John Gill Bible Commentary

He brought them forth also with silver and gold,.... That is, God brought forth the Israelites out of Egypt by means of the above plagues, laden with great riches, with jewels of gold and of silver, which they borrowed of the Egyptians at the command of the Lord; and so to be justified in what they did; and besides it was but just and equitable that they should be paid for their service and hard labour in Egypt for a long course of time; and this was the method in Providence they were directed to take to do themselves justice; and hereby was accomplished an ancient prophecy concerning them, that they should come out with much substance, Gen 15:14, Besides, in the passages quoted, the words should be rendered of the Israelites that they "asked", and of the Egyptians that they "gave"; the Jews, some of them, say (c) that these were given not with the will of the Egyptians, and others say not with the will of the Israelites, but neither of them true. And so in like manner will the people of God, when rescued from the tyranny of the antichristian states, enjoy great riches and honour; see Rev 17:16. And there was not one feeble person among their tribes; though there were six hundred thousand footmen, Num 11:21, and though they had been used to hard and rigorous service in order to weaken their strength; and though they came from among a people plagued with diseases and deaths. This confronts a lying story told by some Heathen writers (d), that the Israelites were driven out of Egypt because they had the itch, leprosy, and other diseases upon them. Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret it, there was not a poor or necessitous man among them, for they abounded with gold and silver; compare with this the case of God's people in the latter day, Zac 12:8. (c) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 9. 2. (d) Justin. e Trogo, l. 36. c. 2. Tacitus, l. 5. 3. Lysimachus apud Joseph. contr. Apion. l. 1. s. 34.