Oh Baby! A Bible Quiz About Infants and Children

Answer: Five barley loaves and two small fish.

According to Scripture, the boy provided Jesus with five barley loaves and two small fish to feed the people. The age of the child is not known, but in the KJV and the NKJV he is described as a "lad" and in the NIV as a "boy." The name of the child is also not known.

John 6:8-9, in the NKJV, states the boy was led to Christ by Andrew: "One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 'There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?'"

The chapter goes on to tell of Jesus taking the food from the boy and then giving it to the disciples to distribute to the multitude. The passage concludes by stating the disciples filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the barley loaves that had not been eaten.

Scripture reports there were 5,000 men fed, but it was the custom of the day not to include women and children in such reports. As a result, theologians estimate that 15,000 people were fed with the tiny bit of food from the little boy.

Answer: He was injured in a fall.

Mephibosheth, according to Scripture, became lame in his feet when his nurse was fleeing with him and accidentally dropped him during a time when the Israelites were in a civil war to determine who would become king. One side in the civil war backed David and the other side backed Ishbosheth, the son of Saul.

(In Chronicles 8:34 and 9:40, Mephibosheth is called Merib-Baal. Notes in the NKJV Study Bible offer this explanation: "Meib-Baal, which means 'The Master is Advocate' was the original name of Jonathan's son. The author of Samuel changed it to Mephibosheth, meaning 'He Scatters Shame', apparently to avoid the idolatrous implications of the word Baal.")

Incidentally, David and Mephibosheth's father were the best of friends. This, even though Jonathan's father Saul devoted much of his latter life trying to kill David. 2 Samuel 9:7 states that David restored to Mephibosheth all the land that belonged to his grandfather Saul and he ensured he would "always dine at his table with him."

Answer: Moses

Moses is the correct answer. The story of baby Moses is told in Exodus 2:1-10. According to Scripture, Moses' mother placed him in a small basket along the banks of the Nile River where he was discovered by members of the Pharaoh's household and ended up being raised by them.

Jochebed, the mother of Moses, placed the infant in a basket because the Pharaoh had decreed that all Hebrew males should be killed, as per Exodus 1:16.

Exodus 2:10 states the Pharaoh's daughter called him Moses, "because I drew him out of the water." Notes in the NKJV Study Bible state Moses means literally 'drawn out'.

Answer: Manasseh

Manasseh became king at the tender age of twelve and, according to Scripture, ruled until he was sixty-seven. Scripture states Manasseh was extremely brutal. 2 Kings 21:16 states Manasseh "shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another." Scripture also reports he worshiped false gods and rebuilt high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed.

According to Wikipedia, the name Manasseh means "causing to forget."

A clarification perhaps should be offered at this point. In North American culture, a twelve year old is definitely a child. As Wikipedia reports, according to Jewish law, when Jewish boys become thirteen, they become accountable for their actions and become a Bar Mitzvah.

Answer: Samuel

The correct answer is Samuel, after whom the books 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel in the Old Testament of the English Bible are named. (In the Hebrew Bible, Samuel consists of one book and is not separated into two parts.)

According to 1 Samuel 1 he was the son of Elkanah and Hannah with the following chapter telling of Samuel, while still a child, being trained by Eli.

1 Samuel 2:11 states: "Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah. But the child ministered to the LORD before Eli the priest." Verses 18-20, in the same chapter, go on to state: "But Samuel ministered before the LORD, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod. Moreover his mother used to make him a little robe, and bring it to him year by year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, 'The LORD give you descendants from this woman for the loan that was given to the Lord.' Then they would go to their own home."

1 Samuel 16 tells of Samuel going on to anoint David as king.

Answer: No name is given

Going by Scripture, the infant appears to have never been named. If he was named by David and Bathsheba, there is no indication in Scripture.

According to notes in the NKJV Study Bible, it is possible the child was less than eight days old "as the baby seems to have not lived long enough to be named. Normally, a child would be named at the time of circumcision, the eighth day. (Luke 1:59)" With this said, there is actually no way of determining the baby's age at the time of death as Scripture is short of precise details.

Nathan the prophet declared the baby would die as punishment for the fact David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then orchestrated the murder of her husband Uriah. It seems the reason David was not stuck dead by God is the fact he confessed to Nathan he was guilty of sinning before the LORD. (A fuller confession of Davd's guilt appears in Psalm 51.)

2 Samuel 12:13-20, in the NKJV, states: "So David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the LORD.' And Nathan said to David, 'The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.' Then Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became ill. David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them. Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died."

Answer: He stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to the LORD.

'He stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to the LORD,' is the correct answer. 1 Kings 17:7-24 tells of Elijah raising the widow's son from the dead at Zarephath in the region of Sidon. Verses 21-24 state: "And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, 'O Lord my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back to him.' Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, 'See, your son lives!' Then the woman said to Elijah, 'Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.'"

Answer: True

True. I wasn't aware of this oddity until I was informed by Logcrawler, one of the most popular members of our Bible Believers Brigade.

Here's how Luke 2:8-15, explains things in the NKJV: "Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
'Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!'
So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.'"

A similar translation appears in the NIV with no mention of the angels singing.

As Logcrawler pointed out in a FunTrivia e-mail message prior to the posting of this quiz, "nowhere in the Bible will you find angels singing anything. They always speak; they never sing."

Answer: Twelve

According to Luke 2:42, Jesus was twelve years old when He participated in an apparently in-depth discussion with the rabbis. Luke 2:46-48, in the NKJV, gives this account of his parents finding Jesus after He had been missing for three days: "Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed..."

Notes in the NKJV Study Bible specify that, according to Scripture, Jesus was not lecturing in the temple. Rather, He was engaging the rabbis in theological discussion.

Answer: False

False. Jesus, while making the statement to His disciples, made a point of having a child in their midst.

Matthew 18:1-5, in the NKJV, states: "At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.'"