In his Preface to this classic work on the Old Testament, Alfred Edersheim describes his purposes and intended audience. Edersheim wrote this volume for "those who teach and those who learn....to furnish what may be useful for reading in the family...not only to show them what the Bible really teaches, but to defend them against the insidious attacks arising from misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the sacred text". Further, Edersheim wrote this work "in a form so popular and easily intelligible as to be of use to the Sunday-school teacher, the advanced scholar, and the Bible-class, progressing gradually from the more simple to the more detailed". The Scripture narrative is discussed according to the order of the books of the Bible, chapter by chapter, with biblical references clearly marked to enable the reader to easily find the passages being explained.