Judges 7:5

5 So he brought down the troops to the water, and Yahweh said to Gideon, "You must separate everyone who laps up the water to drink with his tongue like a dog from those {who kneel}."

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 So then, please proclaim in the {hearing} of the troops, saying, 'Whoever [is] fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from the Mount of Gilead.'" About twenty-two thousand troops returned, and ten thousand remained.

4 And Yahweh said to Gideon, "There [are] still too many troops; bring them down to the water, and I will sift through them for you there. For whomever I say to you, 'This [one] will go with you,' he will go with you; and for all whom I say to you, 'This [one] will not go with you,' he will not go."

5 So he brought down the troops to the water, and Yahweh said to Gideon, "You must separate everyone who laps up the water to drink with his tongue like a dog from those {who kneel}."

6 The number of those lapping up [the water] with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men; all the rest of the troops kneeled to drink the water.

7 And Yahweh said to Gideon, "I will deliver you with the three hundred men lapping up [the water]; I will give Midian into your hand, so let the [other] troops go, each to his own place.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "who kneels to his knees"