Judges 7:6

6 The number of men who lapped was three hundred, and all the rest of the people bent down on their knees to drink water, with their hands to their mouths.

Judges 7:6 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 7:6

And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to
their mouth
That is, that took up water in the hollow of their hands, which they lifted up to their mouths, and so lapped it, as the Egyptians about the Nile are said ^F4 to do, who drank not out of pots and cups, but used their hands to drink with:

were three hundred men;
only such a number out of 10,000: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water; even 9,700; and it was the custom of some nations, as the Ichthyophagy, or fish eaters, to cast themselves with their face to the ground, and drink after the manner of oxen ^F5.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Achilles Tatius, l. 4.
F5 Strabo. Geograph. l. 16. p. 532.

Judges 7:6 In-Context

4 The LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many people. Take them down to the water, and I will weed them out for you there. Whenever I tell you, ‘This one will go with you,' he should go with you; but whenever I tell you, ‘This one won't go with you,' he should not go."

5 So he took the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "Set aside those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, from those who bend down on their knees to drink."

6 The number of men who lapped was three hundred, and all the rest of the people bent down on their knees to drink water, with their hands to their mouths.

7 Then the LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men who lapped I will rescue you and hand over the Midianites to you. Let everyone else go home."

8 So the people gathered their supplies and trumpets, and Gideon sent all the Israelites home, but kept the three hundred. Now Midian's camp was below Gideon in the valley.

Footnotes

• [a]. MT places the words with their hands to their mouths after the word lapped.