Judges 7:6

6 There were three hundred men who scooped up water in their hands and lapped it; all the others got down on their knees to drink.

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 Then the Lord said to Gideon, "You still have too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will separate them for you there. If I tell you a man should go with you, he will go. If I tell you a man should not go with you, he will not go."

5 Gideon took the men down to the water, and the Lord told him, "Separate everyone who laps up the water with his tongue like a dog, from everyone who gets down on his knees to drink."

6 There were three hundred men who scooped up water in their hands and lapped it; all the others got down on their knees to drink.

7 The Lord said to Gideon, "I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites with the three hundred men who lapped the water. Tell everyone else to go home."

8 So Gideon sent all the Israelites home, except the three hundred, who kept all the supplies and trumpets. The Midianite camp was below them in the valley.