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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

18. Sources of the Biblical Narrative

Exodus - Departure of the Israelites, by David Roberts, 1829 — Departure of the Israelites, by David Roberts, 1829. Wikimedia

The Hebrew Bible is the Exodus narrative’s primary source. Key elements include the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt; Moses’ divine calling through the burning bush; the Ten Plagues inflicted upon Egypt; the Israelites’ departure and miraculous crossing of the Red Sea; the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai; and the forty-year journey through the wilderness to Canaan.

The text presents Exodus as a real historical event with theological significance, and positions it as the pivotal moment in the formation of Israel as a nation chosen by God. Modern biblical scholarship sees the Pentateuch, the Bible’s first five books, as a composite work, written and redacted over centuries. Many scholars believe the Exodus story was fully shaped during or after the Babylonian exile, in the sixth century BC. That period of displacement may have inspired a theological narrative of liberation and covenant, that was then projected back into an earlier era.

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.