Portal:Bible/Featured article/August, 2009

The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament, and the second of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch. The book tells how Moses leads the Hebrews out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Mountain of God Sinai. There Yahweh (YHWH), through Moses, gives the Hebrews their laws and enters into a covenant with them, by which he will give them the land of Canaan in return for their faithfulness. The book ends with the construction of the Tabernacle. According to tradition, Exodus and the other four books of the Torah were written by Moses. Modern biblical scholarship places its final textual in the mid 5th century BC, i.e. post-exilic but earlier than the Hellenistic period, although some parts, such as the Song of the sea and the Covenant Code may date to as early as the 9th to 10th century BC. (more...)