ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף תהילים 72:17

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.

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.

and his origin is from of old—“Before the sun his name is Yinnon” (Ps. 72:17).

They said in their heart, their rulers together Heb. נינם, their rulers, and similarly (above 72: 17): “his name will be magnified (ינון) ; (Prov. 29:21), “he will ultimately be a ruler (מנון).” All their rulers devise one plot, the first as the last: namely, to get at the protector of Israel first and afterwards they would get at them [Israel], You should know this by the fact that they burned all the meeting places of God in the land, all His meeting houses. The Philistines destroyed Shiloh; Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the First Temple; Titus destroyed the Second Temple.

a ruler Heb. מנון, a ruler, and so is (Ps.72:17): “May His name be magnified (ינון) as long as the sun exists.” Similarly, every instance of נין in the Bible, since the son rises in his father’s stead to rule over his property.