We often picture them fleeing with just the clothes on their backs, but the story is actually…a lot richer.
Imagine this: The Israelites aren't just leaving Egypt empty-handed. They’re carrying the private wealth of the Egyptians! But that's not all. According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, they came into even more wealth at the Red Sea. Pharaoh, see, was like many kings of old. He carried the state treasury with him on military campaigns. You know, just in case he needed to hire some mercenaries at a moment's notice. So when Pharaoh's army was defeated, all that wealth – the public treasure – fell into the hands of the Israelites. Can you imagine the sheer volume of it? It says here that as great as the other treasure was, the booty captured at the sea far exceeded it.
But here's the thing: it wasn't about greed. It wasn't some wild, avaricious spree. The Israelites weren’t just trying to get rich quick. There was a deeper purpose at play.
The text makes a point of noting that the Israelites weren't motivated by mere "love of riches." As Ginzberg points out, they weren’t just coveting their neighbors' possessions like some kind of ancient loan shark.
In fact, they could rightfully consider their "plunder" as wages owed to them. Think about it: they had served the Egyptians for generations as slaves. Unpaid, toiling under the lash. This wasn’t theft; it was back pay!
And then there's the matter of retribution. They were entitled to retaliate for the wrongs they had suffered. They were taking back what had been unjustly taken from them for generations. Even with all that treasure, the text emphasizes, they were only inflicting a far slighter affliction than they themselves had endured.
So, next time you picture the Exodus, don't just think of a desperate flight. Think of a people reclaiming what was rightfully theirs, settling accounts after centuries of injustice. It's a powerful reminder that sometimes, taking what's yours isn't about greed, but about justice.