<b>Another comment on These are the names (Exod. 1:1).</b> Scripture states: <i>As is Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise, unto the end of the earth</i> (Ps. 48:11). Men praise a human king as strong though he may be weak; they acclaim him as handsome though he may be ugly; they extol him as merciful though he may be cruel, but the Holy One, blessed be He, exceeds all the praise heaped upon Him, for He is the great, the mighty, the awe-inspiring God. David exclaimed: <i>Who can express the mighty acts of the Lord, or make all His praise be heard?</i> (Ps. 105:2), while Job declared: <i>Shall it be told Him that I speak? or should a man wish that he were swallowed up?</i> (Job 37:20). The men of the Great Synagogue later proclaimed: <i>Blessed be Thy glorious name that is exalted above all blessing and praise</i> (Neh. 9:5).
R. Yosé the son of Hanina stated: There are men whose names have a beautiful (meaning), while their deeds are repulsive; there are other men whose names are unattractive but whose deeds are beautiful; there are others whose names and acts are both repulsive; and there are still others whose names and acts are beautiful. Absalom is one whose name was beautiful but whose deeds were repulsive. His name means “father of peace,” yet he slept with his father’s concubines. Esau, (a name meaning) he performs the will of his makers (i.e., his parents)—but his deeds were repulsive. Those whose names are unattractive but who performed deeds that are beautiful are the men of the Great Synagogue, <i>the children of Barkos, the children of Sisera</i> (Ezra 2:53). They rebuilt the Temple. Those whose names and deeds were repulsive are the (ten) spies, <i>Nahbi the son of Vophsi</i> (Num. 13:14). Those whose names and deeds are praiseworthy were Reuben, Simeon, and Levi.
<i>Now these are the names</i>. R. Abahu maintained: Wherever Scripture simply states <i>these</i>, those previously mentioned are rejected, but wherever <i>and these</i> is stated, additional praise is conferred on those mentioned. (For example, in the case of the verse) <i>These are the generations of the heaven and earth</i> (Gen. 2:4), the previous creations, which ended in waste and desolation, were rejected. Every instance in which <i>these</i> is employed can be explained in the same way. Similarly, here the words <i>and these</i> can be demonstrated as adding praise to earlier generations.