Commentaria in Judices
Gedeon is called, then, the most valiant of men, says Serarius, because he excelled in bodily strength and surpassed in strength of mind. Second, because on account of God’s presence and help he was thereafter to be much more powerful in the same strengths of body and mind, and was to do great things for the salvation of his people, and this fortitude, both of body and of mind, both present and future, was set before him that with great confidence and alacrity he might undertake the vindication of the Israelite people, and not despise himself too much, and think himself unequal to this burden and task. So Jacob also was strengthened by a wonderful and long wrestling, when he had to come into the sight of the very fierce and angry Esau, Genesis 32.
Moreover the Septuagint render in the nominative, dynatos te ischui, as the Complutensian have, that is, powerful in strength, or ischyros ton dynameon, that is, strong of powers, as the Roman have. Whence St. Augustine here, Question 32, thinks this is an epithet not of Gedeon but of God, as if to say: The Lord is with thee, O Gedeon, the Lord, I say, who is strong of powers. But better our Vulgate, the Chaldee and others render in the vocative, so that Gedeon is saluted by the Angel, and called most valiant of men. For the Angel gives the cause of this title in verse 14, when he says: “Go in this thy strength, and thou shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian.”
14. AND THE LORD LOOKED TOWARDS HIM,—namely the Angel, ambassador of the Lord, and representing his person. “He looked” with kindly yet keen eyes, raising the timid Gedeon to confidence and promising him his help with a gentle countenance and nod, and therefore spurring him on to undertake the office of Judge and Leader against the Madianites, which he himself offered him. Rightly “he looked” answers to “I beseech thee,” look upon, that is, be propitious to me and mine, which Gedeon had said in the preceding verse: looking upon him, therefore, the Angel satisfied his petition and wishes. GO IN THIS THY STRENGTH,—in Hebrew bekochacha, that is, in the strength which I formerly bestowed on thee, and have now increased, and shall hereafter more increase and enlarge. Whence Abulensis expounds thus: “Go in thy strength,” that is, “in the strength of the help which I have already promised thee.” Hear Theodoret, Question 12: “Gedeon was mindful of the wonders of God, and held a firm opinion of God, etc. And he deserved to hear from the Angel: Set out in the strength of this faith, and thou shalt conquer.”
16. I WILL BE WITH THEE, AND THOU SHALT CUT OFF MADIAN AS ONE MAN,—as if to say: Fear not, O Gedeon, so many thousands of Madianites; for I will so strengthen thee, and make thee so much more powerful than they, that thou shalt slay them all as easily as if they were all but one man, or as easily as one man is slain, so easily shalt thou by my help slay the whole camp of Madian. For so one Angel, fighting for Ezechias, slew in one night in the camp of Sennacherib 185 thousand Assyrians, 4 Kings 19:35. So powerful is God, indeed one Angel of God.
17. GIVE ME A SIGN THAT IT IS THOU THAT SPEAKEST TO ME.—Gedeon did not sin in asking a sign, because he did not know whether he who was speaking with him was a man, a prophet, or an Angel of God or of the devil. For Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. So Abulensis. He says, therefore: “Give me a sign that it is thou,” namely such an one that I can and ought to have faith in thee promising divine help and so wonderful a victory over Madian. Gedeon saw the Angel in the form of a most beautiful youth, most elegant in countenance, bearing and manners, and felt a wonderful consolation, alacrity and joy from his presence and speech: but yet he was not certain who he was, and whence he came. This very thing, therefore, he asks to be declared and confirmed to him by a sign. Moreover this sign the Angel gave to Gedeon asking, verse 21; touching with his rod the bread and flesh, he at once drew fire from them, by which he offered them to God in sacrifice, and having done this vanished. Although some think that Gedeon asked as a sign what he immediately adds: “Depart not hence till I return to thee”; whom the Septuagint favour, yet more plainly we shall say that Gedeon asked two things: first, the sign already mentioned; second, that the Angel should not go away before he had brought him some gift in his honour.
18. DEPART NOT HENCE, TILL I RETURN TO THEE, BRINGING A SACRIFICE, AND OFFERING IT TO THEE.—You will ask, did Gedeon here truly offer sacrifice? St. Augustine, Question 31, and some others affirm it. Gedeon, he says, wished to offer sacrifice before the Angel, to be pleasing by the presence of his holiness. So also Theodoret, Question 12, and Abulensis, Question 16. They prove it, first, because our Vulgate expressly asserts it, saying: Bringing a sacrifice and offering it to thee; second, because the Septuagint render: I will bring forth a sacrifice, and I will sacrifice before thee; so also Vatablus; third, because Gedeon asked this sign from the Angel, that he might show himself sent by God by fire miraculously produced by himself, with which he would burn and sacrifice the bread and flesh brought by Gedeon; by which reason Elias showed himself the true Prophet of God against the priests of Baal, by drawing fire from heaven, which inflamed his bullock and burned it like a holocaust to God, 3 Kings 18. And Manue, the father of Samson, the Angel commanding, chap. 13:16, offered a holocaust. Gedeon, therefore, who was not a priest, did not offer a sacrifice, but brought the matter of the sacrifice to the Angel without fire, that he might consummate it with miraculous fire, and so sacrifice it, and by this sign show himself sent by the God to whom he sacrificed. Whence for what our Vulgate renders, offering to thee, the Hebrew is I will set down, or lay down before thee, that, namely, thou mayest kindle them, and by heavenly fire offer and consume them to God in sacrifice. Gedeon boiled the flesh of the sacrifice, because he wished at the same time to bring a meal either for the Angel appearing in a human body as a man, or for a Prophet (for he did not know whether he was a Prophet or an Angel, but doubted of him, and suspected one or the other), that part might go to him for food, if he were a Prophet, and the other part for the sacrifice of God: the Angel, however, to show that he was an Angel, and does not eat food, and to make the miracle more evident, burned up everything, even the broth, to God, and by burning sacrificed it. For the Angel was not bound by the laws of sacrifices laid down in Leviticus, which do not permit boiled flesh to be sacrificed. So Abulensis. This opinion is probable, and the Septuagint favour it, who seem to make this sign of Gedeon consist in this sacrifice of the Angel.
But the contrary is truer, namely that Gedeon brought the bread and flesh to the Angel, not for a sacrifice, but for a meal; that, namely, the Angel, appearing in human form as a man, might eat them; for Gedeon did not know that he was an Angel, but doubted whether he was a man or an Angel.
It is proved first, because there was here no priest to sacrifice. For Gedeon was not of the priestly tribe, namely of Levi, but of Manasses. Angels also are not wont to sacrifice. And Gedeon did not know that he who appeared was an Angel.
Second, because a kid could not by the law be sacrificed, except for the sin of a prince, Levit. 4:23.
Third, Gedeon boiled bread and flesh: therefore for a meal. For to a sacrifice raw flesh had to be brought, indeed a living animal, which was slain by the priest, cooked and burned in honour of God.
Fourth, outside the tabernacle it was not lawful to sacrifice: therefore not on the threshing-floor of Gedeon either.
Fifth, because the Angel here appeared in the form of a wayfarer, and therefore bore a wayfarer’s rod or staff in his hand, and, as if now weary from the road, and seeking shade and rest, sat under the oak. Gedeon seems, therefore, to have wished to show him the duty of hospitality, and to have brought bread and flesh to refresh him. For so Abraham did, angels as strangers from the road turning aside to him, preparing a meal, Genesis chap. 18, and Manue chap. 13, verse 15.
Sixth, because for sacrifice the Hebrew is mincha, that is, gift or present, as the Chaldee renders. So Aod offered to the king mincha, that is, a present, chap. 3:15. I grant that mincha specially signifies also the gift which is offered to God of meal or bread, namely the meal-offering, Levit. 2. But mincha never signifies a flesh sacrifice; but Gedeon here brought flesh.