Book of Exodus. True Scripture, #2

The Book of Exodus is best known as the rollicking saga of the ten plagues, the Red Sea crossing, escape from Egypt and battles in the wilderness.  But there is far more to this astoundingly rich and complex piece of literature than the story line. The Exodus legend is the core of Judaism's scriptural foundation.  It establishes and validates many cultural and religious principles that define the Hebrew people and its relationship with the national deity.  Indeed, even before the Passover, the Ten Commandments, the Golden Calf bacchanal and the over-the-top divine extravaganza at Mt.
Sinai, the reader has been given a clue concerning the metamorphosis of the ancient Canaanite god El into YHWH, the proprietary god of the Israelites. Furthermore, the literary work "Exodus" is very much the product of the times in which it was edited into its final form: the post-exilic period from the sixth century to the fourth century BCE. The cult of YHWH was still evolving during this tumultuous period and the defeated Judeans were coming to terms with the trauma of being conquered, deported and sent back to Judea to begin a new Persian client state in Palestine.
The priestly classes who edited Exodus were striving to define the nation in the context of both tradition and recent history. Many of the key elements in Exodus and the rest of the Five Books of Moses are a reflection of the tensions resulting from the Israelites' uneven progress toward monotheism and their relationship with their monarchy. They are also indicative of current events and conditions many centuries after the ostensible dating of the Exodus.
The purpose of True Scripture is to make the Bible easier to understand and enjoy for believers and non-believers alike. Most people learn their Bible stories in Sunday School, confirmation class or weekly church service, which significantly limits the material to which they are exposed. While many take comfort in various inspirational passages and gripping narratives, very few people indeed have read the entire book.
True Scripture condenses what is actually written in the Bible into everyday prose, including all of the surprising, amusing and sometimes disturbing details found in the original.  The format is based on three tiers of knowledge, to allow readers to drill down to their comfort level.