Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah

Sforno on Exodus 1:1/ספורנו על שמות א׳:א׳

אוְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת. אֵלֶּה הַנִּזְכָּרִים בְּכָאן הָיוּ רְאוּיִים לְהִוָּדַע בְּשֵׁם, כִּי כָּל אֶחָד מֵהֶם רָאוּי לִהְיוֹת נֶחְשָׁב אִישׁ עַל שְׁמוֹ הַמּוֹרֶה עַל צוּרָתוֹ הָאִישִׁיִּית. וְאֵלֶּה כָּל יְמֵי חַיֵּיהֶם הָיוּ לִמְאוֹרוֹת, וְלֹא יָצָא הַדּוֹר לְתַרְבּוּת רָעָה. אָמְנָם אַחֲרֵי מוֹתָם לֹא הָיוּ הַצַּדִּיקִים שֶׁבִּבְנֵיהֶם כָּל כָּךְ חֲשׁוּבִים בְּעֵינֵי אֱלֹהִים וְאָדָם.
1אלה, the ones mentioned here were deserving to be mentioned with their names. The reason is that each one of them possessed sufficient individuality to give meaning to his name. They were all of them an inspiration to their children as not one of them abandoned his family tradition. However, after the death of that generation even the relatively righteous ones among them did not rate so highly in the eyes of G’d or man so that the Torah deemed it necessary to tell us their names.