When the time came to punish Egypt and to free the Israelites, God sent Moses, an Israelite raised by Egypt’s royal family but later rejected by them. When Moses was a refugee, God appeared to him in a continually burning bush.
[Moses] was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.” … I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” … This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.” (Acts 7:31, 34, 36-37)
Moses was looking far into the future when he predicted the coming prophet like himself. Many centuries later, that prophecy was fulfilled by the arrival of Jesus Christ, God’s ultimate spokesman (Hebrews 1:1-2). In the meantime, God placed the Israelite nation under a set of rules delivered through Moses at Mount Sinai. Those rules, beginning with the Ten Commandments, were God’s covenant with Israel (Exodus 24:7-8; 34:27-28; Deuteronomy 4:12-14). The books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy list hundreds of commandments that governed every aspect of an Israelite’s life. They also set apart one central place for worship and one family from the tribe of Levi to serve as hereditary priests.