Religious movement or political movement

The movement of 40 years in wilderness begins in Exodus. For any sane reader it seems a religious movement when it begins but near the end of book of Numbers it becomes very much clear that it is more a political movement than religious movement. It seems here very much true that societies are formed on the basis of common enemy.
God's contant allusion that he intends to create nation out of this community also signifies that it was more a political movement rather than religious movement.
Christ's work could be termed as religious movement because he challenged values rather than person/persons or any ruler. Moses felt the need to free jews from the bondages of Egyptians but Christ never felt the need to leberate jews from Romans.