Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah

Sforno on Genesis 1:31/ספורנו על בראשית א׳:ל״א

אאֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וְהִנֵּה טוֹב מְאֹד. תַּכְלִית הַמְּצִיאוּת בִּכְלָלוֹ טוֹב מְאֹד יוֹתֵר מִן הַתַּכְלִיתִיּוֹת הַפְּרָטִיּוֹת הַמְכֻוָּנוֹת אֵלָיו.
1את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד, the accomplishment of a project containing many different parts is greater than the accomplishment of each part of such project successfully. Now that G’d had completed the entire project successfully, the Torah described this with the additional word מאד instead of merely טוב.
ביוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי. הָרִאשׁוֹן אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ הָיָה רֵאשִׁית לְכָל שִׁשִּׁי, אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ יִכְלוּ כָּל הַמַּעֲשִׂים כְּדֵי לִשְׁבּוֹת בְּשַׁבָּת, כְּאָמְרוֹ (שמות כ:ט-י) "וְעָשִׂיתָ כָּל מְלַאכְתֶּךָ וְיוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי שַׁבָּת".
2יום הששי, this is the first day which is described as “the (sixth) day.” In other words, it was the first of many days known as “the sixth,” but this was the first such day. The specific function of the sixth day is to be the bridge between the ordinary weekdays and the Sabbath. The “six” days have been defined in Exodus 20,9-10 as the days on which “you will perform all your tasks involving work.”