Judges 7:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Judges 7:6
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.
a number · noun, common masculine singular construct
lapped
הַֽמֲלַקְקִ֤יםha.ma.la.Kim
H3952
to lick or lap · definite article + verb, piel active participle, masculine plural absolute
hand
בְּיָדָם֙be.ya.Dam
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
mouth
פִּיהֶ֔םpi.Hem
H6310
the mouth (as the means of blowing) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
three
שְׁלֹ֥שׁshe.Losh
H7969
three · noun, common both genders singular construct
hundred
מֵא֖וֹתme.'ot
H3967
a hundred · noun, common feminine plural absolute
men
אִ֑ישׁ'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
rest
יֶ֣תֶרYe.ter
H3499
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
people
הָעָ֔םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
down
כָּרְע֥וּka.re.'U
H3766
to bend the knee · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
knees
בִּרְכֵיהֶ֖םbir.khei.Hem
H1290
a knee · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
drink
לִשְׁתּ֥וֹתlish.Tot
H8354
to imbibe (literally or figuratively) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
water
מָֽיִםMa.yim
H4325
water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Judges 7:1-8
Here, I. Gideon applies himself with all possible care and industry to do the part of a good general, in leading on the hosts of Israel against the Midianites (Jdg 7:1): He rose up early, as one whose heart was upon his business, and who was afraid of losing time. Now that he is sure God is with him he is impatient of delay. He pitched near a famous well, that his army might not be distressed for want of water, and gained the higher ground, which possibly might be some advantage to him, for the Midianites were beneath him in the valley. Note, Faith in God's promises must not slacken, but rather quicken, our endeavours. When we are sure God goes before us, then we must bestir ourselves, Sa2 5…
bring them down unto the water--When the wandering people in Asia, on a journey or in haste, come to water, they do not stoop down with deliberation on their knees, but only bend forward as much as is necessary to bring their hand in contact with the stream, and throw it up with rapidity, and at the same time such address, that they do not drop a particle. The Israelites, it seems, were acquainted with the practice; and those who adopted it on this occasion were selected as fit for a work that required expedition. The rest were dismissed according to the divine direction.
John Gill on 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 (d) 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 (e).
(d) Achilles Tatius, l. 4. (e) Strabo. Geograph. l. 16. p. 532.
Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 7:1-8
The Church Fathers
And the number of those who licked (the water) with his hand, with his tongue turned out to be three hundred men. Most Latin codices do not have the words with their hand (manu sua) but only with their language (lingua sua), because they understood what was said before: (they licked) like dogs (Jc 7,5). The Greek has both: with his hand, with his tongue, to indicate that the water they caught with his hand was brought to his mouth. And this was similar to what dogs do when they drink water, that they do not drink like cows, putting their mouths in the water, but that they take it to their mouths with their tongues, as it is believed that those men did too. That is, with the hand they brought to the mouth water which they received on the language. The translation done on the Hebrew expresses this more clearly with the following words: Thus, the number of those who had licked the water, taking it with the hand to the mouth, was of three hundred men. Men, of course, do not usually drink water like that, so they take it with their tongues, like dogs, without the help of their hands. But these men had been given the task of doing so. When they went down to the water to drink, many drank bending the knee, which was easier and was done with less effort. A few, on the other hand, because they did not bend down by bending their knees, they drank like dogs, but the water was carried to the mouth with the hand. The number of these men, who were three hundred, implies the sign of the cross, because of the Greek letter T, which means this number. And since it is a Greek letter, it is prefigured by means of it that Gentiles will also believe more in the Crucified. Therefore, under the name of the Greeks, the Apostle designates all the Gentiles, when he says: First the Jew and the Greek (Rm 2,9), and the Jews and the Greeks (1Co 1,24), thus referring many times to the circumcision and the foreskin, because among the languages of Gentiles the Greek language stands out in such a way that it appropriately designates everyone. This same number is also found in the servants of Abraham through whom he delivered his brother from the enemies, when Melkisédek blessed him with such great mystery. In the fact that there are eighteen there -because those servants are said to be three hundred and eighteen (Cf Gn 14,14.20), the time in which it would happen, that is, the third age,…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Dream — God has frequently made use of dreams in communicating his will to men. The most remarkable instances of this are recorded in the history of Jacob (Gen. 28:12; 31:10), Laban (31:24), Joseph…
Esdraelon — The Greek form of the Hebrew “Jezreel,” the name of the great plain (called by the natives Merj Ibn Amer; i.e., “the meadow of the son of Amer”) which stretches across Central Palestine from the…
Harod — Palpitation, a fountain near which Gideon and his army encamped on the morning of the day when they encountered and routed the Midianites (Judg. 7). It was south of the hill Moreh. The present ‘Ain…
Moreh, the Hill of — Probably identical with “little Hermon,” the modern Jebel ed-Duhy, or perhaps one of the lower spurs of this mountain. It is a gray ridge parallel to Gilboa on the north; and between the two lay the…
Armies Of Israel, The · Men selected from, for difficult enterprises — Men selected from, for difficult enterprises
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Mustering of the Army that Gideon had Collected. - Jdg 7:1. When Gideon had been assured of the help of God by this double sign, he went to the battle early the next morning with the people that he had gathered around him. The Israelites encamped above the fountain of Harod, i.e., upon a height at the foot of which this fountain sprang; but the camp of Midian was to him (Gideon) to the north of the hill Moreh in the valley (of Jezreel: see Jdg 6:33). The geographical situation of these two places cannot be determined with certainty. The fountain of Harod is never mentioned again, though there is a place of that name referred to in Sa2 23:25 as the home of two of David's heroes; and it was fr…
Who lapped from hand. This is not the kind of bending forward as when lapping up with the tongue.4Lapping from hand to mouth does not involve prostrating oneself.
