In this book Alfred Edersheim looks at a large array of different aspects of Old Testament history. He states that “In writing [this book] I have primarily had in view those who teach and those who learn, whether in the school or in the family. But my scope has also been wider. I have wished to furnish, what may be useful for reading in the family,–what indeed may, in some measure, serve the place of a popular exposition of the sacred history. More than this, I hope it may likewise prove a book to put in the hands of students, to show them what the Bible really teaches.”