Zohar abstract concepts that are never completely expressed. The earlier part of the Zohar, also known as "Zohar 'Al haTorah" (Zohar on the Torah, זוהר על התורה) or "Midrash Rashbi", contains several smaller "books", as described below. This book was published in three volumes: Volume 1 on "Bereishit" (Genesis), Volume 2 on "Shemot" (Exodus) and Volume 3 on "Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim" (Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). At the start of the first volume is printed a "Preface to the Book of the Zohar" (pages 1a to 14b). After this introduction is the Zohar's commentary on most of the parashahs of the
On the Reliability of the Old Testament the Old Testament. The book opens with an introductory chapter surveying the history with which it intends to deal, the continuous narrative in the Hebrew Bible from the Genesis creation narrative to the return of the Jews to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity in the early days of the Persian Empire in the 5th century BC. The author claims that this history was written at the same time as the events it describes in its various sections, and that this can be confirmed by comparing the Old Testament with non-Biblical sources, both written and archaeological. He clarifies by stating that