Commentaire de citation sur La Genèse 12:2

Better a good name than precious oil. A fine reputation for a person is better than precious oil,¹The Mishnah in Avos 4:13 states that there are three crowns, the crown of Torah, the crown of Kehunah and the crown of royalty, but the crown of a good name [כתר שם טוב], i.e., fine reputation, surpasses them all. and on the day of [his] death that reputation is better than [it was] on the day he was born. For this reason, a good name is compared to oil in preference to other liquids, for [if] you put water into oil, it rises and floats, and is distinguishable, but other liquids, [if] you put water into them, it becomes absorbed.

And God remembered Sarah as He had said, and God did for Sarah as He had spoken. There is a distinction between the language of “remembering/taking note” [pekidah] and the language of “doing/action” [asiyah], because “remembering” is merely a mental recollection, while “doing” is a concrete action, as it is written And I will make you into a great nation. And it concludes (Genesis Rabbah 39:11) that the term “dibur” [speaking] indicates more affection than the term “amirah” [saying], because “dibur” indicates a clear articulation of matters with precise enunciation, and this corresponds to the language of “doing/action.”

Better a good name than precious oil. Precious oil runs down, as it is stated, “as the precious oil (on the head) runs down upon the beard.”²Tehillim 133:2. But a good name rises to the top, as it is stated, “and I will make your name great.”³Bereishis 12:2. Precious oil is temporary, but a fine reputation is forever, as it is stated, “may his name endure forever.”⁴Tehillim 72:17. Precious oil [at best] flows from the flask to the palace, and no further, but a fine reputation [spreads] throughout the world.⁵The fragrance of good oil dissipates but a good name grows constantly stronger. (Metsudas Dovid) Rabbi Yehudah the son of Rabbi Simon said, that we find that those who had good oil entered the place of life and emerged burnt up. These are Nadav and Avihu, who were anointed with the anointing oil. And we find those who possessed a fine reputation, who entered a place of death and emerged alive, [these are] Chananyah, Mishaeil, and Azaryah, who emerged [unscathed] from the fiery furnace.