Deliverance from slavery
God had pity on His people, and when the time was right He intervened to deliver them from bondage. He appointed Moses as a leader to bring them out of Egypt (Ex 14:10).
In a series of dramatic events, God took them out of Egypt and established them as an independent and free nation. Their departure from Egyptian soil climaxed in the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, providing an escape from Pharaoh's pursuing army (Exodus 14:21-31). When the Egyptians attempted to follow, the walls of water collapsed over them (Ex 14:28).
God had chosen Israel to be His own people. Having removed Israel's Egyptian yoke, God's next step was to instruct the people about His law. With Moses leading them, God brought the Israelites to the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:2).
Then, beginning with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1), God gave His law to Israel.
These were the standards by which Israel was to live.
They were intended to guide a people no longer in the bonds of slavery. God made it plain to the Israelites that they were to be set apart by obedience to His commandments. He told them not to follow the practices of the land of Egypt, out of which they had come, nor to walk in the practices of the land of Canaan, to which they were going. They were to follow His standard (Leviticus 18:1-4).
At this point some people make a quantum theological leap of logic: They believe that God removed the Israelites from captivity to the Egyptians and brought them into another state of slavery-subjugation to a harsh law.
Several other assumptions follow from this view; for example, that this law was only for Israel, and when one accepts Christ he is not subject to the Old Testament law because Christ abolished the law.
But what was Christ's position on the law? Did He take a clear stand on it? In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:1), He unambiguously shared His view of the Old Testament: "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfil.
For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one title will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17-18, emphasis added throughout).
First we must recognize what Jesus meant when He used the terms Law and Prophets. "... Jesus is taking pains to relate his teaching and place in the history of redemption to the OT (Old Testament) Scriptures. For that is what 'Law or the Prophets' here means: the Scriptures" (Expositor's, Vol. 8, p. 142).