Exodus

Exodus, the second book of the Pentateuch, takes its name from a Greek word which means 'a going out,' 'a departure.' It relates the events connected with the sojourn of the people of Israel in Egypt, their departure from that country, their wanderings in the peninsula of Sinai, the promulgation of the moral code on Mount Sinai, together with the Mosaic laws of social observance, and the instructions for the building of the Tabernacle. The authorship of this book was traditionally assigned to Moses, to whom indeed the Jews attribute the five books of the Torah, or Pentateuch; but since the 17th century biblical critics have seriously questioned the correctness of the tradition. The various views which have been held as to the composition of the book, the authorship of its different parts, and the dates at which they were probably written, will be found under BIBLE.