The Treasure of Bitachon:
The Gemara states (Brachos 9A): “The word “na’ always connotes a request. Hashem told Moshe: I request of you to go and tell Yisroel to please borrow from the Egyptians gold and silver vessels so that they shouldn’t say that I promised Avrohom that his offspring would be enslaved, and I fulfilled that, but I then said that they would leave with a great treasure, and I did not fulfill that.” The Meforshim struggle to understand this. Did Hashem only need to give them this treasure so that the nations wouldn’t say that He didn’t fulfill His promise? Didn’t He have to fulfill His promise in any case?
The Lisker Rebbe zy”a (Sefer Ach Pri Tevuah) answers that when Klal Yisroel left Mitzrayim, they had complete emunah in Hashem and Moshe. They trusted fully in Hashem and followed Him into the barren desert with unquestioning faith that He would lead them to a good place, and Hashem testified that He will always remember their unwavering bitachon in Him (Yirmiyahu 2:2).
In truth, there is no one more wealthy than one who possesses emunah and bitachon. The Chovos Halevavos writes that one who has bitachon is ten times wealthier than an alchemist who knows how to transform dust into gold. The reason for this is that this alchemist will always be worried that the government may discover that he is turning dust into gold. He is also afraid that he might get sick and be unable to enjoy his wealth. Even if he has all the money in the world, he can’t be certain that he will have any benefit from it. One who has bitachon, however, always is confident that Hashem will take care of all his needs.
Since Klal Yisroel had bitachon when they left Egypt, they were all very wealthy. Hashem recognized this and knew that He had fulfilled His promise to grant them riches. Even if they didn’t have monetary wealth, the bitachon they had was worth a lot more. However, the nations of the world did not know about this and were unaware that the promise could be fulfilled in this way. Therefore, Hashem told Moshe that He should tell the people to take literal treasures from the Egyptians so that the non-Jews shouldn’t think that He hadn’t fulfilled his guarantee.
The reason Hashem told them to borrow the gold and silver was so that they shouldn’t acquire it suddenly and absolutely. Since they only borrowed it, they had to be worried that the Egyptians may chase them to get it back, and they had to strengthen their bitachon even more that Hashem would save them. Only after the downfall of the Egyptians did they realize they would be keeping the treasures and that it had been theirs since they had taken it.
