“And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.”
King James Version (KJV)
Earl Bowman's comment on 2021-06-03 09:05:46:
Amen; brother chris.
Chris's comment on 2021-06-03 05:32:49:
In Judges chapter 7, we see that God wanted to reduce the huge number of Gideon's army prior to their attack on the Midianite army, which were beyond number. Gideon had thirty-two thousand men which God determined were too many. That number was reduced to ten thousand when those who were fearful for their lives were given the option to leave the upcoming battle. But this ten thousand was also too many, so God used the manner of drinking of water from the stream.
Those who lapped the water (like a dog), used their palms to scoop up the water & lapped it up from there. The others, put their mouth straight into the stream & therefore were able to quench their thirst by drinking a large amount of water. Those who used their palms numbered only three hundred which means that nine thousand seven hundred men were then released from duty.
I believe that the reason for the Lord initiating this method was to separate those who were not fully absorbed in quenching their thirst from those who would rather put their own physical needs first. The former group bent over & used one hand to bring the water to their mouth whilst their other hand held their weapon at the ready & their eyes observed the situation around them.
The other group went down on their knees, hands supporting their bodies & were focussed in drinking rather than on the possibility of the enemy being near to them. This demonstrated that those three hundred men who were selected were true soldiers ready at an instant to any sound or movement of the enemy. As well, the Lord wanted to show to Gideon & his now small army, that numbers don't matter with the Lord (verse 2) - when the Lord calls His people to action, He also equips & goes before us to bring us the victory. And this shows without doubt that it is only the Lord Who hath done this & not because of numbers or man's strength.
grcae's comment on 2021-06-01 23:55:52:
why like a dog to drink the water
judges 7;5