Blemished Gedolim III

 Rambam (Shemonah Perakim #7): You should know that every prophet only experienced prophecy after he has acquired all the appropriate personality traits… Chazal indicated this by saying that “Prophecy only manifests itself in one who is wise, strong and rich.” … Strength here is referring to moral strength not physical strength as we find in Avos (4:1), “Who is strong? He who controls his passions.” However prophecy is not conditional on these personality traits being perfect. We see that even though Shlomo HaMelech was a prophet nevertheless he possessed imperfections as we see by his desires i.e., his many wives… We also see that David HaMelech was a prophet in spite of acting cruelly. Even though this cruelty was only manifested against idol worship and heretics and he was merciful with Jews, nevertheless G‑d said that because of this imperfection he was not allowed to build the Temple. We find that Eliyahu had a problem with anger - even though it was directed entirely to heretics - our Sages tells us that he was consequently not fit to be a leader nor was his zealotry appropriate for others to emulate. We find Shmuel also manifested failings in his fear of Shaul and Yaakov in his fear of Esav. These type of improper attributes are a barrier against a prophet getting close to G‑d. The more imperfection the greater distance is created. Consequently the imperfection can diminish the quality of prophecy or eliminate it altogether…