Notes on Exodus from the Literary Study Bible:

"The story of Israel's salvation has everything that anyone could ever want in an adventure story: a cruel villain (Pharaoh), an unlikely hero (Moses), fantastic disasters (the plagues), a spectacular deliverance (crossing the Red Sea), a long journey (through the wilderness), a mountaintop experience (where Moses receives the Ten Commandments), and a grand finale (when God comes down to fill the tabernacle with his glory). Along the way--as we might expect in an epic adventure--there are . . . many close encounters with the living God. God's purpose in all of this was to show his glory by fulfilling the promises he made to his people in the covenant. The exodus is the archetypal deliverance of the Old Testament--the definitive salvation event that established the identity of Israel as the people of God and demonstrated the character of their Deliverer as the God who saves."

"The real hero of the story is God himself, and Exodus finds its most essential unity in his actions and attributes as the God who hears his people pray, delivers them from slavery, provides for them in the wilderness, instructs them how to live, invites them to worship him, and meets with them in all the power of his holy divine presence. To be even more specific, the main theme of Exodus is the glory of God. The initial plot conflict is that Pharaoh will not let God's people go out to glorify their God."

"The central message of Exodus is that God's people are saved for God's glory."