Midrasch zu Bereschit 31:32

“There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, like an error that emerges from before the ruler” (Ecclesiastes 10:5).
“There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, like an error that emerges from before the ruler” – so said Jacob to Laban: “With whomever you find your gods, he shall not live […and Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them]” (Genesis 31:32). So it was, “like an error that emerges from before the ruler,” and Rachel died.
The son of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi had something that he swallowed [lodged in his throat]. [Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi] went and brought one of the disciples of bar Pandeira²⁰Jesus of Nazareth to extricate what he had swallowed.²¹He wanted him to heal him with traditional medicine, but he recited an incantation, mentioning the name of his mentor, and the bone was extricated. He said to him: ‘What did you recite over him?’ He said to him: ‘This passage after that.’²²Referring to phrases in the incantation. He said: ‘It would have been preferable for him to be buried and not have you recite that passage over him.’ So it was, “like an error that emerges from before the ruler.”²³Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi’s son died. Rabbi Yirmeya of Shabashta took a crown of olive branches and tied it on his head.²⁴This was at his wedding. The Sages had issued a decree after the destruction of the Temple prohibiting crowns for grooms. Rabbi Yirmeya thought that only gold crowns were included in the decree. Shmuel heard and said: ‘It would have been preferable for him to be beheaded and not to have done so.’ So it occurred to him.²⁵He was eventually beheaded.
Antoninus the younger, grandson of Antoninus the elder, was asking our holy Rabbi,²⁶Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi he said: ‘Who will die first, me or you?’ He said to him: ‘I will.’ His students said to him: ‘Our Rabbi, the whole world is praying for your good life, and this is what you say?’ He said to them: ‘If my time arrives [first] what of it? And if the angel of death comes to take him [first], what will he say to him: Do not come to me [first], I am not coming? Moreover, if it will be so,²⁷If I will die before him. the gentiles will say: Blessed is the God of the Jews, as they even know the time of their death.’ So it occurred to him, “like an error that emerges from before the ruler.”²⁸Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi died first.
Another matter: “There is an evil that I have seen…like an error that emerges from before the ruler” – this is Eli the priest, who said to Samuel: My sons will not inherit my position, so, too, your sons will not inherit your position.²⁹This is explained further in the Gemara (Makkot 11a). Eli demanded that Samuel tell him what prophecy God had revealed to him, and cursed him if he would not reveal the prophecy (see I Samuel 3:17). Although Samuel did reveal the prophecy, Eli’s curse came true nonetheless. So it was, “like an error that emerges from before the ruler.”

What are the Teraphim? They slay a man, a firstborn, and he is red (in colour). All that a man requires (to know) is not written here. This is impossible, since the men who dispute about the knowledge of making (the Teraphim) have increased. Everyone who follows that knowledge will ultimately go down to Gehinnom. And they pinch off his head, and salt it with salt, and they write upon a golden plate the name of an unclean (spirit), and place it under his tongue, and they put it in the wall, and they kindle lamps || before it, and bow down to it, and it speaks unto them. Whence do we know that the Teraphim speak? Because it is said, "For the Teraphim have spoken vanity" (Zech. 10:2). On that account had Rachel stolen them, so that they should not tell Laban that Jacob had fled, and not only that, but also to remove idolatrous worship from her father's house.

Now Jacob knew nothing of all this, and he said: Anyone who has stolen thy Teraphim shall die before his proper time; and the utterance of a righteous person is like the speech from the mouth of an angel, and (Rachel) bare and died, as it is said, "And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, for she died" (Gen. 35:18).