The Biblical story concerning the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt is not only one of the most prominent threshold narratives of antiquity but also has served as a template for countless political mythologies. This lecture explores which textual characteristics of the Book of Exodus enabled it to become a master narrative and source of imagery for a two-and-a-half-millennia tradition. Especially notable are the roles of resistance and discrepancies in the Biblical narrative that are reflected not least in the enormous mileage on foot required of Moses as mediator between God and his people. The attraction of the Book of Exodus consists in its narrative handling of problems of law-giving and political-cultic constitution.