Post Author: Bill Pratt 

Some Bible critics claim that God commands the Israelites to steal (plunder) from the Egyptians in verse 22 in Exodus 3. How could God command theft?

The context around verse 22, however, makes it clear that the Israelites were to ask the Egyptians for valuable items that they could take with them into the desert. The Egyptians were paying back the Israelites for the mistreatment they endured.

It is certainly lawful for someone to be repaid for crimes committed against them, and this is exactly what happened when the Egyptians willfully gave their possessions to the departing Israelites.  They certainly did not steal from them.