Judges 6:18

Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Jdg 6:18-19. Until I bring forth my present — A repast for the angel whom he thought to be a man; and set it before thee — That thou mayest eat and refresh thyself. An ephah of flour — The choicest part of a whole ephah; as also he brought to him the best part of a kid dressed; for a whole ephah and a whole kid had been superfluous and improper to provide for one man.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:11-24 Gideon was a man of a brave, active spirit, yet in obscurity through the times: he is here stirred up to undertake something great. It was very sure that the Lord was with him, when his Angel was with him. Gideon was weak in faith, which made it hard to reconcile the assurances of the presence of God with the distress to which Israel was brought. The Angel answered his objections. He told him to appear and act as Israel's deliverer, there needed no more. Bishop Hall says, While God calls Gideon valiant, he makes him so. God delights to advance the humble. Gideon desires to have his faith confirmed. Now, under the influences of the Spirit, we are not to expect signs before our eyes such as Gideon here desired, but must earnestly pray to God, that if we have found grace in his sight, he would show us a sign in our heart, by the powerful working of his Spirit there, The Angel turned the meat into an offering made by fire; showing that he was not a man who needed meat, but the Son of God, who was to be served and honoured by sacrifice, and who in the fulness of time was to make himself a sacrifice. Hereby a sign was given to Gideon, that he had found grace in God's sight. Ever since man has by sin exposed himself to God's wrath and curse, a message from heaven has been a terror to him, as he scarcely dares to expect good tidings thence. In this world, it is very awful to have any converse with that world of spirits to which we are so much strangers. Gideon's courage failed him. But God spoke peace to him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

My present - My Minchah: the word used regularly, though not exclusively, for the meat and drink offering (Leviticus 2:1 note). Its double sense of an offering to God, and of a gift to man, suits the doubt in Gideon's mind as to who his visitor might be.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I … bring forth my present—Hebrew, my mincha, or "meat offering"; and his idea probably was to prove, by his visitor's partaking of the entertainment, whether or not he was more than man.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

My present; not a sacrifice, because neither was Gideon a priest, nor was this the place of sacrifice, nor was any altar here, nor was there any such sacrifice as here follows appointed by God; but a repast, or some food for the angel, which he thought to be a man, as appears by Judges 6:22. Compare Judges 13:15 Genesis 18:5.

Set it before thee, that thou mayst eat and refresh thyself.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Intending to go to his own, or his father's house, to fetch some food to entertain him with, and therefore entreats he would not quit the place where he was until he returned:

and bring forth my present, and set it before thee; to treat him with, as a stranger and a messenger of God; and perhaps he thought, by this means, the better to discover who he was, whether an angel or a man: the word for the "present" is "minchah", often used for a meat offering, therefore some have thought of a sacrifice; but it appears by what follows that it was not of the nature of a sacrifice; and, besides, Gideon was no priest, nor was this a place for sacrifice, nor was there here any altar; and, besides, as Gideon did not yet know that it was the Lord himself, he could never think of offering a sacrifice to him:

and he said, I will tarry until thou come again; which was a wonderful instance of divine condescension, it being some time he waited ere Gideon could prepare what he brought, as follows.

Geneva Study Bible

Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. Depart not hence] is the natural sequel of Jdg 6:17 a. Like Abraham (Genesis 18:3 ff.) and Manoah (ch. Jdg 13:15), Gideon presses hospitality upon the stranger. He had to run home in order to prepare the food, for the winepress was outside the village.

my present] The word has this meaning in Jdg 3:15; Jdg 3:17, Genesis 32:13 ff; Genesis 33:10; Genesis 43:11 ff. etc.; but it is used more frequently of an offering made to God, whether of animals or of the fruit of the earth, e.g. Genesis 4:3-5, 1 Samuel 2:17; 1 Samuel 2:29; in the later ritual usage it becomes the technical term for the meal- or grain-offering, Ezekiel 46:14, and always in P. In the present case Gideon prepares a present of food for his guest, not an offering to God; but in view of what happened the writer chose a word which might bear either sense. The LXX definitely renders ‘sacrifice.’ Cf. Jdg 13:19.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - My present. Minehah means sometimes a present made to man, as in Judges 3:18; but it more commonly means a sacrificial offering (Genesis 4:3 5), which seems to be its meaning here, as explained vers. 19, 20. When coupled with zevach, the animal sacrifice, minchah means the meat and drink offering. Judges 6:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

As Gideon could no longer have any doubt after this promise that the person who had appeared to him was speaking in the name of God, he entreated him to assure him by a sign (אות, a miraculous sign) of the certainty of his appearance. "Do a sign that thou art speaking with me," i.e., that thou art really God, as thou affirmest. שׁאתּה, or אתּה אשׁר, is taken from the language of ordinary life. At the same time he presents this request: "Depart not hence till I((go and) come to thee, and bring out my offering and set it before thee;" and the angel at once assents. Minchah does not mean a sacrifice in the strict sense (θυσία, sacrificium), nor merely a "gift of food," but a sacrificial gift in the sense of a gift presented to God, on the acceptance of which he hoped to receive the sign, which would show whether the person who had appeared to him was really God. This sacrificial gift consisted of such food as they were accustomed to set before a guest whom they wished especially to honour. Gideon prepared a kid of the goats (עשׂה is used to denote the preparation of food, as in Genesis 18:7-8, etc.), and unleavened cakes of an ephah (about 221/2 lbs.) of meal, and brought the flesh in a basket and the broth in a pot out to the terebinth tree, and placed it before him.