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).