Verse 19:[1] So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, (Judg. 6:19, 20) and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.
[A kid of the she-goats] That is, tender, and still suckling the teats of its mother (Lapide).
[And libations[2]] These were accessory and secondary offerings (Malvenda).
Meat-offerings were generally joined with the chief sacrifices.
[And set them upon a rock] Which filled the place of an extemporary altar (Menochius, similarly Drusius).
[Offering to the Lord] But Manoah was not of the priestly tribe. Responses: 1. This deed was extraordinary, and lawful, because the Angel had commanded it (Drusius). 2. Manoah did not offer it of himself, but by the Angel; for here the Angel discharged the office of the priest, and sacrificed, when from the rock He elicited the fire so that the kid might be consumed (Lapide).
[Manoah offered] Namely, to the Angel, so that He might sacrifice. He that brings a victim for sacrifice offers, both to the priest, so that he might sacrifice, and to God, by the priest (Bonfrerius).
Offered it upon a rock; the angel’s presence and command being a sufficient warrant for the offering of sacrifice by a person who was no priest, and in a place otherwise forbidden.
[Who did marvelous things] Some refer this to the Lord. Thus Jerome, and the Basilean and Royal codices of the Septuagint version, so that it is another name, or periphrasis, for God; he offered to the Lord, showing Himself marvelous (Bonfrerius).
[וּמַפְלִ֣א לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת] Verbatim: and He made wonderful to do (Drusius); and He did marvelously (Tigurinus, Munster, Junius and Tremellius, similarly Pagnine, Vatablus, Drusius, Septuagint, Jonathan). Understand, the Angel; for He brought fire from the rock, etc. (Vatablus, thus Drusius, Piscator).
Verse 20:[3] For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and (Lev. 9:24; 1 Chron. 21:16; Ezek. 1:28; Matt. 17:6) fell on their faces to the ground.
[And while the flame went up] With the fire, as it is likely, brought forth from the rock (Bonfrerius, Lapide, Piscator, Menochius). For there is no mention here of fire produced by Manoah (Martyr). There was a similar example in Judges 6:21 (Piscator).
The flame; either arising from the fire which Manoah brought for the offering, or produced by the angel out of the rock in a miraculous manner. From off the altar, that is, from that part of the rock which served instead of an altar, upon which the sacrifice was laid.
[The Angel ascended in the flame] Unharmed, so that He might show Himself to be a heavenly Angel (Lapide). In which deed He also desired to show that that sacrifice was altogether acceptable to God, and that He carries that, as it were, to heaven, and that to God He consecrates, and in a certain manner sacrifices, Himself together with that burnt-offering (Menochius).
The angel ascended in the flame, to manifest his nature and essence to be spiritual, because not capable of hurt by the fire; and celestial.
[They fell prone] Either adoring God; or also overpowered and confounded with fear (Menochius). Filled with a certain holy dread (Bonfrerius).
Fell on their faces; partly in reverence to that glorious presence manifested in so wonderful a manner; and partly out of a religions horror and fear of death upon this occasion, as is expressed verse 22, for the prevention whereof they fell down in way of supplication to God.
Verse 21:[4] But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. (Judg. 6:22) Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.
[1] Hebrew: וַיִּקַּ֙ח מָנ֜וֹחַ אֶת־גְּדִ֤י הָעִזִּים֙ וְאֶת־הַמִּנְחָ֔ה וַיַּ֥עַל עַל־הַצּ֖וּר לַֽיהוָ֑ה וּמַפְלִ֣א לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת וּמָנ֥וֹחַ וְאִשְׁתּ֖וֹ רֹאִֽים׃
[2] Hebrew: וְאֶת־הַמִּנְחָה.
[3] Hebrew: וַיְהִי֩ בַעֲל֙וֹת הַלַּ֜הַב מֵעַ֤ל הַמִּזְבֵּ֙חַ֙ הַשָּׁמַ֔יְמָה וַיַּ֥עַל מַלְאַךְ־יְהוָ֖ה בְּלַ֣הַב הַמִּזְבֵּ֑חַ וּמָנ֤וֹחַ וְאִשְׁתּוֹ֙ רֹאִ֔ים וַיִּפְּל֥וּ עַל־פְּנֵיהֶ֖ם אָֽרְצָה׃
[4] Hebrew: וְלֹא־יָ֤סַף עוֹד֙ מַלְאַ֣ךְ יְהוָ֔ה לְהֵרָאֹ֖ה אֶל־מָנ֣וֹחַ וְאֶל־אִשְׁתּ֑וֹ אָ֚ז יָדַ֣ע מָנ֔וֹחַ כִּֽי־מַלְאַ֥ךְ יְהוָ֖ה הֽוּא׃