Egypt Sold Israel Cheaply and Paid Tenfold for It

Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai taught a parable: of a man who inherited property in a country across the sea. He had a lazy heir who rose up and sold it for a trifle. The buyer went and dug and found a hidden treasure in it and built a palace upon it, and he would walk through the marketplace with attendants before him and attendants behind him. The seller began to choke with grief. Rabbi Yose the Galilean said: To what may this be compared? To a man who inherited a field of a kor's measure and sold it for a trifle. The buyer went and opened springs in it and planted gardens and trees and orchards, and the seller began to choke. So it happened to the Egyptians, who sent Israel away and did not know what they were sending. Concerning them it is stated explicitly in tradition, "Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates" (Song of Songs 4:13). Rabbi Yishmael taught a parable: To what may this be compared? To a king who said to his servant, "Go and bring me a fish from the market." He went and brought him a rotten fish. The king said to him, "By your life, one of three things you shall not escape: either you eat it, or you receive a hundred lashes, or you pay a fine." He said, "I will eat it." He had not finished eating before he gagged and said, "I will take the lashes." He had not finished fifty before he said, "I will pay the fine." Thus he was found eating the fish, and being lashed, and paying the fine. So the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Pharaoh: "Wicked one, by your life, ten beatings you shall receive"; these are the ten plagues; "and a fine you shall pay," "and they despoiled Egypt" (Exodus 12:36); "and Israel you shall send forth." Therefore it is said, "And it came to pass when Pharaoh let the people go."