Ezekiel 20:5, commentary and pictures

The time spoken of is when God chose Israel and made himself known to the seed of the house of Jacob in the land of Egypt, declaring to them that he is the Lord their God. This was after they had been long in servitude in Egypt, during which they had increased from a few families into a large multitude. The lifting up of the hand is an oath by which he promised to bring Israel out of Egypt.

He had to make himself known to them there because, surrounded by idolatry, many had lost the knowledge of the true God and forgotten his law. They had joined the Egyptians in worshiping the sun and moon and stars, and beasts, and images of wood and stone made by human hands. Yet some among the Hebrews still preserved the knowledge of the true God as the maker of heaven and earth. They grieved to see their children witnessing the abominations around them and joining in them, bowing to Egyptian deities and sacrificing to senseless objects, and they cried to the Lord for deliverance from the Egyptian yoke, that they might be free from idolatry and its corrupting influences.

Many of the Hebrews had become corrupted and were content to remain in bondage rather than face the difficulties of going to a new country, and they were unwilling to leave Egypt. For that reason they were not delivered by the first display of signs and wonders before Pharaoh. Instead events were overruled to more fully develop the tyrannical spirit of Pharaoh and to manifest great power to the Egyptians and before his own people, so as to make them anxious to leave Egypt and choose the service of God. Their corruption and unwillingness to leave made the work of Moses much harder.

The choosing and self-revelation are joined with commanding them to reject idols and to keep his statutes and Sabbaths, with the seventh day identified as holy.