Genesis 15:14

and also that the people whom they shall serve I will judge with two hundred and fifty plagues, and afterwards they shall go forth into liberty with great riches.

‘VEGAM’ (AND ALSO) THAT NATION THAT MADE SLAVES OF THEM WILL I JUDGE. The words, And also, include the kingdoms of the four exiles which will be judged for having enslaved Israel. Thus the language of Rashi.
By way of the simple meaning of Scripture, the verse is stating: “Just as I decreed exile and affliction for your children on account of sin, so will I bring judgment upon the nation that will enslave them for the violence they will do to them.”
The correct meaning of the word vegam appears to me to be as follows: Even though I have decreed that your children be strangers in a land not their own, and they shall enslave them and afflict them, I will nevertheless judge the nation that will enslave them for what they will do to them, and they will not be exonerated for having done My decree.” The reason for this is as Scripture states: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy; and I am very sore displeased with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped for evil. And it says again, I was wroth with My people, I profaned Mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand; thou didst show them no mercy; upon the aged hast thou very heavily laid the yoke. Such was the case with the Egyptians who increased the evil. They threw the children of the Israelites into the river, embittered their lives, and they intended to eradicate their name from memory. This is the meaning of the expression will I judge, i.e., “I will bring them to judgment to determine whether they did as was decreed upon them or if they increased the evil inflicted upon them.” It is this principle which Jethro stated: For it is the thing wherein they acted presumptuously [that caused the punishment to come] upon them., 18:11. It was their presumptuousness that brought upon the Egyptians the great punishment which utterly destroyed them. And this principle is also expressed in the verse: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them.
Now the Rabbi, Note 139. stated the reason [for the punishment of the Egyptians — a punishment meted out even though it had been decreed that they were to enslave the Israelites] — in the Book of Knowledge: “It had not been decreed on any particular [Egyptian that he was to afflict the Israelites], and if any one of all those who perpetrated evil against Israel had not wanted to do it, he had the liberty to do so since the …

וגם את הגוי אשר יעבדו דן אנכי, just as I judge your descendants, for the wickedness with enslavement and cruel suppression, so I will judge the nation that enslaves them."

וגם את הגוי אשר יעבדו דן אנכי, I will judge the Egyptians even though it was I Who decreed that the Israelites would be enslaved by them. The reason why I will judge them is that they acted with great cruelty toward the Israelites, something which I had not decreed. The prophet Zacharyah 1,15 spelled out this concept in connection with the punishment G’d visited on the Babylonians, who, though entitled to destroy the Temple in Jerusalem, had never been entitled to go about it with such a vengeance. Similar verses justifying G’d punishing those who had carried out part of His plan against the Jewish people, but with needless harshness, are also found in Isaiah 47,6. The harshness of the slavery in Egypt was a punishment for the Israelites having abandoned the traditions of their fathers, having reverted to idolatry, having violated the covenant between G’d and Avraham, and not even having circumcised their male children. According to Ezekiel 20,7-8 and 9, the Israelites in Egypt had actually been guilty of utter annihilation for forsaking this covenant, and if G’d nonetheless redeemed them, this was for the sake of His name, not because they had deserved it. Having sworn to Avraham that He would redeem his offspring from the country in which they would be enslaved, we must view the Exodus as primarily an exercise of preserving G’d’s image. G’d had told Moses already in Exodus 6,8 that He had sworn an oath to Avraham, etc. Such statements are meant to demonstrate that the Israelites while in Egypt had not been forsaken by G’d, that He had not overlooked what was happening to them, but that they had been the architects of their own misfortune, and that if it had not been for G’d’s oath to the patriarchs, they would have perished there. Apparently, G’d had sent prophets to them prior to Moses, warning them of what might happen, but they had turned a deaf ear to such warnings. This is why Moses, aware of this, said to G’d that He should send another prophet, as He had been in the habit of doing, שלח נא ביד תשלח (Exodus 4,13). This is also what the prophet Ezekiel had in mind in the paragraph that we have referred to earlier. [All of this demonstrates that when Avram asked in verse 8 of this chapter במה אדע כי אירשנה, which we explained as his concern that G’d’s promise might not become actual due to some sin of his offspring, he was quite justified in worrying about such a scenario. It also explains still better G’d’s answer and His statement that He gave Avram a lot of credit for believing G’d’s assurance that in spite of his fears the promise would be carried out in due course. G’d’s answer to Avram contained an acknowledgement that He was aware that the Israelites would indeed sin in Egypt, but also the fact that He would punish them there but not annihilate them, so that eventually they would leave from there with great riches. The redemption would occur after their punishment had run its course. Perhaps, in support of our author’s theory, we might add that the word וגם, “and also,” in our verse, which appears strange since we had not been told who else had been judged and punished, refers to the Jewish people, who by that time had received their punishment in full, so that the remnant, the 20% of whom Rashi speaks on Exodus 13,18 (וחמושים) were entitled to redemption after risking their lives by slaughtering the lamb and circumcising themselves. Ed.]

ואחרי כן יצאו, “and after that period they will leave, etc.” We would have expected the Torah to write the word ואחר here, instead of ואחרי. The reason for the extra letter י is that this is a hint to Avraham that the Egyptians will have to endure ten plagues before releasing the Israelites. (B’reshit Rabbah 44,20)