1. The first part contains an account of the following particulars: the great increase of Jacob's posterity in the land of Egypt, and their oppression under a new dynasty, which occupied the throne after the death of Joseph; the birth, education, flight and return of Moses; the ineffectual attempts to prevail upon Pharaoh to let the Israelites go; the successive signs and wonders, ending in the death of the first-born, by means of which the deliverance of Israel from the land of bondage is at length accomplished, and the institution of the Passover; finally the departure out of Egypt and the arrival of the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

2. This part gives a sketch of the early history of Israel as a nation; and the history has three clearly-marked stages. First, we see a nation enslaved; next, a nation redeemed; lastly, a nation set apart, and through the blending of its religious and political life consecrated to the service of God.