"Speak to the people [into their ears]. Let each man and woman request from their fellows, vessels of silver and gold…" (11: 2).
Rashi explains the request: "Moshe I request of you, tell this to the people: ‘Make sure that they ask the Egyptians for precious vessels. So that the righteous Avraham will not say, He fulfilled the decree "they will enslave them and afflict them (Breshit 15:13)"but He did not fulfill the promise which followed in the next verse ‘Afterwards they will depart with great possessions’’ (Breshit 15:14)."
Rashi insists that the use of the additional term na, dabber na, in this verse refers to a specific request that Moshe was to make of the people. Hashem promised Avraham that they would leave with great wealth, but now it seems that that will come true only if the people play an active role in acquiring the wealth. Moshe has to direct them to ask the Egyptians for their precious vessels otherwise the promise will not be kept.
It seems that Hashem cannot fulfill the promise unless the people participate and ask the Egyptians for their wealth. However, when the Egyptians drowned at the sea the profit from the spoils was much greater [See Rashi there, 15: 22].
"Moshe caused Yisrael to begin to move from the sea of suf."
We have to understand the promise that was made to Avraham. It is as if Hashem declares, "Yes, the people will be enslaved, but at the end they will go forth from Egypt with great riches that the Egyptians themselves will agree to give them." This is not just a promise that they will leave the country of their bondage with great resources, but that their oppressors will be turned into a docile community, one only too eager to support the enterprise of the nation determined to leave to receive the Torah. This extensive promise can only be fulfilled when the people take action: they must place themselves in a position to demand support from their Egyptian oppressors.
At the splitting of the sea, the situation was radically different. The Egyptians were defeated and died by the hand of Hashem. The fact that the ornaments were recovered by the people was because they were rendered hefker, ownerless. This was not related to the promise that Hashem had made to Avraham and did not change their status in the eyes of the Egyptians or the other peoples of the world. That happened only when the people demanded money from the Egyptians and were satisfied.
Rashi points to the word na, "please" as being the critical word in understanding this difference. Hashem told Moshe to beseech the people to make this demand in order to fulfill the promise to Avraham.
Gut shabbos, Chaim Brovender
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