The Lord reminded these elders that He had chosen the Israelites, made Himself known to them, and made promises to them when they were slaves in Egypt ( Exodus 6:2-8; Deuteronomy 7:6-11). Leslie Allen observed that this is Ezekiel"s only reference to God"s election of Israel (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7; Deuteronomy 14:2). [1] The prophet began this historical review with Israel"s history as a nation in Exodus , not with her earlier history as the family of Abraham in Genesis. Yahweh had promised to be the Israelites" God and to bring them out of Egypt and into the very best of lands, which He had selected for them to occupy ( Genesis 12:7; Exodus 3:8; Exodus 3:13-18). [source][source][source]