The G-d Fearing Wicked

Rashi (B’shalach) tells us that although the pasuk refers to those who brought their cattle indoors during the plague of Barad, hail, as “G-d-fearing” Egyptians, even they were rotten, for they afterwards donated their horses to Paroh’s army for pursuing the Jews. This seems strange: surely those who heeded Moshe’s warning were no saints; simply they realized that it didn’t pay to disregard Moshe’s warnings, which had been right until now. So why were they considered inconsistent for giving their horses to Paroh? Perhaps the answer is if you believe that Moshe can control nature, can you run him down with your horse?! This is inconsistent! Another thought is that although self-interest could have been the reason they kept in their cattle, their actual motive was as the pasuk says; “fear of the word of Hashem”, they truly wished to comply with Hashem’s command to gather in their cattle. And this fear was fickle and unreliable, as events proved. (The idea is novel; the Torah says that Moshe told the Egyptians “Gather in your sheep and all you have in the field”, but we understand this to be mere advice. We are suggesting the Egyptians had an actual mitzvah, and would merit reward on its fulfillment!)