בראשית, פרק ט״ו, פסוק י״ד

The divine promise made to Abraham regarding the future of his descendants carries a profound moral and historical paradox. God decrees a period of exile and harsh servitude for the Israelites, yet simultaneously guarantees that He will judge and punish the very nation executing this divine plan, ultimately rewarding the Israelites with immense wealth. In this future reality, the Israelites will find themselves subjected to a foreign power [אבן עזרא], laboring faithfully for their masters despite enduring severe oppression [מחוקקי יהודה]. However, God assures Abraham that the oppressors will face divine retribution. Rather than a standard legal trial, this judgment refers to the active execution of a severe penalty, which eventually manifests as the Ten Plagues [מזרחי, גור אריה].

This raises a fundamental question: why does the enslaving nation deserve punishment if they are merely fulfilling God's predetermined decree? The primary approach among commentators is that the oppressors will be held accountable because they will far exceed the bounds of the divine mandate. While God decreed a period of foreign residence and servitude, the Egyptians will choose to add cruel torture, crushing labor, and even attempt complete genocide by casting Israelite infants into the river [רמב״ן, רד״ק, העמק דבר, טור הארוך]. Furthermore, their punishment stems from their deeply flawed motives. They will not act out of a desire to fulfill God's will, but rather from sheer cruelty, hatred, and an ambition to expand their own dominance [רמב״ן, רבינו בחיי, ביאור יש״ר]. At its core, the cruelty of the nations toward the Israelites is driven by religious hostility. They oppress the Israelites precisely because they are God's chosen people, with the ultimate goal of forcing them to abandon their unique identity and assimilate into the broader culture [אור החיים].

The guarantee of justice extends far beyond the borders of Egypt, encompassing the four major empires destined to subjugate the Israelites throughout history, ensuring that they too will ultimately face punishment and fade from the world [רש״י, חזקוני, טור הארוך]. The scope of this divine promise also reveals that the Divine Presence will descend and share in the pain of the Israelites' exile. It further suggests a dual judgment: at the exact time the Egyptians are punished, God will also judge the wicked among the Israelites, an event that occurs during the Plague of Darkness [אור החיים].

Following this period of suffering, the Israelites are promised an exit with immense wealth. This is not depicted as random plunder or standard commercial profit, but rather as a direct cause-and-effect relationship. The acquired property represents the rightful wages they earned through long, grueling years of forced labor [הכתב והקבלה, חזקוני, אור החיים]. Beyond mere material gain, the profound scale of this wealth points to its qualitative importance rather than just physical abundance. The ultimate purpose of the enslavement is the accumulation of internal, spiritual wealth. The agony of Egypt will serve as a refining crucible, designed to purify the Israelites from corrupt ideologies and prepare them to receive the Torah under God's direct guidance [הכתב והקבלה, שפתי כהן]. On an even deeper level, extracting this wealth from Egypt symbolizes the ultimate spiritual mission of the exile itself: identifying, liberating, and elevating the sparks of holiness that were trapped within Egypt's materialistic and corrupt culture [חומש קה״ת].