“And he did so.” No doubt Gideon knew hungry people who would have loved to have had the meat and broth, and he could have argued with this stranger, but the fact he obeyed showed his heart to please God even if the request was difficult.

“lay them on this rock.” In this case, the rock became an altar. The word for “rock” indicates a larger rock, not a small one. Fox (Schocken Bible) has “boulder,” but that may be too big.