a. the offspring of Abraham were blessed numerically, but were under great oppression in Egypt
          b. God acted dramatically and drastically to separate His chosen people from the Egyptians
          c. Not only were they freed from all their past ties to slavery and to Egyptian customs, but God separated them rigorously from all tribes and nations that they will encounter in their new homeland (drive them out, do not intermarry).
          d. There were some exceptions to absolute racial segregation:  Moses' Egyptian mother, his Midianite wife and   father-in-law, favorable laws regarding treatment of aliens.
          e. God gave Israel a preset national character, a complete religious/political/ethical culture.
          f. God's cultural values were completely at odds with those the Israelites inherited from Egypt.
         g. The foundation of this new nation was to be worship of the one true God (#1 of the 10 Commandments).
         h. God's laws permeated Israelite society and daily life.  Yet these rules were only signs of the central reality:
          i. Which is that God had made them His own people, and His Presence existed physically in their midst.
          j. When Moses declared that God's Presence was the true heritage of Israel, God manifested Himself in a personal revelation not equaled till the New Testament.