The Glazier's Peg and Why God Tests Only the Strong

Similarly, Rabbi Berekhiah said in the name of Rabbi Abba bar Kahana: "Shall I be pure with wicked scales?" (Micah 6:11) — is it possible that David's measures were false? "And with a bag of deceitful weights?" (ibid.) — that this elder sits and expounds "You shall not take a bribe" (Deuteronomy 16:19), yet himself takes; "You shall not pervert justice" (ibid.), yet himself perverts; "You shall not afflict any widow or orphan" (Exodus 22:21), yet himself afflicts! Samson went after his eyes, as it says, "And Samson said to his father, Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes" (Judges 14:3), yet he judged Israel twenty years. Gideon worshipped idolatry, "And Gideon made it into an ephod, etc., and all Israel went astray after it there" (Judges 8:27). Rabbi Derosti and Rabbi Yirmiyah said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak: It is like a glazier who had in his hand a basket full of glass cups of Dittriton. When he wished to hang up his basket, he would bring a peg and drive it in and hang upon it, and afterward he would hang his basket. So too, all of these did not come in the days of weak people, but in the days of mighty people, who are able to withstand them.