Judges 7:6

6 The number of those that lapped was three hundred; but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water.

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.

---

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, "The troops are still too many; take them down to the water and I will sift them out for you there. When I say, "This one shall go with you,' he shall go with you; and when I say, "This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."

5 So he brought the troops down to the water; and the Lord said to Gideon, "All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their mouths, you shall put to the other side."

6 The number of those that lapped was three hundred; but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water.

7 Then the Lord said to Gideon, "With the three hundred that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes."

8 So he took the jars of the troops from their hands, and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of Israel back to their own tents, but retained the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.