[Avodah] Moral Worth of the Jewish People in Mitzraim

[Prof. Levine]

The following is from RSRH's commentary on Shemos 11: 2-3

2 Please speak in the ears of the people, that each man may ask from 
his friend and each woman from her friend articles of silver and
gold.

3 And God let Egypt see that the people was worthy of favor; the man 
Moshe, too, was very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of the servants
of Pharaoh and in the eyes of the people.

Daber na. na always implies reluctance on the part of the person addressed ....

The people had just proven their moral worth in the most brilliant
manner. For three days their oppressors, blinded and rooted to the spot
by darkness, had been completely at their mercy. For three days all the
possessions of the Egyptians had lain unprotected in their homes. But
no Jew took advantage of this opportunity for revenge; no Jew touched
an Egyptian or even the least of his possessions. It was at this moment,
when sight was restored to the Egyptians and they found all their possessions
intact where they had left them, that God caused the Egyptians
to comprehend the moral greatness of this people. This realization at
last overcame the antipathy the Egyptians had felt for the Hebrews. And
more than all the miracles he had performed, the moral greatness of
his people made the man Moshe much esteemed in the eyes of the
Egyptians.

Perhaps Moshe and the people were reluctant to compromise this
moral victory by making such requests of the Egyptians as God now
commanded them to make. However, it was God's Will that His people
should not leave empty-handed. The previous generations, having spent
their lives in slavery, had not been able to acquire even the most modest
possessions. It was God's Will that the first foundation stone of His
people's prosperity should be acquired and consecrated through the
recognition of their moral greatness by those who hitherto had despised
them. Hence the use of na.
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