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Exodus 3 · a question people ask

Was taking the Egyptians' silver and gold stealing?

In the text

The text doesn't present it as stealing, though it does call it plunder: "You shall plunder the Egyptians" (3:22). What is taken is asked for and given. God says, "I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians" (3:21). The women "shall ask" (3:22), and when it happens the Egyptians "let them have what they asked" (12:35-36). God had told Abram that his offspring would be afflicted in a foreign land, and "Afterward they will come out with great wealth" (Genesis 15:13-14). Israel had been made to serve "with hard service" (1:14), and God's later law says of a freed servant, "you shall not let him go empty" (Deuteronomy 15:13), the same Hebrew word as "empty-handed" here (3:21).

The verses

“I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing. You shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians.””
Exodus 3:21-22 · World English Bible
“The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing. The LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. They plundered the Egyptians.”
Exodus 12:35-36 · World English Bible
“He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth;”
Genesis 15:13-14 · World English Bible
“The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.”
Exodus 1:13-14 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Exodus 3

Exodus 3: Holy ground

At the bush God said he had already seen, heard and come down to deliver his people. To Moses' "Who am I?" he answered "I will be with you", with the same word he used for his name, I AM. He named himself the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Jesus read that name as proof that the dead are raised.

In Favor, questions like this come up right where they arise as you read, with the Hebrew and Greek behind the words and how the chapter leads to Jesus.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions