Moses has complained to the Lord that the Hebrews are suffering cruelly from harsh treatment by the Pharaoh and Yahweh has not stopped the abuse. Here is what the Lord said according to The New American Bible: “God also said to Moses, ‘I am the Lord. As God the Almighty I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but my name, Lord, I did not make known to them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them land of Canaan, the land in which they were living as aliens. And now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are treating as slaves, I am mindful of my covenant. Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the Lord. I will free you from the forced labor of the Egyptians and will deliver you from their slavery. I will rescue you by my outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and you shall have me as your God. You will know that I, the Lord, am your God when I free you from the labor of the Egyptians and bring you into the land which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will give it to you as your possession—I, the Lord!”
My response: Yahweh self-identifies as the Almighty God, which implies to me that there are lesser Gods. I worship those lesser gods too (the Good Spirits) but I do not think that is a betrayal of worshipping God the Father or Jesus—all of these benevolent deities are on the same team and cooperate and help each other—their enemy the is Dark Couple and the Evil Spirits, not each other; there is no room for civil war in heaven.
Once Yahweh set up a covenant with the Hebrews for them to be His people and for them to worship Him, obey Him and pay Him homage as their God, then Yahweh let them call Him by the name Lord.
The Lord promises to deliver them from slavery and to take them to and bestow upon them Canaan the Promised Land.
Note that God gives his blessing to people invading an occupied land and wresting it from the inhabitants who likely militarily wrested it from earlier inhabitants. This goes to show that morality of territorial claims is complex and hard to sort out to the satisfaction of all.
The people are to be faithful to the Lord, and the Lord is to bless and protect them if they are faithful to the Lord, and that is the covenant that God will enforce. Yahweh keeps His word, so the Hebrews must keep their word or reap hellfire and damnation.
Here is that same quote from the Holy Bible (KJV): “And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them.
And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers.
And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.
Wherefor say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you of their bondage and I will redeem you with a stretch-out arm, and with great judgments.
And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am the Lord.”
My response: I wonder what we today need to do to make ourselves worthy of being granted a conversational audience with the Divine Couple, Jesus, or the Good Sprits. Why does not the good deities appear before us today as Jehovah did with the ancient Hebrews?
Note how God stretches out His arm to guide and prepare a way for the Hebrews, so we know that God like us, has an arm to stretch out. When Jehovah is sharing great judgements with and upon his chosen people, they had better listen up, and appreciate the magnitude of their good news, and then not turn their backs on the deity or even worship false idols.
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