If the Exodus didn't happen, the Jews wouldn't put themselves under the Mosaic law

[Jenny A]

From an exchange...

Did tens of thousands of Israelites conspire to fabricate the history of the Exodus? If those events did not occur, and those recorded miracles were not experienced by tens of thousands of Israelites, why would they subject themselves to such a burdensome legal code and hard life?

The person in question doesn't seems interested in there being or not archeological evidence for the event.

Are there any examples of people in other religions doing something similar? I know he would reject such accounts but it would be nice to point it to him to show him why I reject the Bible account

What you are missing here is that Deuteronomy (the book with all the law) is a late edition to the Exodus story. Deuteronomy was written in Jerusalem in the 600s BC as part of the religious reforms promoted by King Josiah (reigned 641–609 BC) and edited and added to in the 500s after the Babylonian exhile. Here's the context:

Both Judah and Israel were vassal states of Assyria. Israel rebelled, and was destroyed c.722 BC. Israeli refugees to Judah brought with them the tradition Yahweh was not just an god, but the only god who should be served. This idea appealed the Judahite landowner elite, who saw political advantages to consolidated worship centering around Jerusalem. During Joshia's reign, Assyrian power declined, and Joshua and the wealthy did consolidate power based on a state theology of loyalty to Yahweh as the sole god of Israel. With Joshia's support, the priests invoked an early form of Deuteronomy 5–26, which takes the form of an covenant between Judah and Yahweh and replacing the one between Judah and Assyria. This covenant was inserted retroactively as a speech by Moses to the Israelite (Deut.5:1).

Babylon conquered Judea in the 580s BC and the elites and priests were taken into exile in Babylon. The exiles explained the loss and exile to themselves as Yahweh's punishment for their failure to follow the law. The books of Joshua through Kings was written and compiled during the exile and reflect this view.

When the Persians agreed that the Jews could return and rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, chapters 1–4 and 29–30 were added to Deuteronomy, making it a story about a people about to return to their own land rather than people coming to a promised land. Chapters 19–25 were added to reflect current political needs, and chapters 31–34 were added as a new conclusion.

The whole thing was then foisted on the poor and mostly illiterate Judeans who had remained in Judea and who had returned to polytheism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Deuteronomy
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articl...euteronomy

Unlike Exodus, the release from Babylon was real enough.

Won't wash though, if you really believe Moses wrote Deuteronomy.