(2.) But He promised, also, to save them from their _bondage_. They were bondsmen in Egypt. They were not freemen, as we are, but slaves. They were not free to choose their own master, or to come and go at their pleasure. They could not leave their homes without the permission of the king, for they were under a legal yoke. If they had no work to do, nor any burdens laid on them, they would still have been bondsmen. Moses was brought up in all the luxury of a palace; but still he was a slave. So, when God undertook to deliver, the first thing He did was to break the bondage of this legal yoke. He set them free that He might bring them out, and save them. So long as they were in bondage they could not move, so He broke the chain and they were free. Can anything be more complete as a type of what He does for us? Those whom God hath not set free are ‘all their lifetime subject to bondage.’ They are bound by what St. Paul describes, Rom. viii. 2, as ‘the law of sin and death.’ So long as the guilt of unforgiven sin rests on the conscience, they cannot be free. It matters not where they are or what they are doing. They may be bowed down by hard work, or living in ease and idleness; but in either case they are bondsmen, and they are condemned under the law, and bound by it. They cannot shake it off, or get clear of it, for it is a condemnation by God Himself, and they cannot break His chain. Indeed, their efforts to get free very frequently produce just the same result as the efforts of Israel did when they strove to get free from Pharaoh. The only result of their effort was that the burden became heavier, and the bondage more severe. How often is this the case with persons struggling to get free from the burden and bondage of sin! They try, and try again, and the only result is, that they get deeper into difficulty. They have at last to make their bricks without the straw, and seem worse off than ever. But then it is that the Redeemer appears, and says, ‘I will rid them out of their bondage.’ He has borne the burden, and having done so He breaks the yoke. He removes the imputation of sin, and when that is gone we are free, free to arise and follow Him; free to go forth to the promised land; free to walk fearlessly with God; free because ‘Christ has made us free;’ because ‘the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death.’ (3.) But once more; He delivered them from what, as far as man was concerned, were insuperable _difficulties_.