An interesting study I did for my Old Testament History class

"The Making of a Nation"

After 400 years of enslavement in the land of Egypt, the cries for deliverance coming from the Israelites to God were heard. God answered the Israelites cries by bringing them out of slavery with several miracles leading up to the Exodus, and many miracles during the Exodus. God chose a leader for His people to journey out of Egypt, to the Promised Land. Moses was chosen by God to lead the Israelites. After much encouragement and counsel from God through a burning bush, Moses was ready for the task. God gave Moses instruction for His people to have a feast and spread the blood of the slaughtered lambs on their door frames, so they would be excluded from God’s ultimate plague on the Egyptians, the death of the firstborn sons. God softened Pharaoh’s heart after this and the Israelites Exodus began. Everything that God had done was to lay the foundation for the establishment of a Holy nation of Israel (Tyndale 2005).
The Lord could have led the Israelites on a much easier journey, the road would have led the Israelites into the land of the Philistines, which may have discouraged the Israelites and they could have gone back to Egypt. So the Lord chose for them to take this route which would show His love, power and strength to His people more clearly. After the Israelites had started their journey, Pharaoh decided to go after the Israelites with his army of chariots. They pursued the Israelites to the Red Sea where through Moses and his staff, God parted the Red Sea for His people to cross safely. After all the Israelites had crossed the army of chariots had made it to the Red Sea and part way across the dry bottom of the Red Sea when the water was reformed back into its place, wiping out the pursuing Egyptian charioteers. The Lord’s awesome hand had been displayed for the Israelites to see.
God through Moses led the Israelites into the desert where they came upon Mount Sinai. At Mount Sinai, the Lord established with His people the covenant that He had made with Abraham. He was making the Israelites a nation that is Holy and a kingdom of priests. The Israelites were to give complete obedience to the Lord and keep His covenant (Tyndale 2005). The Israelites had been through and seen many miraculous, but scary things for humans to go through; yet they complained about many things. Their reluctant obedience had brought them through everything to this point.
While on Mount Sinai, Moses received the Ten Commandments from the Lord. This was the law which Israel would use to establish a nation in the Promised Land. These were the laws that the Israelites were to live by to show the world God’s holiness through the example of His chosen people, the nation of Israel (Tyndale 2005).
The Lord instructed Moses to have His people make an offering of gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, goat hair, dyed ram skins, sea cow hides, acacia wood, olive oil, spices, and onyx stones, as well as other gems (Tyndale 2005). The Lord wanted the Israelites to construct a tabernacle for the Lord to dwell with them. This was a place for the priest to communicate with the Lord, known as “the holy place”. There was a curtain in the tabernacle which separated the place for the priests and a place for the Lord which was known as “The Most Holy Place” (Tyndale 2005). The tabernacle was an earthly instrument used by the Lord to establish worship of the Israelites.
The exodus was the beginning of the fulfillment of the covenant between God and Abraham. The Lord used Moses to lead His people out of captivity into the Promised Land. The Lord taught His people the way to be obedient and glorify Him with the law. The tabernacle was established for the priests to communicate with God through sacrifice and prayer. This was God’s plan of making a nation of Israel, holy and honoring to the Lord.


References
NIV Life Application Study Bible, Tyndale House Publishers Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois, 2005