The flax and the barley were stricken, as the barley was ripe, and the flax was in stalk. But the wheat and the spelt were not stricken; for they ripen late (Exodus 9:31–32). “The flax and the barley were stricken, as the barley was ripe, and the flax was in stalk. But the wheat and the spelt were not stricken; for they ripen late [afilot hena].”
Rabbi Pinḥas and Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Shalom, Rabbi Pinḥas said: What is afilot hena? The Holy One blessed be He performed wonders [pela’im] with them.8The hail should have destroyed them, but God miraculously spared them. Rabbi Yehuda says: They were late [to ripen].9Wheat and spelt ripen later than barley and flax. At the time of the hail the stalks of the former were still green and not fully grown and therefore less vulnerable to the hail.
Rabbi Pinḥas said to him: But isn’t it written: “And the hail struck all the vegetation of the field” (Exodus 9:25), and you say that [it was] because they were small and were not stricken? Rather, the Holy One blessed be He performed wonders with them.