מדרש על איכה 4:9

Aiphra Hurmiz, the mother of King Sabur, sent a purse with dinars to R. Joseph, saying: "This shall be used for the greatest charity." And he deliberated what kind of charity should be considered the greatest. Abaye then said to him: "Since R. Samuel said", 'Orphans must not be taxed even for the redeeming of prisoners,' it is to be inferred that redeeming of prisoners is considered the highest charity." (Ib. b) Raba said to Rabba b. Mari: "Whence do the Rabbis infer that redeeming of prisoners is the greatest charity?" He answered: "From the following passage (Jer. 15, 2) Such as are destined to death, to death; to the sword, to the sword; to famine, to famine; to captivity, to captivity, and R. Jochanan said: 'AH that is mentioned in this verse is the harder; as, for instance, to be killed by the sword is severer than to die a natural death. If you wish I will prove it by common sense and if you wish I will prove it by a passage: By common sense: The one [who is put to death by the sword] is disfigured, and the one [who dies naturally] is not disfigured. And if you wish it can be proved by a passage (Ps. 116, 15) Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the [natural] death of His pious. And that famine is worse than the sword, if you wish I will prove it by common sense, and if you wish I will prove it by a passage; as to common sense, this one [who dies of hunger] suffers long pain, and that one [who dies by sword] does not suffer long pains. As for a passage (Lam. 4) That happier are they that are slain by the sword than those slain by hunger. Captivity however, is harder than all of them, for in it all [the before-mentioned sufferings] are included.' "

(Ibid. 3) "And the children of Israel said to them: Would that we had died by the hand of the L rd, etc.": Would that we had died in the three days of darkness in Egypt. (Ibid.) "when we sat over the flesh-pot": Israel lusted to eat. R. Elazar Hamodai says: Israel were servants to kings in Egypt. When they went out to market they could take bread, meat, fish, and all other things, and no one would stop them. They could go out to the field and take grapes, figs, and pomegranates, and no one would stop them. R. Yossi Hamodai says: Know this to be so, for they were given kishuim last (i.e., as a last alternative), wherefore it is written "kishuim" last (viz. Numbers 11:5), in that they were hard ("kashim") on their stomachs. "that you have taken us out to this desert": They said to them: You have taken us out to this desert "in vain" — There is nothing in it. "to kill this entire congregation by famine": R. Yehoshua b. Karcha says: There is no death worse than famine, viz. (Eichah 4:9) "Better the slain by the sword than the slain by famine!" R. Elazar Hamodai says: (lit., "in the famine"): There has come upon us famine after famine, pestilence after pestilence, darkness after darkness.

“Those killed by sword were better off than those killed by hunger, for those would bleed, ruptured from the produce of the field” (Lamentations 4:9).
“Those killed by sword were better off.” During the destruction of the first Temple, they would die from the scent of the thistles.²⁶In order to render them edible, it was necessary to cook them for a long time. The enemy would cook them and their scent reached the starving residents of Jerusalem. However, during the latter destruction, there were no thistles. What would they do to them? They would bring goats and would roast them to the west of the city. The scent would infuse them and they would die, to realize what is stated: “For those would bleed, ruptured from the produce of the field.”