It was indeed a notable deliverance, and the Hebrews never forgot it.  It affected their ideals and their religion.  Immediately after escaping from Egypt they set out across the desert for Mount Sinai, which was considered the home of their God Jehovah, there to offer up sacrifices of gratitude.  Moreover, from that time on, every year they brought to mind the story of the great deliverance through a sacrificial feast called the Passover.  Under Moses’ leadership at Sinai they entered into a covenant with Jehovah.  They were to be Jehovah’s people forever, and they probably agreed to worship him only, as their national God.

=Monotheism.=—­At this time few had come to perceive the truth of monotheism, namely, that there is but one God in the universe, and that all the so-called gods and goddesses are mere superstitions.  The Hebrews, at this time, did not doubt the real existence of other gods than Jehovah, such as Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Marduk and Shamash, gods of Babylon.  But after the deliverance from Egypt they felt themselves bound to Jehovah by special ties of gratitude, and more and more came to consider the worship of any other god, by a Hebrew as base disloyalty.  So the Exodus, and the experiences at Sinai, pointed the way, at least, toward monotheism.

=Justice.=—­Of great importance also was the influence of these experiences on their ideas of right and wrong, and their conception of the character of Jehovah.  Because they as a nation had been enslaved they were the better able to sympathize with the oppressed and down-trodden.  “Remember,” their prophets could always say, “that ye were slaves in the land of Egypt.”  And when, in after years, they were unjust in their dealings with foreigners living among them, they were reminded that “Ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

These ideals were reflected in their conception of their God.  Many of their notions about him were crude and unworthy, even late in their history.  This was natural and inevitable in the light of the times in which they lived.  But in these Egyptian and desert experiences we see a notable beginning of nobler religious ideals.  From this time on they were impelled to think of Jehovah, first of all as the God who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and who had taken their part, humble shepherds as they were, against the mighty Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.  To that extent, at least, their God was a God of justice and mercy.  Other ideas, which were inconsistent with this, continued for a time, but gradually fell away, until at length great seers arose who proclaimed that God is nothing else than justice and mercy; righteousness is the essence of his character, and that is all he asks of men.

    “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne.”

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS