something born · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
grew
וַיִּגְדַּ֥לvai.yig.Dal
H1431
to be (causatively make) large (in various senses · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
weaned
וַיִּגָּמַ֑לvai.yi.ga.Mal
H1580
to treat a person (well or ill) · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Abraham
אַבְרָהָם֙'av.ra.Ham
H85
Abraham · proper noun, a man's name
made
וַיַּ֤עַשׂvai.Ya.'as
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
great
גָד֔וֹלga.Dol
H1419
great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
feast
מִשְׁתֶּ֣הmish.Teh
H4960
drink · noun, common masculine singular absolute
day
בְּי֖וֹםbe.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Isaac
יִצְחָֽקyitz.Chak
H3327
Jitschak (or Isaac) · proper noun, a man's name
weaned
הִגָּמֵ֥לhi.ga.Mel
H1580
to treat a person (well or ill) · verb, niphal infinitive construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 1:22 But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may ap…
Hosea 1:8 Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
Genesis 19:3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened…
Genesis 26:30 And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
Genesis 29:22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
Genesis 40:20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of th…
2 Samuel 3:20 So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. And David made Abner and the men that were with him a feast.
1 Kings 3:15 And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 21:1-8
Long-looked-for comes at last. The vision concerning the promised seed is for an appointed time, and now, at the end, it speaks, and does not lie; few under the Old Testament were brought into the world with such expectation as Isaac was, not for the sake of any great person eminence at which he was to arrive, but because he was to be, in this very thin, a type of Christ, that seed which the holy God had so long promised and holy men so long expected. In this account of the first days of Isaac we may observe,
I. The fulfilling of God's promise in the conception and birth of Isaac, Gen 21:1, Gen 21:2. Note, God's providences look best and brightest when they are compared with his word, and wh…
the child grew, and was weaned--children are suckled longer in the East than in the Occident--boys usually for two or three years.
Abraham made a great feast, &c.--In Eastern countries this is always a season of domestic festivity, and the newly weaned child is formally brought, in presence of the assembled relatives and friends, to partake of some simple viands. Isaac, attired in the symbolic robe, the badge of birthright, was then admitted heir of the tribe [ROSENMULLER].
Adam Clarke on Genesis 21:8
The child grew and was weaned - Anglo-Saxon Version. Now the child waxed and became weaned. We have the verb to wean from the Anglo-Saxon awendan, to convert, transfer, turn from one thing to another, which is the exact import of the Hebrew word גמל gamal in the text. Hence wenan, to wean, to turn the child from the breast to receive another kind of ailment. And hence, probably, the word Wean, a young child, which is still in use in the northern parts of Great Britain and Ireland, and which from its etymology seems to signify a child taken from the breast; surely not from the Scotch wee-ane, a little one, much less from the German wenig, little, as Dr. Johnson and others would derive it. At…
And Abraham held a great feast on the day of Isaac's weaning, because it is indeed a great solemnity for the highest teachers of the mind when they see those whom they have nurtured ascend to the summit of wisdom and virtue.
ON THE FEAST THAT ABRAHAM MADE WHEN HIS SON WAS WEANED. — The question arises why Abraham did not celebrate the day his son was born or the day he circumcised him, but the day he weaned him. And the question has no solution if it does not refer to some spiritual significance. For it is evident that only then must there be a great joy for the spiritual age when the new spiritual man is born, that is to say, not a man like the Apostle describes with these words: I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able, but not even now you are able: for you are yet carnal. (1Cor. 3:2) [
"Isaac," says the Scripture, "was growing" and being strengthened — that is, Abraham's joy was growing as he looked not "at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." For Abraham did not rejoice over things present, nor over the riches of the world and the doings of this age. But do you wish to hear from what source Abraham rejoiced? Hear the Lord saying to the Jews: "Abraham your father desired to see my day, and he saw it and was glad." Through this, therefore, "Isaac was growing" — through that vision of Abraham's by which he saw the day of Christ, and by the hope that is in him, which heaped up his joys. And would that you too might become Isaacs and be a joy to your mother the Church.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Banquet — A feast provided for the entertainment of a company of guests (Esther 5; 7; 1 Pet. 4:3); such as was provided for our Lord by his friends in Bethany (Matt. 26:6; Mark 14:3; comp. John 12:2). These…
Child — This word has considerable latitude of meaning in Scripture. Thus Joseph is called a child at the time when he was probably about sixteen years of age (Gen. 37:3); and Benjamin is so called when he…
Children — The blessing of offspring, but especially of the male sex, is highly valued among all eastern nations, while a the absence is regarded as one of the severest punishments. (Genesis 16:2; 7:14; 1…
Entertain — Entertainments, “feasts,” were sometimes connected with a public festival (Deut. 16:11, 14), and accompanied by offerings (1 Sam. 9:13), in token of alliances (Gen. 26:30); sometimes in connection…
Feast — As a mark of hospitality (Gen. 19:3; 2 Sam. 3:20; 2 Kings 6:23); on occasions of domestic joy (Luke 15:23; Gen. 21:8); on birthdays (Gen. 40:20; Job 1:4; Matt. 14:6); and on the occasion of a…
Children · Weaning of — Weaning of
Entertainments · Often great — Often great
Isaac · 1. The miraculous — 1. The miraculous
Ishmael · .Sent away by Abraham — .Sent away by Abraham
Man · Woman formed to be a help for — Woman formed to be a help for
Sarah · .Gives birth to — .Gives birth to
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Genesis 21:8
And the child grew, and was weaned,.... He throve under the nursing of its mother, and through the blessing of God upon him; and being healthy and robust, and capable of digesting stronger food, and living upon it, he was weaned from the breast: at what age Isaac was when weaned is not certain, there being no fixed time for such an affair, but it was at the discretion of parents, and as they liked it, and the case of their children required; and in those times, when men lived to a greater age than now, they might not be weaned so early, as we find their marrying and begetting children were when they were more advanced in years. The Jewish writers are not agreed about this matter. Jarchi and…
And the child grew, and was weaned. Moses now begins to relate the manner in which Ishmael was rejected from the family of Abraham, in order that Isaac alone might hold the place of the lawful son and heir. It seems, indeed, at first sight, something frivolous, that Sarah, being angry about a mere nothing, should have stirred up strife in the family. But Paul teaches, that a sublime mystery is here proposed to us, concerning the perpetual state of the Church. (Galatians 4:21.) And, truly, if we attentively consider the persons mentioned, we shall regard it as no trivial affair, that the father of all the faithful is divinely commanded to eject his firstborn son; that Ishmael, although a part…
Expulsion of Ishmael. - The weaning of the child, which was celebrated with a feast, furnished the outward occasion for this. Sarah saw Ishmael mocking, making ridicule on the occasion. "Isaac, the object of holy laughter, was made the butt of unholy wit or profane sport. He did not laugh (צחק), but he made fun (מצחק). The little helpless Isaac a father of nations! Unbelief, envy, pride of carnal superiority, were the causes of his conduct. Because he did not understand the sentiment, 'Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?' it seemed to him absurd to link so great a thing to one so small" (Hengstenberg). Paul calls this the persecution of him that was after the Spirit by him that was begot…
God used the incident of Ishmael’s mocking Isaac to separate Ishmael and Hagar from the family and the child of promise. They would constantly threaten the promised descendant if they remained with the family.
21:8-9 The feast for Isaac’s weaning probably occurred when he was three and Ishmael was about seventeen years old (16:16). Sarah saw Ishmael making fun of her son, Isaac: The verb metsakheq (“making fun of”) is related to the word for “laughter”; this theme (21:6) is given a sour twist by Ishmael’s mockery.
Rashi on Genesis 21:8
ויגמל AND HE WAS WEANED — at the expiration of twenty- four months (Gittin 75b).
משתה גדול A GREAT FEAST — it is so designated because the great men of that generation were present at it (Genesis Rabbah 53:10) — Shem, Eber and Abimelech (Tanchuma Yashan, Vayishlach 23).
