Gideon asks for a sign that it is God speaking with him. He asks the messenger to wait and goes inside. There he prepares a young goat and unleavened bread and returns to the angel under the oak.
Judges 6
20 Then the messenger of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.
21 Then the messenger of the LORD stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the messenger of the LORD vanished from his sight.
The rock
The messenger tells Gideon to place the young goat on a rock. The rock also represents Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). Whether it is the stone from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream that crushed the image (Dan. 2:34, 44-45), the rock that Jacob erected and anointed (Gen. 28:18), or the stone that felled the giant Goliath (1 Sam. 17:49), all are in some way a type of Christ.
Staff
The messenger extends his staff to the sacrifice. The staff is an emblem of resurrection and new life. Think of Aaron’s blossoming staff (Num. 17:8), with which God revealed who his chosen high priest was. A dead staff had sprouted and produced buds, blossoms, and almonds—life from death. This shows that this staff came from an almond tree. The almond tree is the first tree to blossom in Israel and is a type of Christ, the Firstfruit (1 Cor. 15:20, 23).
Rise up
The staff is meant to rise up and remain standing. Moses’ staff parted the waters (of death), allowing the people to cross the Red Sea (Ex. 14:16). David had his staff in his hand when he sought five stones from the brook and defeated Goliath, the great adversary (1 Sam. 17:40). Jonathan dipped his staff in honey and ate it, so that his eyes were enlightened (1 Sam. 14:27).
Psalm 23
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Resurrection
The meal prepared by Gideon is consumed by fire, which rises from the rock, and the messenger disappears. The slaughtered sacrificial animal rises! A foreshadowing of the slain Lamb, who has risen (Rev. 5:6).
Samson
In the story of another judge, Samson, we find something similar. Samson’s birth is announced to his parents by a messenger of Yahweh. There too, there is mention of a young goat and a grain offering placed on a rock. When the offering is kindled with fire, the angel ascends into the fire of the altar and disappears (Judg. 13:19-20). A beautiful depiction of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. Thus, Samson and Gideon are designated as Israel’s redeemers.