“He took butter and milk, and the young bull that he had prepared, and placed it before them; he was standing over them beneath the tree, and they ate” (Genesis 18:8). “He took butter and milk” – Rabbi Ḥanina said: The highest quality [butter] is one-sixtieth of the milk,35The best butter is made from the creamiest one-sixtieth part of the milk. the intermediate quality is one-fortieth, and the lowest quality is one-twentieth.
Rabbi Yona said: The highest quality [butter] is one-hundredth of the milk, the intermediate quality is one-sixtieth, and the lowest quality is one-twentieth.36Abraham gave them butter with whole milk, from which only a small percentage of the fat had been made into high quality butter. And where was the bread?37Abraham told Sarah to prepare three se’a of flour for bread and cakes. Why does it not mention here that it was served to them?
Efrayim Makshaa, a student of Rabbi Meir, said in the name of Rabbi Meir: She began to menstruate [just then] and the dough became ritually impure. The Rabbis say: He did bring the bread before them as well. If he brought these items, which he did not mention [earlier], all the more so did he bring the items that he did mention.38The bread is not mentioned here because it goes without saying that it was served along with the meat and butter.
“He was standing over them” – here it says: “He was standing over them,” but elsewhere it says: “[behold, three men] were standing over him” (Genesis 18:2). The explanation is that before he satisfied his obligation to them, they were standing over him.39He felt an obligation towards them, so it was as if they were standing over him. Once he satisfied his obligation to them, he was standing over them.40They were awed by Abraham’s actions.
Awe of him overcame them: Mikhael was trembling, Gavriel was trembling. Rabbi Tanḥuma in the name of Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Avun in the name of Rabbi Meir: The parable says: When you enter a city, follow its customs.41As in the English saying: ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ On High, where there is no eating and drinking, when Moses ascended on High he did not eat, as it is stated: “I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; bread I did not eat and water I did not drink” (Deuteronomy 9:9).
But below, where there is eating and drinking: “He was standing over them beneath the tree, and they ate.” Were they actually eating? No, they appeared as though they were eating, the morsels disappearing one by one.