After man’s failure under human government, God again made a beginning with a single family. God made a promise to Abraham, telling him that "in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed":
“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation…and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12: 1-3).
This promise to make out of Abraham a "great nation" also included the promise of a specific territory of land that the nation of Israel would inherit: “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Gen. 15: 18). The Lord also promises that He would bless all the nations of the earth through the "seed" of Abraham: “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore…and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22: 17, 18).
The "seed" in these verses refers to both the Lord Jesus Christ ( Gal. 3: 16) and to the nation of Israel (Isa. 61: 9). Israel’s ultimate purpose is stated as follows: “Ye are the light of the world…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, Who is in heaven” (Mt. 5: 14, 16).
Therefore, the Lord promised Abraham that He would protect Israel and in return she would serve Him by "good works" so that all the nations would glorify the Lord Who is in heaven: “…the oath which He swore to our Father, Abraham, that He would grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our lives” (Lk. 1: 73-75).
After the Lord made these promises, he began to fulfill them by giving Abraham many descendants. Later, due to a famine, his descendants had left Canaan and gone into Egypt, where they were welcomed by the king. At his command, they had settled in the best of the land, and had prospered and multiplied until they numbered about two million. However, a different dynasty had succeeded to that which had welcomed them. Suddenly, they were made slaves and forced to work from morning until night.
“The children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God…and God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham” (Ex. 2: 24).
Then God chose Moses to deliver His people, saying unto him,” I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (Ex. 3: 10). The Lord then fulfilled His promise to Abraham that He would deliver Israel out of the hands of their enemies:
“But because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt” (Deut. 7: 8).
After leading the children of Israel across the Red Sea and destroying the armies of Pharaoh, He also fought and destroyed the armies of Amalek in the wilderness (Ex.17:8-13). But even though the Lord had fulfilled His words to deliver the Israelites from their enemies, the Israelites did not "serve Him in holiness and righteousness", as was their part of the covenant. Instead, they rebelled against the Lord:
“Our fathers understood not the wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies, but provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea” (Ps. 106: 7).
“Remember, and forget not, how thou provoked the Lord thou God to wrath in the wilderness; from that day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until you came into this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord ” (Deut. 9: 7).
So we can see that the children of Israel refused to serve the Lord in holiness and righteousness in spite of the fact that the Lord did deliver them from their enemies. Instead, they were rebellious and their behavior made it obvious that in their present state it would be impossible for them to fulfill their destiny to be "the light of the world": “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, Who is in heaven” (Mt. 5: 15, 16).