Salvation, Freedom from Bondage (Exod 6:6)

Exodus is not about liberation, political freedom, or religious freedom; rather, it focuses on deliverance from bad servitude to good servitude. The Israelites served (עבד, 'bd) Pharaoh, but God called them to serve (עבד, 'bd) Him instead. However, the term עבד ('bd) can mean both “serve” and “worship.” Exodus doesn’t simply detail a people needing freedom from the control of a national leader; it records a good, divine national (and universal) leader rescuing His chosen people from a bad, human national leader.

In Exodus, only God can bring about freedom from bondage. The Israelites are portrayed as having no chance to save themselves. God must make the demands (“Let my people go”); the people on their own, with or without Moses, would never have dared to ask. Moreover, He makes those demands through His chosen representative, Moses, so that the people cannot take credit for having thought up the idea themselves. When the people are confronted again with the possibility of being opposed by the Egyptians, they become afraid. Indeed, later, in the wilderness, when the going becomes hard, some of them rationalize that they were better off in bondage in Egypt (Num 11).

Exodus reveals God as both savior and lord for Israel and all who will join Israel (as many did upon seeing His mighty acts against the Egyptians; 12:38).