The Fig Picked in Its Season and the Death of the Righteous

What is the difference between the death of the young and the death of the old? Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Abahu disagreed. Rabbi Yehudah said: This lamp, when it goes out by itself, that is good for it and good for the wick; but as long as it does not go out by itself, that is bad for it and bad for the wick. Rabbi Abahu said: This fig, when it is gathered in its season, that is good for it and good for the fig; when it is gathered out of its season, that is bad for it and bad for the fig. Rabbi Chiyya the Great and his students - and some say Rabbi Akiva and his students, and some say Rabbi Yose ben Chalafta and his students - were accustomed to rise early, sit, and study beneath a certain fig tree. The owner of the fig tree would rise early and pick its fruit. They said: Perhaps he suspects us [of taking the figs]. What did they do? They changed their place. He went to them and said: My masters, the one good deed by which you used to gain merit for me, sitting and studying beneath my fig tree, you have abandoned it. They said to him: We said, perhaps you suspect us. He reassured them and they returned to their place. What did he do? He rose early in the morning and did not pick them, and the sun shone upon them, and they became wormy. They said: The owner of the house knows when it is the fig's season to be picked, and he picks them. So too the Holy One, blessed be He, knows when it is the season of the righteous, and He gathers them. This is what is written, "My beloved has gone down to his garden" (Song of Songs 6:2). "Old and full" (Genesis 25:8). This is what is written, "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the last day" (Proverbs 31:25). All the giving of the reward of the righteous is prepared for the world to come. And the Holy One, blessed be He, shows them while they are still in this world the reward He is destined to give them in the world to come, and their soul is satisfied and they sleep. This is comparable to a king who made a feast for guests, and he showed them what they would eat and drink, and their soul was satisfied and they fell asleep. So too the Holy One, blessed be He, shows the righteous while they are still in this world the reward He is destined to give them in the future, and their soul is satisfied and they sleep. What is the reason? "For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest" (Job 3:13). When Rabbi Abahu was dying, he saw thirteen rivers of balsam. He said to them, "Whose are these?" They said to him, "Yours." He said, "These are for Abahu? 'And I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and emptiness; yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God'" (Isaiah 49:4). Zavdi ben Levi, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Yose ben Patra - the three of them recited these verses as they were dying. One of them said, "For this let every godly one pray to You" and so on (Psalms 32:6). One of them said, "You prepare a table before me; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows" (Psalms 23:5), and "Let all who take refuge in You rejoice" and so on (Psalms 5:12). And the other said, "For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand" (Psalms 84:11). The Rabbis said, "How abundant is Your goodness, which You have stored away" (Psalms 31:20). Thus, at the time of the departure of the righteous from the world, the Holy One, blessed be He, shows them the reward prepared for them. And when? Close to their death, as it is written, "Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of His devoted ones" (Psalms 116:15). This is the meaning of "and she laughs at the last day" (Proverbs 31:25).