Were the Israelites in Egypt surrounded by many named gods?
Yes. The children of Israel were in Egypt and were surrounded and inundated with all the gods of Egypt, and every one of those gods had a name. Egyptian culture named every idol and deity, whether the frog, Nile, sun, stars, animals, or snake.
Les explains that Moses spent 40 years steeped in Egypt’s mythologies and idols, and every idol or god in Egypt’s culture had a name—whether the frog, the Nile, the sun, the stars, any other animal, or a snake. The children of Israel were in Egypt and had been surrounded and inundated with all the gods of Egypt, and they all had a name. So when Moses comes from the desert speaking of a god, he anticipates they will ask, “What is his name?” God answers, “I am that I am,” and tells Moses to say, “I am hath sent me unto you.”