A Good Name Outlasts Priesthood Kingship and the Ark

Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya said: A good name is more beloved than priesthood and kingship, for priesthood and kingship are abolished, but a good name is not abolished. [Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya said:] A good name is more beloved than the Ark of the Covenant, for the Ark of the Covenant went [the text plays on "the scent of the Ark" — read instead "the Ark went"] before Israel only three days. This is as it is written, "And the Ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them" (Numbers 10:33). [But a good name goes from one end of the world to the other. From where do we learn this? From David, as it is said, "And the fame (good name) of David went out into all the lands," and so forth (1 Chronicles 14:17).] Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Simon said: The death of the tribes is more beloved than their life, for in their life six of their names were not stated, [but in their death six of their names were stated (Exodus 28:10).] The disciples of Rabbi Ami and Abba Tzidoni, in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman: The death of Saul is more beloved than his life, for in his life it was not said, "Tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me"; but in his death it was said, "And tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me" (1 Samuel 28:19) — "with me," within my partition.