Who were the pagan worshipers in the world at the time of Israel's exodus?
The pagan worshipers were the entire populated world outside Israel—every human being in the Mediterranean area, the Middle East, and perhaps out to China, except the covenant people coming out of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They worshiped many gods, while Israel alone knew the one true God.
Les explains that at the time of Israel’s exodus, God’s plagues were directed against the gods of Egypt, showing that Egypt’s pagan worship had nothing to do with Him and that He could destroy them at will. He stresses that ever since the Tower of Babel, the whole human race until Abraham was saturated in paganism and polytheism, the worship of many gods. When Israel comes on the scene as God’s separated, covenant people, they are the only people on earth who know the one true God. The populated earth then was along the Mediterranean area, into the Middle East, and maybe out to China, but every human being except those coming out of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were pagan worshipers of many gods. Israel alone was that little group, that little nation, with a knowledge of the one true God.