This collection of Loewenstamm's studies on the Bible and on Ancient Near Eastern literature contains articles published in various journals in Hebrew, English and German. The Hebrew and German articles have been translated into English and all the articles have been brought up to date. Here, Loewenstamm augmented and revised his original papers with his subsequent findings, taking into consideration works published by others after his studies had appeared. This revision makes the collection that more meaningful and valuable to the reader.

The Exodus from Egypt is the climax of Israel's prehistory as related in the Pentateuch. It may be subjected to two types of historical inquiry, the one focusing on Israel's national history, the other on the history of its traditions. The work concentrates on the second type of inquiry. In a comprehensive literary analysis, the narrative in the book of Exodus is compared not only with its parallels throughout the Bible, but also with the later, post-Biblical accounts found in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha and in the Hellenistic and Midrashic literatures.