As mentioned earlier, Scripture does not record any specific communication from God during the interval between His assurance to Jacob that he should go down to Egypt and the call of Moses. In Jacob’s vision, God promised to make of Israel a nation and to bring them back to land he had promised to Abraham. (Gen 46:2-5) (Jacob did prophesy by divine inspiration over his sons on his deathbed, but after that, Scripture records only silence until the call of Moses at the Burning Bush.) That silent period lasted some four hundred years. During that time, the family stories were surely told and retold, but it would have been natural for all sorts of spurious beliefs about God to have crept in. This is especially the case because the dominant culture of the Egyptians was polytheistic. We know from the later history of Israel that they routinely drifted away from God to worship the deities of the local people. Thus, there is no particular reason to believe that the average Israelite’s connection to God was any more profound than it was at the time of the Judges or of the divided kingdom.
In His call to Moses, God identified Himself as the God of his father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In this conversation, God gave Moses three signs to authenticate himself to the rest of the Israelites. (Ex 4) When Moses returned to Egypt, showed the signs to his people and then demanded that Pharaoh allow the Israelites to go and worship, Pharaoh responded by making slavery even more harsh. God responded with the ten plagues that eventually wrecked Egypt.
As the plagues progressed, the Israelites were able to witness the power, the wrath and the severity of God. Thus, by the time the Egyptians expelled the Israelites there could be no doubt that God was able to do whatsoever He said He would do. The Hebrews might, however, be forgiven if they had some reservations about His attitude toward them. Their slavery had been made more onerous, they had been expelled from their homes and, standing by the Red Sea, they faced the wrath of Pharaoh and his army. The sea, of course, split to allow Israel to walk to the other side before closing upon the pursuing Egyptians. In this light, one could view the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15 as a spontaneous explosion of relief and joy at having survived. However, nothing thus far had indicated that God was much different from any of the gods of the other nations. They had Moses’ word, but not a great deal of experience.
The joy on the far side of the Red Sea would be short lived as God was explicitly taking them the long way around to get to the Promised Land. (Ex 13:17-18) Before the plagues, Moses had said that God was taking them to the land promised to Abraham. Since the geography was well known and it was a relatively short trip up the coast, heading off into the wilderness must have been something of a shock. During the fifty-day trip to Sinai, they would run out of both water and food as well as be attacked by the Amalekites. Since they were well out of range of a return to Egypt and there was nothing else anywhere near, they turned their fear into anger against Moses. Their frequent murmuring and complaining exposes their state of mind. They had second thoughts about the whole project and were ready to return to the stability of slavery.
All of this was clearly by God’s design. His power was never in doubt, but Israel needed to see His caring side. He placed them in situation after situation where their only realistic option was to depend upon Him. In each case, He responded with that which was needed: water, food, victory. All of this was in contradistinction to the pagan gods of the rest of the world, one of whose defining characteristics was capriciousness. God presented Himself as consistent and loving of those who fear Him. Since He was going to invite Israel into a covenant, it was vital in God’s eyes that they understand more than just His power. They needed to learn His character and come to trust Him.
Once Israel arrived at Mt Sinai, God invited them into covenant. He did not unilaterally impose it upon them. He called Moses up to the mountain and instructed him to make the following offer to Israel:
“Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” (Ex 19:3-6)
There are some rabbinic sources who say that this was ‘an offer that they could not refuse.’ That idea has some merit, since they were far away from civilization. (When Elijah fled from Jezebel, it took him forty-three days to walk from Carmel to Mt Horeb. (1 Kings 19:1-9) Had they refused, their only way out would still have been to rely on God’s provision of water and manna. Still, God’s actions up to that point and the form of the offer point to its being exactly what it appears to be; an offer that respected Israel’s new found liberty and ability to choose.
Once Israel had accepted, God would then lay out the terms of the covenant.