Sanhedrin 91a preserves a courtroom drama from the age of Alexander of Macedon. The people of Egypt appeared before the conqueror to lodge a complaint against Israel. Their argument was pulled straight from Scripture. "It is written, the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent them (Exodus 12:36)," they said. "Give us back the gold and silver that your ancestors took when they left."
The sages of Israel froze. Then a man named Givia ben Pesisa stepped forward. He was not a scholar by pedigree — a plebeian, they called him. "Let me argue the case," he said. "If I lose, say only that a commoner was defeated. If I win, say that the Torah of our master Moses has triumphed."
Alexander's court opened. Givia faced the Egyptian delegation. "Where is your proof?" he asked. "From the Torah," they said. "Then I will answer from the Torah. It is written, the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years (Exodus 12:40). Pay us now the wages of the six hundred thousand men you enslaved for four hundred and thirty years. The gold and silver you want returned are a tiny advance against back pay."
Alexander gave the Egyptians three days to prepare a reply. They never came back. They fled from their own country, leaving fields and vineyards behind. A plebeian's sharper reading of a single verse emptied Egypt of its plaintiffs.
The Torah pays its own debts — and collects them.