מדרש אויף תהילים 78:48

“Both of them died, Maḥlon and Kilyon, and the woman was bereft of her two children and of her husband” (Ruth 1:5).
“Both of them died, Maḥlon and Kilyon.” Rabbi Ḥunya, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Rabbi Avin, and Rabbi Zavda, son-in-law of Rabbi Levi [said]: The all-Merciful [God] never exacts retribution against a person himself initially. From whom do you learn this? From Job, as it is stated: “There came a messenger to Job, and said: ‘The oxen were plowing [and the donkeys grazing beside them; and Sheba fell upon them, and took them; they smote the servants by sword; and only I by myself escaped to tell you]’” (Job 1:14–15).⁹⁰God did not initially kill Job or even afflict him with bodily pain; He struck Job’s property. Rabbi Ḥama ben Rabbi Ḥanina said: The Holy One blessed be He showed him a representative taste of the World to Come, “the plowman will meet the reaper” (Amos 9:13).⁹¹Donkeys do not typically graze in fields where oxen have just plowed. This was Job’s taste of the World to Come, when produce will be ready to be reaped as the field is still being plowed.
“Sheba fell upon them [and took them and smote the lads by sword].” Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: They emerged from the village of Kerinos⁹²In Media. and went on all the rural paths until Migdal Tzabba’im⁹³In the Land of Israel. and they died there.⁹⁴At first they were attacked and taken captive along with the herd. Only later were they killed. “And only [rak] I by myself [levadi] escaped.” Rabbi Ḥanina said: [The term] Rak is restrictive; he, too, was broken and stricken. Rabbi Yudan said: Levadi.⁹⁵In the sense of bedding, meaning that the messenger was bedridden. The word leved means felt, which can be used for bedding. “This one was still speaking” (Job 1:16); he, too, once he stated his tidings, he died.
“This one was still speaking and that one came and said: The Chaldeans deployed in three columns…” (Job 1:17). Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: When Job heard, he began mobilizing his armies for war. He said: ‘How many armies can I enlist, how many troops can I muster? This is the most despicable nation in the world: “Behold, the land of the Chaldeans, this is a people that is not” (Isaiah 23:13). If only it had not been.⁹⁶If only the Chaldeans had never come into existence. It comes to intimidate me?’ But once [the messenger] said to him: “The fire of God fell from the heavens” (Job 1:16), [Job] said: ‘It is from the heavens; what can I do?’ – “I was silent and I did not go out the door” (Job 31:34).
Immediately, “he took an earthenware shard to scratch himself” (Job 2:8).⁹⁷This was after he was afflicted with boils. His body was afflicted only after his property was damaged. So it was in Egypt, as well: “He struck their vines and their fig trees” (Psalms 105:33). Then, “He subjected their livestock to the hail” (Psalms 78:48). And then, “He smote every firstborn in Egypt” (Psalms 78:51). Regarding leprosy, too, the same is true: Initially it afflicts his house. If he repents, excellent; if not, they require removal, as it is stated: “The priest shall command and they will remove [the stones]” (Leviticus 14:40). If he repents, excellent; if not, they require demolition. If he repents, excellent; if not, [the signs of leprosy] come upon his garments and they require laundering. If he repents, excellent; if not, they require rending, as it is stated: “He shall rip it from the garment” (Leviticus 13:56). If he repents, excellent; if not they require burning, as it is stated: “He shall burn the garment” (Leviticus 13:52). Then [leprosy] comes upon his body. If he repents, excellent; if not, he goes and comes.⁹⁸He leaves the camp for seven days and then returns. If he repents, excellent; if not, “he shall dwell in isolation, his dwelling shall be outside the camp” (Leviticus 13:46). Regarding Maḥlon and Kilyon, too, the same is true. Initially, it was their horses, their donkeys, and their camels. Then “Elimelekh died.” Then, “both of them died, Maḥlon and Kilyon.”
“And the woman remained bereft,” Rabbi Ḥanina said: She became the remnants of the remnants [of meal offerings].⁹⁹When her husband died, she was like the remnant; now that her sons died, she was like the remnant of the remnant.

“Moses extended his staff toward the heavens and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the ground, and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt” (Exodus 9:23).
“Moses extended his staff toward the heavens.” These plagues – three by Aaron, three by Moses, three by the Holy One blessed be He, and one by means of all of them. Blood, frogs, and lice, which were on the earth, were by Aaron. Hail, locusts, and darkness, by Moses, because they were in the air, as Moses had control over the earth and the heavens. Swarms, pestilence, and the plague of the firstborn by the Holy One blessed be He. And boils were by all of them.⁵See above, Shemot Rabba 11:5.
“And the Lord [vaY-H-V-H] sent thunder and hail.” Every place that vaY-H-V-H is stated, it is He and His heavenly court, as it is stated: “And the Lord [vaY-H-V-H] remembered Sarah” (Genesis 21:1), He and His advisory council. And the Lord [vaY-H-V-H] sent thunder and hail, He and His advisory council.
“And fire ran down to the ground.” They were sentenced to the judgment of the wicked in Gehenna. If he was sitting, he was burned by the hail;⁶There was“fire flaming within the hail” (Exodus 9:24). if he was standing, he was burned by the fire.
“There was hail, and fire flaming within the hail, very severe, that there had not been in Egypt since it became a nation” (Exodus 9:24).
“There was hail, and fire flaming within the hail” – a miracle within a miracle. Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya, one said: Like the seed of a pomegranate, whose pit can be seen from the outside; and one said: Like that lantern in which water and oil are mixed as one, and the fire burns within. To what is this matter comparable? To two hardened legions that were fighting each other. Eventually, the time arrived for the king’s war, and the king made peace between them, and they performed the king’s mission together. Fire and hail are hostile to each other, but when the time for the war with Egypt arrived, the Holy One blessed be He made peace between them and they struck Egypt. That is: “There was hail, and fire flaming [mitlakaḥat] within the hail.” What is mitlakaḥat? It means “to take the dead [met lakaḥat].” After the hail would strike him, the fire would take him and burn him.
“The hail struck throughout the land of Egypt, everything that was in the fields, both man and animal; and the hail struck all the vegetation in the fields, and broke every tree of the fields” (Exodus 9:25).
“The hail struck throughout the land of Egypt.” The hail fell and it was arranged in piles surrounding their livestock, so they were unable to go out. An Egyptian would come with a knife and slaughter [one of] them and a bird would descend upon it from above and eat it, as it is stated: “He consigned [vayasger]⁷Vayasger can also mean to hand over to be imprisoned. their cattle to the hail, and their livestock to fiery bolts [lareshafim]” (Psalms 78:48). What is “and their livestock lareshafim? These are birds, as it is stated: “As the sparks [uvnei reshef] fly upward” (Job 5:7).
“And the hail struck all the vegetation in the fields, and broke every tree of the fields” Midrash Tehilim.> “He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost [baḥanamal]” (Psalms 78:47). Rabbi Yehuda bar Rabbi Shalom said: What is baḥanamal? It came [ba], rested [ḥana], cut [mal]. Rabbi Pinḥas said: It would descend like an axe and would hew the trees.
“Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail” (Exodus 9:26).
“Only in the land of Goshen” – why was it spared? It is because its patron protected it; that is what is written: “Where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.”

Rav Huna in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua bar Avin and Rabbi Zekharya, son-in-law of Rabbi Levi, in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Merciful One does not afflict human beings first. From whom do you derive it? From Job, as it is stated: “The oxen were plowing [and the donkeys grazing beside them, and Sheba fell upon them and took them]” (Job 1:14–15).¹¹Before afflicting Job himself, God took away his possessions. This teaches that the Holy One blessed be He showed him a sample of the World to Come, as it is stated: “The plowman will encounter the reaper” (Amos 9:13).¹²The midrash makes an ancillary point based on the fact that the donkeys were grazing alongside the oxen that were plowing. Generally there is nothing to graze in a field that has just been plowed. The midrash therefore derives that God gave a glimpse of the future reality described in Amos, in which the plowmen and reaper will work in the field at the same time because the produce will grow immediately. “Sheba fell upon them and took them; [they smote the lads by the sword]” (Job 1:15). Rabbi Avin bar Kahana said: They went from the village of Kerainos, traveled through all the intervening towns, and arrived at the tower of Tzivaya and they died there.¹³The lads were taken captive along with the animals, and died of their wounds only after they had travelled with their captors. “Only [rak] I, alone, escaped to tell you” (Job 1:15). Rabbi Yudan said: Everywhere that rak is stated, it is a limitation. He, too, was broken and stricken. Rabbi Yudan said: “Alone,” and it was incumbent upon me alone to tell you. He, too, once he heard, he immediately died.¹⁴Once Job heard the testimony of the lone survivor, that survivor died.
“This one was still speaking, and that one came and said: The Chaldeans set three columns [and staged a raid against the camels and took them; they smote the lads by the sword and only I alone escaped to tell you]” (Job 1:17). Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: When Job heard this he immediately began mobilizing his armies for war. That is what is written: “Because I feared the great horde and the contempt of families breaking me” (Job 31:34). He said: ‘This nation is contemptible,’ as it is stated: “Behold, the land of the Chaldeans, this people that was not” (Isaiah 23:13) – that did not come other than to impose fear. Since it is stated: “A fire of God fell from the heavens” (Job 1:16), he said: ‘What can I do?’ “A voice fell from the heavens” (Daniel 4:28). ‘What can anyone do?’ “I would be silent and not go out of the entrance” (Job 31:34). “He took for himself a potsherd to scratch with it” (Job 2:8).¹⁵This is because he was afflicted with severe boils (see Job 2:7).
The same is true in Egypt. “He delivered their livestock to hail, their cattle to bolts of lightning” (Psalms 78:48). Then, “it struck their vines and their fig trees, and it broke the trees of their border” (Psalms 105:33). Then, “He smote every firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their vigor” (Psalms 105:36).¹⁶First God struck the Egyptians’ property and only then did He smite human beings.
The same is true of Maḥlon and Kilyon. Initially, the attribute of justice affected their property, and then, “both of them, Maḥlon and Kilyon, died” (Ruth 1:5). Regarding leprosy that befalls a person, initially it befalls his house. If he repents, it requires removal;¹⁷Removal of the stones; see Leviticus 14:40. if not, it requires demolition.¹⁸See Leviticus 14:45. It befalls his garments. If he repents, it requires laundering; if not, it requires burning.¹⁹See Leviticus 13:54–55. It befalls his body. If he repents, he is purified; if not, “he shall dwell in isolation” (Leviticus 13:46).