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		Rejoicing in Hope     Vayera   (Gen 18:1 - 22:24)

B'resheet/Genesis 21:8   And the child grew and was weaned. And Avraham made a great feast on the day Yitz'khak was weaned.

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Our text comes as the climax of the period of rejoicing and celebration since Yitz'khak, the child of the promise, had been born. The fifth aliyah of parashat Vayera in the traditional reading of the Torah comes at verse five, when the narrator tells us that "Avraham was a hundred years old when his son Yitz'khak was born to him" (B'resheet 21:5, NJPS). Then we hear Sarah's voice declaring that HaShem is good: "G-d has brought me laughter; everyone who hears will laugh with me" (v. 6, NJPS). As Walter Brueggemann observes, "laughter is a biblical way of receiving a newness which cannot be explained."¹ Sarah then points to the way in which The Name ...

HaShem: literally, Hebrew for 'The Name' - an allusion used to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, the so-called 'ineffable' name of G–d
HaShem has brought the long-desired but perhaps given up "fulfillment of her marriage to Avraham": "Who would have said to Avraham that Sarah would suckle children! Yet I have borne a son in his old age" (v. 7, NJPS). Leon Kass reports that in the next verse - our text - even Avraham joins in the rejoicing and makes a great feast on the day Yitz'khak is weaned.² Things will change rapidly as the narrative goes on, but for now, the rejoicing has reached a crescendo.

The root גמל appears twice in our text: firstly as וַיִּגָּמַל, the Nif'al 3ms prefix form, with a vav-conversive to denote the next past-tense sequential event. Our verse has three such events: and the child grew // and he was weaned // and Avraham made a feast. The second appearance of גמל is in the penultimate word, הִגַּמֵל, the Nif'al infinitive, explaining that Avraham made the feast - the controlling event - on the day when Yitz'khak was weaned. In the Qal stem, גמל means to finish (in the sense of bringing to fullness or completion), or to render good to someone. We can see that use in the verse, "I will sing to the L-RD, for  גָמַל  He has been good to me" (Psalm 13:6, NJPS). Rabbi Who Is ...

Hirsch: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888 CE), German rabbi, author and educator; staunch opponent of the Reform movement in Germany and one of the fathers of Orthodox Judaism
Hirsch proposes that it is being used here to suggest that Yitz'khak has been brought to a level of maturity.

How old is Yitz'khak at this point? The commentators disagree. Rashi and the Radak say that he is two years or twenty four-months old, following the statement of Rabbi Eliezer (b. Ketubot 60a). In Israel, in Second Temple times, it may well have been three years (2 Maccabees 7:27), while Rabbi Yehoshua says that four to five years is permitted (b. Ketubot 60a). Bruce Waltke reports that "this rite of passage from the dangerous state of infancy to childhood usually occurred at about three years of age."³ At whatever exact age, however, it is a significant occasion. Nahum Sarna tells us that "weaning marked the completion of the first significant stage in the life cycle of the infant and was therefore a festive occasion." Terence Fretheim says that this is "the festival associated with the weaning of Yitz'khak, a time of rejoicing because he has survived the difficult first years."⁴ The Who Is ...

The Radak: Rabbi David Kimḥi (1160-1235 CE), rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher and grammarian; born in Narbonne, France; best known for his commentaries on the Prophets, he also wrote a philosphical commentary on Bresheet that makes extensive use of the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel; influenced by a strong supporter of Ibn Ezra and Maimonides
Radak adds that "once a child is weaned, it is time to begin teaching him his letters." Education, Torah and character development can start.

On that day, then, Avraham holds a great feast. The ancient rabbis commented that "Rabbi Yuda ben Rabbi Simon said: This means that the Great One of all worlds was present there" (B'resheet Rabbah 53:10); HaShem Himself attended the feast. Based on the only other time the phrase מִשְׁתֶּה גָדוֹל is used in Tanakh - "The king made a great feast ... for all his princes and servants" (Esther 2:18) - "Rabbi Yudan bar Masparta said: the great leaders of the world were there" (B'resheet Rabbah 53:10). The Rashbam points out that "we find the same with Samuel: 'when [Hannah] had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the L-RD at Shiloh' (1 Samuel 1:24, ESV)." As Gordon Wenham notices, "in a society where infant mortality was high, to reach the age of two or three would be regarded as a significant achievement, so this in part explains the magnitude of the celebrations."⁵

We can see that the joy that started when Yitz'khak was born has stayed buoyant for several years. According to Laurence Turner, "The mood of celebration surrounding the birth of Yitz'khak continues through to the feast of his weaning"⁶ and James McKeown helpfully points out that "the joy and laughter associated with the birth of Yitz'khak are clearly analogous with the theme of Psalm 126:1-3."⁷

Psalm 126:1-3 When the L-RD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, "The L-RD has done great things for them." The L-RD has done great things for us; we are glad.

"Restoring' fortunes' is the way Israel speaks about the end of exile," Brueggemann tells us, "Yitz'khak is the end of every exile in the kingdom of necessity."⁸ He is the child of the promise, "the one through whom the descendants of Avraham will be named" (B'resheet 21:12) and the type of Yeshua as Rav Sha'ul explains to the Galatians - "you, brothers, like Yitz'khak, are children of promise" (Galatians 4:28, ESV) - and the Romans "it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of G-d, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring" (Romans 9:8, ESV). In Yeshua we are all enabled to be members of G-d's family, the commonwealth of Israel; we too are now children of promise.

Fretheim also points us to another issue: "Yitz'khak is growing up, hence the relationship with Ishmael will need attention."⁹ The prevailing assumption that Ishmael is the heir must be changed and Yitz'khak's position in the household and the family recognised with Sarah his mother now matriarch in fact as well as in name. But that leaves Ishmael and, to certain extent, Avraham his father, in a place of difficulty. Just as Yitz'khak is now the heir, Ishmael is now no longer the heir nor entitled to the privilege and honour that accompanies that status. McKeown pus it this way: "When Yitz'kak is weaned his father provides a sumptuous feat, but no such feast is mentioned when his brother was weaned. Probably, much like the brother of the Prodigal Son story, Ishmael could not show any enthusiasm for his younger brother for whom this lavish feast was prepared while no such honour had been paid to him."¹⁰

In Yeshua's story, it is the younger brother who - after demanding his share of the estate and wasting it over several years - returns and is welcomed back by the father with a big party and celebrations. The older brother, on the other hand - "was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant" (Luke 15:25-26, ESV) - only finds out about party when he finds it happening. He is angry and remonstrates with his father: "Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends" (v. 29, ESV). He is seriously put out about what he sees as the injustice of the situation: "When this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him" (v. 30, ESV). Although the father offers soothing words to show how important it was - "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found" (vv. 31-32, ESV), we can imagine the older son harbouring a grudge for years to come.

As Jew and Gentile following Yeshua, we need to be aware of the tensions between the two groups and the feelings that the reconciliation of Jewish believers into the Body of Messiah may provoke. On the one hand, Jews may see themselves as the older brother and resent the way that the Gentiles - as the younger brother - are welcomed back to the commonwealth of Israel after centuries of persecuting the Jewish people and replacement theology. Gentiles, on the other hand, may see themselves in the older brother role being asked to welcome Jews - who for centuries have rejected Yeshua as Messiah - back into the family of G-d on an equal footing as if nothing had happened.

The larger picture, though, must be found in the words of the prodigal's father: "it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice" (v. 32, NJB). Just as Avraham called all his family, household and kinsfolk together to rejoice at Yitz'khak's weaning - because as the child of the promise, Yitz'khak was the means of HaShem giving both hope for the future of the family and realisation of HaShem's promises - so we are called to rejoice in the hope offered to the whole family of G-d in Yeshua, the second Yitz'khak. He is our cause for laughter, the way we receive the news and availability of the kingdom which were unexpected, unattainable and unexplainable. He is the end of our exile from the face and presence of G-d, the hope for all mankind, should they turn to Him: "This is the day that the L-RD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24, ESV)! Let us rejoice together in the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile as fellow disciples of Yeshua and pray for understanding and appreciation in both the Church and Synagogue worlds.

1. - Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, Interpretation, (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1982), page 182.

2. - Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press, 2003), page 332.

3. - Bruce K. Waltke with Cathi J. Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), page 293.

4. - Terence Fretheim, "Genesis" in The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary, Vol I, edited by Leander E. Keck, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2015), page 151.

5. - Gordon Wenham, Genesis 16-50, Word Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1994), page 81.

6. - Laurence A. Turner, Genesis - Readings: A New Biblical Commentary, 2nd Ed., (Sheffield, Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009), page 92.

7. - James McKeown, Genesis, Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), page 113.

8. - Brueggemann, page 182.

9. - Fretheim, page 150. ¹⁰ McKeown, page 114.

Further Study: Psalm 118:26-29; Romans 9:3-5

Application: How can you advance the agenda of reconciliation, bringing Jew and Gentile together as equal partners in the kingdom of G-d today? Ask the Great Reconciler to show you what you can do in your context and congregation to help others to see and rejoice in the hope that Yeshua has set before us.

Comment - 10:37 29Oct26 Nancy J Rothstein: I struggle with the concept that the obedience of the older son is overlooked, not celebrated. It seems unfair. But you did a good job explaining why the younger son had a celebration feast, because of his return from sin to repentance.

Comment - 10:19 31Oct26 Kelila Hunter: Thank you again for your insight and comprehension from this drash. It makes me ask the question "who are we to question HaShem's ways." I am so thankful to HaShem that He calls for unity between our Jewish brothers and sisters and we being the grafted in are given equal status in the Messianic Era and The World to Come. No room for arrogance or hierarchy, just thankfulness and joy. Every Blessing.

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© Jonathan Allen, 2026

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