Why the Righteous Have Their Names Placed First

"And his name was Elkanah" (1 Samuel 1:1). The wicked precede their names: "Nabal was his name" (1 Samuel 25:25); "Sheba son of Bichri was his name" (2 Samuel 20:21). But the righteous: their names precede them: "And his name was Elkanah"; "And his name was Boaz" (Ruth 2:1); "And his name was Mordecai" (Esther 2:5). They resemble their Creator, "And the name of the LORD" (the name is placed first). They raised an objection: but is it not written, "And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban" (Genesis 24:29)? Rabbi Isaac says: a brother of a swindler [Greek: paradikos]. Rabbi Berechiah says: "whitened" [Laban] in wickedness. They raised an objection: but is it not written, "And the sons of Samuel: the firstborn Joel, and Abijah" (1 Samuel 8:2; the names precede them, yet they were wicked)? The Rabbis say: just as that one [the elder] was wicked, so was this one wicked. Rabbi Judah son of Rabbi Simon says: when they changed to good deeds they merited the holy spirit: "The word of the LORD that came to Joel" (Joel 1:1).