Мидраш к Шмуэль Б 6:12

R. Shimon b. Yochai says: It is not kiddush Hashem (sanctification of the name of G-d) for the words of the righteous to be in force in their lifetime and to be voided after their death. R. Elazar b. R. Shimon said; I subscribe to the words of R. Yossi rather than to father's words, that it is kiddush Hashem. For so long as the righteous are in the world, blessing is in the world. When the righteous depart from the world, blessing departs from the world. And thus do you find with the ark of G-d, which went down to the house of Oved-edom the Gittite, for the sake of which he was blessed, viz. (II Samuel 6:12) "And King David was told: The L-rd has blessed the house of Oved-edom and all that he has because of the ark of G-d." Now does this not follow a fortiori, viz.: If Oved-edom was blessed because of the ark, which was made neither for gain nor loss, but only for the fragments of the tablets within it, how much more so (is one blessed in the merit of) the righteous, for whose sake the world was created!