Rabbi Yossi HaGlili told a parable to explain one of the most staggering miscalculations in the history of Egypt. A man inherited a beth kor of land — a sizable property — and sold it for next to nothing. The buyer then went to work on the property, opening springs, planting gardens and orchards, transforming the barren plot into a paradise. When the original owner saw what had become of his land, he began "choking" with regret.
The analogy cuts straight to the heart of the Exodus. The Egyptians sent the Israelites away — and they did it without understanding what they were sending. They saw departing slaves, a labor force walking out the door. What they failed to see was the incalculable value of the people they were releasing. Israel was not a workforce. Israel was a treasure beyond measure.
The Mekhilta drives the point home with a verse from (Song of Songs 4:13): "Your sendings are an orchard of pomegranates." The Hebrew word "shelachayikh" — your sendings — is read as referring to the people Egypt sent away. And what were those "sendings"? An orchard of pomegranates — an image of extraordinary beauty, abundance, and hidden riches.
The parable captures something timeless about short-sightedness. Egypt treated Israel like expendable property, like a field worth nothing. But the moment the Israelites departed, Egypt began to grasp the enormity of its loss. The slaves it had brutalized were the most valuable thing it possessed — and now they were gone forever, flourishing in freedom, while Egypt choked on its own miscalculation.