All that goodness...

Our parasha opens with the meeting of Moses and his father-in-law Jethro, who has come to see him. Moses updates Jethro about all the events that he and the Israelites have experienced, and Jethro rejoices when he hears about this:

וַיִּ֣חַדְּ יִתְר֔וֹ עַ֚ל כָּל־הַטּוֹבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר הִצִּיל֖וֹ מִיַּ֥ד מִצְרָֽיִם׃
And Iethro reioyced for all the goodneſſe which the Lord had done to Iſrael: whom he had deliuered out of the hand of the Egyptians.

Our commentator is concerned with the word הטובה, “the goodness”. This word has the following tagin on it:

However, before discussing the tagin, he begins by quoting a discussion from the Mekhilta (‘Amaleq §1):

על כל הטובה. ר' יהושע אומר בטובת המן. אמר לו: המן אנו טועמין בו טעם פת טעם בשר טעם דגין וטעם חגבין וטעם כל המטעמים שבעולם. וזהו: הטובה, כל הטובה
ר' אלעזר [המודעי] אמר בטובת הבאר. אמר לו: הבאר הזה אנו טועמין בה טעם יין חדש טעם יין ישן טעם חלב טעם דבש טעם כל הממתקים שבעולם. שנאמר: טובה, על כל הטובה
ר' אל[י]עזר אומר: בטובת ארץ ישראל

For all the goodness. R. Joshua says: The goodness of the manna. [Moses] said to [Jethro]: "In this manna, we taste the flavor of bread, the flavor of meat, the flavor of fish, and the flavor of locusts -- and the flavor of all delicious foods in the world." This is why the text says [not only] goodness, [but] all the goodness.
R. Eleazar [the Moda‘ite] says: The goodness of the [miraculous] well. [Moses] said to [Jethro]: "In this well, we taste the flavor of grape juice, the flavor of wine, the flavor of milk, the flavor of honey -- and the flavor of all delicious drinks in the world." This is why the text says [not only] goodness, [but] all the goodness.
R. Eliezer say: The goodness of Eretz Yisrael.

Our commentator now shows a way to derive these Tannaitic explanations from the verse itself:

הטובה. ה' טובה. (א) טעם פת (ב) טעם בשר (ג) טעם דגין (ד) טעם חגבין (ה) טעם כל המטעמים. הרי ה' מטעמים וזהו ה' טובה.
דבר אחר: ה' טובה. (א) טעם יין חדש (ב) טעם יין ישן (ג) טעם חלב (ד) טעם דבש (ה) טעם כל הממתקים: הרי ה' טובה.

The goodness (הטובה). [Read this as] ה' טובה -- five goodnesses. (1) The taste of bread; (2) the taste of meat; (3) the taste of fish; (4) the taste of locusts; (5) the taste of every delicious food.
Or, alternatively: (1) The taste of grape juice; (2) the taste of wine; (3) the taste of milk; (4) the taste of honey; (5) the taste of all delicious drinks.

It is interesting that he does not mention the tagin in this first piece, because he could have argued that the tagin indicate that we should read the initial hé not as the definite article, but as something different, namely the number five.

In the next piece, though, he goes on to discuss the tagin:

דבר אחר: הטובה. תגין על ה' ועל ט'. רמז ה' חומשי תורה שעתיד ליתן להם שנקראו טוב שנאמר: טוב לי תורת פיך:

Another explanation: The word ha-tova הטובה has tagin on the hé and on the teth. This is an allusion to the five books of the Torah, which [God] would soon give to them. They are called "good" (tov), as it is written: Psalm 119:2: The Torah of Thy mouth is good unto me...

This explains only the tagin on the hé. But why on the teth? I don't know. The following explanation does not deal with the individual letters at all, but cares only that there are tagin on the word as a whole:

דבר אחר: הטובה. מצויין בתגין. זו טובה הברורה והמצויינת זו טובת עולם הבא וכתיב: מה רב טובך אשר צפנת ליראיך

Another explanation: The word ha-tova is marked by tagin, for it refers to the purest, most marked (=ultimate) goodness, namely, that of the World to Come. As it is written: Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee.... (Psalms 31:20).