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ויגמל AND HE WAS WEANED — at the expiration of twenty- four months (Gittin 75b).

ויגמל, he was separated from depending on his mother’s nipples.

ויגדל הילד ויגמל , he stopped receiving mother’s milk. This occurred after he was 24 months old. This was the standard period that babies nursed at the breasts of their mothers.

And Avraham made a great banquet: [He did this] in order to show everyone that the newborn was precious to him, given that he was his son. However...

ויעש אברהם משתה גדול, “Avraham prepared a great feast.” There is no doubt that the notables in the land were invited to this feast seeing that the birth of Yitzchak had been a most remarkable event. Also, Avraham was a very wealthy man, and it is quite possible that even kings of surrounding countries attended this feast. We know that kings and other rulers sought out Avraham’s advice and made a point of being on good terms with him (compare 21,23). As the occasion was one of physical indulgence, the names of the participants have not been mentioned by the Torah. We find that Scripture does make a point of mentioning who went to a house of mourning as these people troubled themselves to share in someone’s else’s grief. This is why the Book of Job mentions not only who came to visit him but also that these people traveled a great distance in order to offer their support to Job in such a time. (compare Job 2,11) This caused Solomon to say in Kohelet: 7,2 “it is better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting.” By not mentioning the names of the participants the Torah hints that all pleasures in this life are only vain and pointless.

And the child grew: [So] that you do not say that he was born a weakling from the elderly people - as he grew. And do not say that he was weaned because she did not have milk in order to nurse, since he was not weaned until he grew. As the miracle of the milk continued until he grew like one [fit to be] weaned from his mother. And Avraham made a great banquet: He did not make a banquet at the time of the circumcision, since the circumcision was a commandment specific to him and the circumcised members of his household. So he only made a small banquet before them. But at the time of the weaning, he made a great banquet for the great ones of the generation, as the Sages, may their memory be blessed, said.

After he was twenty-four months old. [Rashi knows this because otherwise] it should have written ותגמל (she weaned him). Perforce, ויגמל means the child weaned himself. [And Rashi deduced that this happened] because he was twenty-four months old, when a child rejects his mother’s milk and stops nursing. (Maharshal)

גמל, vom Baume, der seine Früchte bis zur vollendeten Reife mit seinen Säften genährt hat, dass sie nun seiner nicht mehr bedürfen, ויצץ ציץ ויגמל שקרים ebenso von der Mutter in Beziehung zum Kinde, daher ;(4. B. M. 17, 23): entwöhnen. Vielleicht heißt auch das Kamel גמל, weil es lange ohne Trinken zubringen kann. Alle Ereignisse als an dem Baume der Vergangenheit reifende Früchte begreifend, heißt denn auch גמל, allgemein: diese Früchte der Zeiten zur Reife bringen, d. h. die Geschicke des Menschen leiten, so: אשירה לד׳ כי גמל עלי, ich singe es Gott, dass, was über mich gekommen, Er zur Reife gebracht; כל תגמולהי עלי, alles, was Er über mich hat reifen lassen. Speziell: jemandem die Früchte seiner Handlungen zur Reife bringen, d. i. vergelten. Wenn der Baum vorzeitig seiner Frucht die Säste versagt, so heißt es קמל.

ויעש אברהם משתה גדול, “Avraham prepared a great feast.” This was the custom in those days, as opposed to nowadays when the feast is prepared on the day of the circumcision compare Samuel I 1,24, when Chanah took her two year old son to the High Priest Eli after having weaned him. She took with her oxen and sheep to offer as a sacrifice in the Temple.

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).

We find a similar expression in connection with Samuel I 1,23 referring to the day he was weaned. Such days were marked by a feast. Chanah brought Samuel to Eli in Shiloh at the time. (Samuel I 1,24)

משתה גדול, this too may have been the custom in those days, to mark the baby starting to receive solid food with a great celebration. Alternately, Avraham gave such a party to mark his personal joy over Yitzchok having attained that stage. Apparently this development of the baby coincided with his beginning to speak. He was capable of being taught the letters of the alphabet. Our sages in Tanchuma Kedoshim claim that the age at which children could learn the letters of the alphabet was when they had reached age 3.

Because the great people of the time were there... Re’m explains that [Rashi knows this because] for a prophet [such as Avraham, unlike for a king such as Achashveirosh,] it makes no difference if his feast was great in its number of days or guests. Perforce, it means that the world’s great people were there.