does the text give as the reason Moses is barred from entering the land?
- He struck the rock instead of speaking to it — correct
- He broke the tablets of the covenant
- He killed the Egyptian
- He refused the call at the bush
Answer: He struck the rock instead of speaking to it
Numbers 20:8–12, at the waters of Meribah. Breaking the tablets in Exodus 32 carries no such penalty; the rock is the episode the text ties to the sentence.
How old does Deuteronomy say Moses was when he died?
- A hundred and ten
- Eighty
- A hundred and thirty-seven
- A hundred and twenty — correct
Answer: A hundred and twenty
Deuteronomy 34:7, which adds that his eye was not dim nor his vigour gone. A hundred and ten is Joshua’s age at death, in Joshua 24:29.
Hard
These turn on what the evidence actually supports, which is not always what the story is remembered as saying.
What was the name of Moses’ firstborn son?
- Eliezer
- Gershom — correct
- Eleazar
- Ithamar
Answer: Gershom
Exodus 2:22, named because Moses had been a sojourner in a foreign land. Eliezer is the second son (Exodus 18:4); Eleazar and Ithamar are sons of Aaron.
In Numbers 12, what do Miriam and Aaron complain about?
- That Moses had appointed his own sons as priests
- That Moses had married a Cushite woman — correct
- That Moses had kept the manna from them
- That Moses had refused to go up the mountain
Answer: That Moses had married a Cushite woman
Numbers 12:1. Miriam is struck with a skin disease for it in 12:10, and the same chapter is where the text calls Moses the meekest man on earth.
What happened to Moses’ face after he spoke with God on the mountain?
- It was scarred, and he hid in his tent
- It was hidden in cloud until morning
- It aged suddenly
- It shone, and he covered it with a veil — correct
Answer: It shone, and he covered it with a veil
Exodus 34:29–35. He wears the veil among the people and removes it when he goes in to speak with God — the reverse of how the scene is usually described.
Before whom is Joshua commissioned as Moses’ successor?
- Eleazar the priest and all the congregation — correct
- Aaron and the seventy elders
- Caleb and the heads of the tribes
- Phinehas alone, at the tent of meeting
Answer: Eleazar the priest and all the congregation
Numbers 27:18–23. Moses lays his hands on Joshua publicly; Aaron cannot be present, having already died in Numbers 20.
What this quiz draws on
Books in play: Deuteronomy, Exodus, Joshua, Numbers. Each of those leads to what the book contains, who has been proposed as its author, and how it is dated.
Themes: Law and covenant.
Answers here are drawn from the biblical text and, where an external record bears on the question, from the artefact or publication that carries it. How this site reads a text and how this site is written set out the rules, so you can check the reasoning rather than take the answer on trust.