G-d tells Moses in our Torah portion, Shemos...

"I will give this people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, and when you depart, you will not go empty," G-d tells Moses in our Torah portion, Shemos.
According to the Midrash, G-d promised that the Egyptians would willingly pay the departing Jews with gifts of gold and silver "so that Abraham would not be able to claim that G-d had fulfilled the first part of the covenant - 'and they will be enslaved and tortured' - but not the second part - 'and afterward they will leave with great wealth.'"

This explanation, however, is insufficient. How could this be the only reason G-d fulfilled His promise? Doesn't G-d fulfill His promises all the time, as it states, "For G-d is not a man who tells falsehoods"?

To explain:

The huge amount of gold and silver that was given to the Jews just prior to the Exodus served a dual purpose: to punish the Egyptians for their cruelty, and to reward the Jews for their 210 years of suffering. But which one of these was the primary purpose - reward or punishment?

Was the benefit derived by the Jewish people secondary to the main objective of punishing the Egyptians, or was their enrichment the primary goal, and the loss it represented to the Egyptians only secondary?

The Talmud relates that in the time of Alexander the Great, the Egyptians demanded that the Jews return the riches they had acquired generations before.

The response of Geviha ben Pesisa, the leader of the Jews, was that the gold and silver rightfully belonged to the Jews as "the wages of the six hundred thousand whom you enslaved in Egypt."

This answer provides us insight into why it was necessary that the Jews "find favor in the eyes of the Egyptians," and why Abraham's potential claim had to be refuted:

For there to be the fullest measure of justice, G-d wanted the Jewish people to be rewarded in the same open manner as Abraham's service was conducted in the world.

Just as all mankind was witness to the Jewish people's enslavement, so too was it necessary for the entire world to see the Egyptians making reparations of their own free will.

Chasidic philosophy explains that the inner meaning of the "great wealth" that was taken by the Jews when they left consisted of the "sparks of G-dliness" that were hidden in Egypt. The service of the Jewish people enabled these sparks to be redeemed and restored to their G-dly source above.

Nonetheless, the primary objective of the entire experience in Egypt was the betterment of the Jews themselves, whereas the elevation of the sparks was only secondary. For the inner purpose of the exile was the spiritual elevation that was achieved thereby, the main reason for the Jews' going into exile in the first place.


Adapted from Likutei Sichot of the Rebbe, Vol. 21