THE SLAVES GET REPARATIONS

The Egyptians concluded that all these terrible things were the consequence of not letting the Hebrews go, as Moses and Aaron had demanded. Under a lot of popular pressure, the Pharaoh capitulated, telling Moses and Aaron that the Hebrews could finally leave Egypt. The Hebrew slaves knew that they deserved to be paid for their years of unpaid labor, so they went throughout the cities of Egypt asking for their back pay. 

Your son is dead, your cattle are dead, your fields are barren. Why? Because you treated us  like dirt and the land too.
You've dug it all up and forced us to build your massive garrisons and storehouses.
No more. These plagues are your punishment for what you've done to us and to the land.
All my life and my parents' lives and my grandparents' lives we've worked for you 
under armed guard -- without pay. 
Now you can't wait for us to go, you say we have to be gone by morning.
Well, we're not leaving here without what's coming to us. 
Give us the gold and silver you've got in your house and we'll be even. 

The Egyptians paid them off, hoping never to see them again. 

THE EGYPTIANS ARE DEFEATED 
But seven days later, Pharaoh changed his mind and commanded his cavalry to chase after the Hebrews. Pharoah and the army encountered them on the shores of the sea, where fierce winds disturbed the normal tides. The Israelites saw their chance and took it. 

The sea is in front of us and Pharaoh's war chariots are behind us!
What are we supposed to do now? 
There's no time to go around. 
We'll just have to wade into the water. 
Maybe it will be OK. 
Yes, it will be. 
Follow me! 

They marched into the sea while the winds pushed the waters aside, allowing them to walk through on dry land. But when the Pharaoh and his army rode after them, the winds reversed the tide, drowning the Egyptians, leaving Egypt leaderless and in chaos.


haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story
Source: Herbert Levine