Berakhot 54B

עבדי להון נקירתא וטשו בהון. אמרי: כי חלפי ישראל הכא ⁠— נקטלינון, ולא הוו ידעי דארון הוה מסגי קמייהו דישראל והוה ממיך להו טורי מקמייהו. כיון דאתא ארון, אדבקו טורי בהדי הדדי, וקטלינון, ונחת דמייהו לנחלי ארנון. כי אתו את והב, חזו דמא דקא נפיק מביני טורי. אתו ואמרי להו לישראל ואמרו שירה. היינו דכתיב: ״ואשד הנחלים אשר נטה לשבת ער ונשען לגבול מואב״.

and prepared caves for themselves and they hid in them. They said: When Israel passes here we will kill them. And they did not know that the Ark of the Covenant preceded the children of Israel and would flatten mountains before them. When the Ark came, the mountains adhered one to another and killed them; and their blood flowed down to the streams of Arnon. When Et and Hev, the lepers, arrived, they saw the blood that was emerging from between the mountains, and they came and told Israel what had happened. Israel recited a song of praise, as it is stated: “And at the cascade of the brooks that goes down to the residence of Ar, and lies upon the border of Moab” (Numbers 21:15). This refers to the cascade of the brooks where the mountain, which had once been a valley, spread out in the direction of the mountain in Ar, in Moab.

אבני אלגביש. מאי אבני אלגביש?

Among the sites enumerated in the baraita where one is obligated to recite a blessing in recognition of the miracles that occurred there, was the site of the hailstones of Elgavish. The Talmud asks: What are the hailstones of Elgavish?

תנא: אבנים שעמדו על גב איש, וירדו על גב איש. עמדו על גב איש ⁠— זה משה, דכתיב: ״והאיש משה ענו מאד״, וכתיב: ״ויחדלו הקלות והברד ומטר לא נתך ארצה״. ירדו על גב איש ⁠— זה יהושע, דכתיב: ״קח לך את יהושע בן נון איש אשר רוח בו״, וכתיב: ״ויהי בנוסם מפני בני ישראל הם במורד בית חורן וה׳ השליך עליהם אבנים גדלות״.

It is taught in the midrash: They are the stones that remained suspended in the air and did not fall because of [al gav] a man [ish] and they fell down because of [al gav] a man [ish]. The Talmud explains: They remained suspended because of a man; that is Moses, whom the verse refers to as a man, as it is written: “And the man Moses was very modest” (Numbers 12:3), and it is written: “And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread forth his hands to YHWH; the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth” (Exodus 9:33). Moses’ hailstones remained suspended. And the stones descended because of a man; that is Joshua, who was also called man, as it is written: “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is spirit” (Numbers 27:18). And it is written that when Joshua and his people waged war against the army of the Emorite kings, God told him not to fear them because God would deliver them into his hands; and indeed, they died by means of these stones: “As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beit Ḥoron, that YHWH cast down great stones from heaven upon them to Azeka, and they died; they were more who died with the hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew by sword” (Joshua 10:11).