The sage Rav Joseph was moved to tears when he read the verse “Much food is in the fallow ground of the poor, and for lack of justice there is waste” (Proverbs 13:23). He understood from the verse that there are people who die with no reason at all or any fair judgment. The scholars asked: Is it possible that a man will die before his time? Answer: Yes! There was an incident involving the sage Rav Bibi son of Abaye. The Angel of Death was often in his presence. Rav Bibi heard the Angel of Death ask his messenger (whose job it was to kill people) to kill a woman named Miriam, who braided hair. The messenger of death erred and killed a different Miriam, who cared for young children. The Angel of Death said to his messenger: “I asked you to kill Miriam the hair braider, not Miriam the caretaker of young children.” The messenger answered: “I’ll revive Miriam the caretaker of young children and bring you Miriam the hair braider.” The Angel of Death told him that if he’d already brought Miriam the caretaker of young children, he should leave her with the rest of that day’s dead. The Angel of Death asked his messenger how he had managed to kill the caretaker of young children, as her time to die had not yet come. The messenger answered: “I found an opportunity to kill her. She was busy with her stove and held a poker to clean the stove. Unawares she burned her leg, and when a person is injured their luck and the set time of their death are in flux, so I had an opportunity to kill her before her time.” The sage Rav Bibi asked the Angel of Death whether he had permission to kill people before their time. The Angel of Death answered that he did, for it is written “and for lack of justice there is waste.” Rav Bibi then asked: It is written “A generation goes and a generation comes,” meaning that until one generation ends the next does not come, but if killing can happen before it time, there is no order and sometimes a generation can go before the next comes. The Angel of Death answered that he waits and travels the world with those who were killed before their time and that they are not handed over to Dumah, guardian of the dead, until the time of their generation is over. The sage then asked the Angel of Death what happened to the years which were stolen from the woman killed before her time. The Angel of Death answered that the years are given to scholars who forgive slights and whose actions go beyond what is required.
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chagigah 4b-5a)