What is the meaning of "spoiled the Egyptians" in Exodus 12:36?

Question: In Exodus 12:35-36 we read that the Israelites took gold, silver and jewels and raiment from the Egyptians. It looks as though it amounted to stealing, yet when the time came for the construction of the Tabernacle and Moses asked the people for gifts, these things were used for this work. This does not seem to be in accord with the New Testament where we are exhorted not to go to the world for anything, be it money or materials, in the service of the Lord. Or have I a wrong idea?

Answer: It may help first to point out that the word rendered "borrowed" is really to "ask," and the word rendered "lent" means "gave." The concordance will show that it really means "demanded." In view of the fact that the children of Israel had served the Egyptians for 400 years, building the treasure cities for Pharaoh (Ex. 1:11), God had before said to Moses that they were to demand these things as payment for their labours, Ex. 3:21-22. It was not more than they had a right to, and it seems the Egyptians knew this, hence the eager way in which they seemed to answer this demand. It was "spoil" but spoil they richly deserved.

As to using this in the service of the Lord, we have long thought that much which we have handled while in this world, prior to the call of God, has in the providence of God formed us as vessels with a view to serving Him in this world. Moses in his day as reared in the house of the daughter of Pharaoh and Paul in his day reared in the tenets of Judaism, are both examples of this. Perhaps at a later date, Mr. Darby reared in the Irish Church and so well educated for this work, was to lay all this at the feet of the Lord; and how great has been the service he rendered as a consequence. So it was with the children of Israel. It was their wages, willingly given to God to form the Tabernacle.

Ex. 11:2, 35, 36. — The real meaning is not "borrow," but "ask." There is no need to explain or apologise. Deceit did not exist. They asked, and the Egyptians gave.

It was consequently in this name that God was come down to deliver; for as soon as He assumes it, He graciously allows that the people, whom He has thus brought into relationship with Himself, have a claim upon His mercy and compassion. Hence the detailed instructions which are now given to Moses (vv. 16-22), in which the whole history of God's controversy with Pharaoh is given, with its final issue in the redemption of His people. First, Moses is enjoined to assemble the elders of Israel, that he may announce to them, that the Lord God of their fathers had appeared to him, and communicated to him the purposes of His grace towards them, in bringing them up out of the affliction of Egypt unto a land flowing with milk and honey. (vv. 16, 17.) He is foretold that they would hearken to his voice, and that he and they should go together unto Pharaoh, to ask for permission to go three days' journey into the wilderness, that they might sacrifice unto the Lord their God. (v. 18.) He then is forewarned of the stubborn opposition of Pharaoh; but he is likewise told that God would Himself deal with the Egyptian king, and compel him to let them go; and, furthermore, that when they went out they should not go empty, but that they should spoil the Egyptians. (vv. 19-22.)* These instructions are important for all time; for they place beyond a doubt the exact foreknowledge of God. He knew with whom He had to deal, the resistance to be met with, and how it was to be overcome. He saw all things from the beginning to the end. How consolatory to our feeble hearts! Not a difficulty or trial can befall us which has not been foreseen by our God, and for which in His grace provision has not been made! Everything has been prearranged in view of our final triumph, and of our victorious exit from this scene, through the display of His redeeming power, to he for ever with the Lord! Surely Moses might now have been contented.

*As there has been some controversy upon the statement, here and in Ex. 11:2, that the Israelites were commanded to borrow the valuables of the Egyptians on the eve of their exodus, it may be well to point out that the word has been wrongly translated. There is no idea of "borrowing" in it. It means simply "to ask." The context shows that owing to God's manifest interposition the children of Israel would be in "favour in the sight of the Egyptians;" and being made to feel that they had suffered wrong at their hands, they gladly gave them whatever they desired — it may be as a kind of propitiation — with the full knowledge that they would see the Israelites no more. What they gave was therefore an unconditional gift.

God therefore calls on Moses (ver. 16) to "Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared unto me saying, I have surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice; and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say to him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us: and now let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will put forth my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: but every woman shall ask her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put [them] upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians" (vers. 16- 22).

He was to ask at first leave to go "three days' journey into the wilderness," but would ask more as the obduracy of the king appeared; and God lets Moses know the king's sure defiance, tells of His wonders to be done in reproof, and directs His people not to go empty after their long unrequited labour, and that every woman should (not, 'borrow,' but) ask for jewels of silver and of gold, and thus spoil them, as it was righteous retribution. The word "borrow" is only a secondary sense, and here misappropriate. "Ask" is the direct and primary sense, and therefore right to be preserved.

Here then Jehovah says, "I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty." In truth their wages were of long date, never having been paid. It is mere folly to suppose there was any, the smallest, infringement of what was right and becoming. It is a matter, perhaps, too well known to need many words, that every woman was simply to ask of her neighbour, etc., vessels of silver and of gold, with raiment, which were to be put on Israel's sons and daughters. It was to spoil their oppressors by divine authority, and no question whatever of deceit or dishonesty. The impression of "borrowing" given in the Authorized Version is by no means necessary, nor does the connection justify it. There is no such thought as that they had no right involved in the matter. There was nothing the people and even at last the king of Egypt were not disposed to concede: later on in spite of all their own interests in the retention of the children of Israel, they were willing and desirous that they should go, and that they should not go away empty. Their proud will was broken, although their hearts were by no means with God. There was no kind of communion, I need hardly say: nevertheless they bowed to that which they had so stubbornly opposed before. And then Moses speaks, and says, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice: for they will say, Jehovah has not appeared to thee."

Then every woman is told to ask of her neighbours various articles, "and ye shall spoil the Egyptians." Inappropriately the word "borrow" appears in the Authorised Version where the simple meaning "to ask" is intended, and according to his manner the rationalist has been quick to seize upon this word to charge God with enjoining His people to commit an immoral and dishonest act. There is not, however, the slightest infringement of what is right and proper as the children of Israel had received no recompense for the harsh and bitter servitude which had been imposed upon them, and in the event, at the actual moment when the request was made, the Egyptians showed a conspicuous willingness to accede to their request, "And the Egyptians urged the people to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead men! … And the Lord had given the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they gave to them, and they spoiled the Egyptians " (Ex. 12:33, 36). It was an unconditional gift, savouring somewhat of an act of propitiation in the sure knowledge that they would see the children of Israel no more. The God of the Hebrews had taken up the gage of battle thrown down by the haughty and insolent Pharaoh when he defiantly exclaimed "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go" (Ex. 5:2).

The Israelites had already done what the Lord commanded in asking from the Egyptians articles of silver and gold and of clothing. The Lord Himself had disposed the Egyptians to willingly give them these things. It was not “borrowing,” but asking, for Israel was entitled to this for their long years of service to the Egyptians. Thus they did not by any means go out empty.

Unbelievers have seized upon the word "borrow" in verse 22, and raised the objection that it represents God as telling the people to practise deceit by pretending to borrow what they never intended to repay. The word occurs again in Exodus 11:2 and Exodus 12:35. But the word really is "ask," and is so translated in Darby's version. The people had been but slaves, working for a mere subsistence. The position was to be entirely reversed, and their former masters would fear them and give them what they asked. All they could carry out of Egypt would be a mere fraction of what was really due to them.

"We must not imagine things to be unworthy of God, because they do not commend themselves to us. God does not dispense with the moral law, because the moral law has its source in the mind of God Himself. To dispense with it would mean to contradict Himself. But God, who is absolute Lord of all things which He made, may, at His sovereign will, dispose of the lives or things which He created. Thus, as sovereign judge, He commanded the lives of the Canaanites to be taken by Israel, as, in His ordinary providence, He has ordained that the magistrate should not bear the sword in vain, but has made him His minister, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. So, again, He, whose are all things, willed to repay to the Israelites their hard and unjust servitude by commanding them to spoil the Egyptians. He, who created marriage, commanded to Hosea whom he should marry. The prophet was not defiled by taking as his lawful wife, at God's bidding, one defiled, however hard a thing this was."

"And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them [such things as they required]: and they spoiled the Egyptians." (vv. 29-36.)

The blow, so long threatened, but delayed in long-suffering and mercy, at length fell, and fell with crushing effect upon the whole land; for "the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle." The hearts of all were wrung with anguish under this sore and bitter stroke, darkening every home in the land, "and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead." Pharaoh's stubborn heart was reached, and for the moment bowed before the manifest judgment of God. He "rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians;" and sending for Moses and Aaron, bid them depart. He made no conditions now, but granted all they had claimed, and even sought a blessing at their hands. His people went further, and were urgent to send the children of Israel away; for they said, "We be all dead men." Hence, too, when asked they gave them anything and everything they desired, and thus, according to the word or the Lord, "they spoiled the Egyptians."