Judges 7:5

5 So he brought the people down to the water, and ADONAI said to Gid'on, "Put to one side everyone who laps up water with his tongue the way a dog does, and put to the other side everyone who gets down on his knees to drink."

Judges 7:5 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 7:5

So he brought them down to the water
] His whole army of 10,000 men:

and the Lord said unto Gideon, everyone that lappeth of the water with
his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shall thou set by himself;
this has led some, as particularly Grotius, to think of the Egyptian dogs; of whom Aelianus relates ^F2, that they do not drink at once freely, and to satiety, being afraid of the crocodiles in the river; but run about the bank, and by stealth snatch a little here and a little there, and so satisfy themselves: but the allusion here is to dogs in common, whose usual way it is not to sup in, and drink a drought, but by putting out their tongues to lick and lap water with them, as Aristotle

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 says all creatures do that have teeth like saws; and the likeness between the drinking of these men, to be observed lay not in anything else but in the single action of lapping; for they first took the water in the hollow of their hands, out of the stream, and then lapped it, as in ( Judges 7:6 ) whereas a dog does not and cannot take water that way; and this lapping was standing upright, whereas dogs in common, as Aelianus in the same place suggests, bow themselves, and lap as much water as will satisfy their thirst; and by this these men were distinguished from those that bowed on their knees to drink; for had they not taken up water in their hands, they must have bowed down on their knees to have lapped, as well as those did, to sup it, or take in a large draught of it; now all those that thus lapped were to be set apart by themselves; but whether they were to go with Gideon or not, as yet he knew not: likewise everyone that boweth down on his knee to drink; were to be set by themselves also, but which of those were to go with him is after related.

F2 Var. Hist. l. 1. c. 4.
F3 Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 6.

Judges 7:5 In-Context

3 Therefore, proclaim to the people 'Anyone who is anxious or afraid should go back home, while we stay here on Mount Gil'ad.'" Twenty-two thousand returned, but ten thousand remained.

4 ADONAI said to Gid'on, "There are still too many people. Have them come down to the water, and there I will screen them for you. If I say of anyone, 'This one is for you,' he will go with you; and if I say, 'This one is not for you,' he won't go with you."

5 So he brought the people down to the water, and ADONAI said to Gid'on, "Put to one side everyone who laps up water with his tongue the way a dog does, and put to the other side everyone who gets down on his knees to drink."

6 Three hundred lapped, putting their hand to their mouth; all the rest of the men got down on their knees to drink water.

7 ADONAI said to Gid'on, "I will use the three hundred men who lapped the water to save you; I will hand Midyan over to you. Let all these others go back home."