house of the land of your possession." Rabbi Hiyya asked: Was it then a piece of good news that plagues were to come upon them? Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai answered that when the Canaanites heard that the Israelites were approaching, they hid their valuables in their houses. But God promised the Israelites' forbearers that God would bring the Israelites into a land full of good things, including (in the words of ) "houses full of all good things." So God brought plagues upon a house of one of the Israelites so that when he would pull it down, he would find a treasure. Reading and a Midrash taught that in 18 verses, Scripture places Moses and Aaron (the instruments of Israel's deliverance) on an equal footing (reporting that God spoke to both of them alike), and thus there are 18 benedictions in the Amidah. The Sifra read the words "the land of Canaan" in to refer to the Land that God set aside distinctly for the Israelites. The Sifra thus read the words "which I give to you" in to exclude the lands of Ammon and Moab east of the Jordan River. Thus house plagues could occur only in the Land of Israel west of the Jordan. And Rabbi Ishmael read the words "of your possession" in to exclude the possession of Gentiles in the Land of Israel from house plagues. Because addresses "a house of the land," the Mishnah taught that a house built on a ship, on a raft, or on four beams could not be afflicted by a house plague. A Midrash noted the difference in wording between which says of the Israelites in Goshen that "they got possessions therein," and which says of the Israelites in Canaan, "When you come into the land of Canaan, which I gave you for a possession." The Midrash read to read, "and they were taken in possession by it." The Midrash thus taught that in the case of Goshen, the land seized the Israelites, so that their bond might be exacted and so as to bring about God's declaration to Abraham in that the Egyptians would afflict the Israelites for 400 years. But the Midrash read to teach the Israelites that if they were worthy, the Land of Israel would be an eternal possession, but if not, they would be banished from it. The Rabbis taught that a structure of