After Alexander the Great conquered the known world, the Egyptians saw an opportunity to settle old scores with the Jews. They came before Alexander's tribunal with a legal claim: "The Israelites must repay us. When they left Egypt in the Exodus, the Torah says they borrowed gold, silver, and garments from the Egyptians (Exodus 12:35-36). They never returned any of it. We demand restitution."
Gebiha ben Pesisa, the clever and humble sage, stepped forward to represent the Jewish people. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 91a) records his devastating counter-argument.
"Very well," Gebiha said. "Let us calculate. You say the Israelites took gold and silver from Egypt. But the Torah also records that 600,000 Israelite men — not counting women and children — served as slaves in Egypt for 430 years. Calculate the wages you owe for 430 years of slave labor by 600,000 workers. I assure you, the debt runs in the other direction."
Alexander turned to the Egyptian representatives and gave them three days to prepare a response. They never returned. The wages owed for centuries of slavery dwarfed any amount of borrowed jewelry — and they knew it.
The sages loved this story because it turned the accusers' own logic against them. Those who cry "thief" should first examine their own ledgers. Egypt's claim collapsed the moment someone thought to add up what Egypt itself owed. Justice, the rabbis taught, is not a one-sided accounting.