(17) I have found grace in thy sight.--A phrase found both in the Old and New Testament. (See Genesis 6:8; Esther 5:8.)

Shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.--Give me some clear proof that this is no mere vision, and that thy message is really from God, and portends me favour. (See Psalm 86:17; Isaiah 7:11.)

Depart not hence.--Comp. 1Kings 13:15.

My present.--My minchah. The word means first "an offering," but specially "an offering to God," as throughout the Book of Leviticus for the meat-offering of flour, &c. Hence the LXX. render it "the sacrifice": "and I will sacrifice before thee." Gideon seems, however, purposely to use a neutral word, suspecting, but not yet being convinced, that the stranger under the terebinth is something more than man. The desire to be hospitable may have mingled with his deepening sense of awe. (Comp. Judges 13:15; Genesis 18:6.)

Verse 17. - A sign that thou talkest with me - that it is indeed thou thyself that speakest to me, even God, and that there is no illusion.

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.And he said unto him, if now I have found grace in thy sight, &c. Or seeing he had, as appeared by his salutation of him as a man of might, by the work he gave him a commission to do, and by the promise of assistance and success:

then show me a sign that thou talkest with me; in the name of God, as a messenger sent by him, whether an angel or a man; for who he was as yet Gideon was not clear in it, and that what he had said was truth, and would be certainly fulfilled; and which Gideon might desire, not so much, or at least not only for his own sake, and the confirmation of his faith, for which he is renowned, as that he might be able to satisfy others that he had a commission from God, by a messenger of his, to attempt the deliverance of Israel.