“Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto Me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” Ex. 3:9, 10.
4. In giving Israel His law, how did God describe Himself?
“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Ex. 20:2.
5. What provision did God make against slavery and oppression in Israel?
“And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, [pg 472] be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shall let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shall not let him go away empty: thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine-press: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing today.” Deut. 15:12-15. “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Ex. 22:21. See 2 Cor. 1:3, 4.
6. What was one reason assigned why Israel should keep the Sabbath?
“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Deut. 5:15.
Note.—This would suggest the idea that in their servitude and oppression in Egypt they had had difficulty regarding the observance of the Sabbath, which is a fact. From the accusation brought against Moses and Aaron by Pharaoh, as recorded in Ex. 5:5,—“Ye make them rest [Heb., Shabbath] from their burdens,”—it is plain that the Sabbath had been denied them, that they had been required to work on the Sabbath, and that Moses and Aaron were teaching them to keep it. Where individual rights and religious liberty are recognized, Sabbath observance is neither denied nor required by civil law.
7. What proclamation was to be made throughout the land of Israel every fifty years?
“And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” Lev. 25:10.