Bible: Exodus ca. 1446 BCE

The book of Exodus, conjectured by religious scholars to have been written by Moses in the fifteenth century bce, is the second book of what is commonly called the Old Testament, although among Jews the Old Testament is called the Tanakh. The first five books of the Tanakh—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—are referred to collectively in Judaism as the Torah (“law”). While Genesis focuses on the creation of the world and the events that followed (such as Noah's Flood), Exodus serves two primary purposes. It tells the story of the Israelites’ deliverance from slavery and their flight from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. At the same time, it documents the formation of the Jewish nation—the Israelites—and the covenant between God and the Israelites—that is, God's agreement to treat the Israelites as his chosen people in exchange for certain behaviors such as those enumerated in the Ten Commandments; this covenant is often referred to as the Mosaic Covenant to distinguish it from other covenants arrived at under other biblical figures such as Abraham and David.