Had He given us their wealth…It would have been enough: What did Israel have to gain from taking the wealth of the Egyptians before they left Egypt? Wealth had no use to the people in the wilderness so Israel had nothing to gain by taking silver and gold from the Egyptians. In fact the language of the Torah suggests that God didn’t simply give them permission to take the property of the Egyptians but asked them to do so. The plundering of Egypt, then, must have had some greater significance. This act is yet another example of Sympathetic Acts which foreshadow the messianic era. The prophets predicted that Israel would be given great wealth in the Messianic era: “In place of bronze they will bring silver.”