: Scribes combined Egyptian, Near Eastern, and Greek myths with local legends and religious propaganda to "invent" much of early biblical history.

Greenberg focuses exclusively on the Old Testament (Tanakh), examining how scribes molded indigenous polytheistic religions into a single monotheistic framework.

: A major focus of the book is the heavy influence of Egyptian mythology on the Book of Genesis. Greenberg posits that authors had deep knowledge of Egyptian literary sources, using them as the basis for primeval history.