Midras Pengkhotbah 7:20: Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition) & Midrash Tehillim

Rabba b. b. Chana said: "When R. Eliezer became sick, his disciples came to make him a sick call, and he said to them, 'Great anger prevails in the world' (i.e., referring to himself) and they began to weep. R. Akiba, however, smiled. And to the question: 'Why are you smiling?' he said to them, 'Why are you weping?' They answered: 'Is it possible not to weep when we see the Holy Scroll is in such a painful distress?' Whereupon he remarked: 'And therefore I smile, for so long as I have seen our master's wine does not become sour, his flocks undamaged, his oil unspoiled, and his honey unfermented, I was afraid that perhaps he received all his reward in this world; now as I see him in pain, I rejoice.' 'Akiba,' said R. Eliezer to him, 'have I then failed to perform, or transgressed, anything of what the Torah says?' And he answered: 'You, master, yourself taught us (Ecc. 7, 20) For there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth never."

You said something else to God. David said before the Almighty, "Even though I was a king, Your Kingship is upon me." The Almighty replied, "I don't hold your goodness against you, but to whom do I hold the Saints in the land? The Almighty doesn't call the righteous holy until they are given the land and until the day of death. Why did the Evil Inclination make people in this world and not believe in them until the day of death? Similarly, Solomon said, "There is no righteous person on earth who does good and does not sin" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Therefore, one is not called holy until they are given the land. Even the Patriarchs were not called holy until they were given the land. As it says, "Behold, in His holy ones He will not trust" (Job 15:15). And when did He trust them? When He said to Moses, "Go and gather the elders of Israel" (Exodus 3:16). From this, Moses inferred and said, "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants" (Exodus 32:13). Rabbi Pinchas said, "The forefathers of the world wanted their dwelling to be above, and even so, they were not called holy until they were given the land and the exile was closed before them." Rabbi Chama asked, "What is the verse that states, 'He drags the mighty with His power'? This is the Evil Inclination. 'Mighty with his power' refers to the generation of Enosh, the generation of the Flood, the generation of the Dispersion, and the people of Sodom, as it is written, 'In pain shall you eat of it' (Genesis 3:17), and it says, 'I will increase your pain and your travail' (Genesis 3:16). He increased their pain, referring to the forefathers of the world. Did they lose anything? Scripture says, 'I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood' (Psalm 16:4). As we learned, they went down and returned from the war and recited the Shema in the chamber of hewn stone....

"Test me, O Lord, and try me. Test me like Abraham, as it is written (Genesis 22:1), 'And God tested Abraham and he withstood the test.' Try me like Isaac, who was tested and stood firm. Refine my kidneys; refine me like Joseph, who was refined and found trustworthy. When he was tested, he said, 'I have no strength, please do not judge me harshly,' as it is written (Psalm 143:2), 'And do not enter into judgment with Your servant.' But even so, God did not turn away from him in judgment, but rather wrote about him, as it is written (I Kings 15:5), 'For David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.' From this we learn that a person should not become arrogant and say, 'I am sure of myself.' Look at David, who possessed all these qualities, as it is said (Psalm 26:3), 'For Your kindness is before my eyes, and I walk in Your truth. I do not sit with deceitful men, and I hate the congregation of evildoers. I will wash my hands in innocence; I will say, 'Do not come into judgment with me.''" "Furthermore, it is said (Ecclesiastes 7:20), 'For there is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin.' And Solomon says before God that a king who hires workers and they do their job well, he should pay them their due wages, and this is considered a great virtue. When is the king praised? When he hires wicked workers who do not do their job well and still pays them their wages, and this is a great act of kindness. And it is also said (I Kings 8:57), 'May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers.'"