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Let My People Go! – The History and Historicity of the Biblical Account of the Exodus

Khalid Elhassan May 31, 2025 17 min

5. The Theological and Literary Significance of Exodus

The Flight of the Prisoners, by James Tissot, 1896, depicts the exile of the Jews from Canaan to Babylon. The Jewish Museum

Regardless of its historicity, Exodus is a masterful literary composition and a deeply theological narrative. Themes of liberation, justice, covenant, and faith dominate the text. The themes of God’s concern for the oppressed and demand for ethical conduct were revolutionary in the ancient Near East. The story also serves a political function: it legitimizes Moses’ authority, Israel’s special status, and the worship of Yahweh alone.

Scholars widely agree that the Exodus story’s final form emerged during or after the Babylonian exile of the sixth century BC, when the Israelites again faced displacement and sought to reaffirm their identity. In that context, the Exodus narrative provided a powerful metaphor of hope and divine fidelity during periods of crisis.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.