INTRODUCTION TO THE 2004 EDITION The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael is the classic anthology of early rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Exodus and one of our earliest sources for midrash, as the activity of biblical commentary that was practiced by the Rabbis is known. The sages whose opinions are recorded in the Mekhilta are all Tannaim—that is, early rabbis who lived in the first two centuries C.E., before the completion of the great law code of early Judaism, the Mishnah, in 220 C.E. It is therefore