There was an incident in which Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba and his disciples, and some say Rabbi Akiva and his disciples, and some say Rabbi Yehoshua and his disciples, were accustomed to sit and study beneath a certain fig tree. Each day, the owner of the fig tree would arise early and harvest his fig tree. They said: ‘Let us change our location, as perhaps he is suspicious of us.’ What did they do?
They went and sat themselves elsewhere. The owner of the fig tree arose early and did not find them. He went and looked for them until he found them. He said to them: ‘My rabbis, you were performing one mitzva to my credit, and now you are seeking to withhold it from me?’
They said to him: ‘Heaven forbid.’ [He said:] ‘Why then did you abandon your place and sit elsewhere?’ They said: ‘We said that perhaps you are suspicious of us.’ He said to them: ‘Heaven forbid; rather, I will tell you why I arise early to harvest my fig tree. When the sun shines on the fig tree, it becomes infested with worms.’
They returned there immediately. On that day they found that he did not harvest. They took some of them, pierced them, and found them infested with worms. They said: ‘The owner of the fig tree spoke well.
If he knows the season of his fig tree and he harvests it, so too, the Holy One blessed be He knows when it is the time to take the righteous, and he takes them.’