Judges 7:5

_SO HE BROUGHT DOWN THE PEOPLE UNTO THE WATER: AND THE LORD SAID UNTO GIDEON, EVERY ONE THAT LAPPETH OF THE WATER WITH HIS TONGUE, AS A DOG LAPPETH, HIM SHALT THOU SET BY HIMSELF; LIKEWISE EVERY ONE THAT BOWETH DOWN UPON HIS KNEES TO DRINK._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

Verse Judges 7:5. _EVERY ONE THAT LAPPETH OF THE WATER - AS A DOG_] The original word ילק _yalok_ is precisely the sound which a dog makes when he is drinking....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 7:1 JERUBBAAL. The mention of this name seems intended to keep before our minds that it is emphatically the servant of the Lord who is going forth to victory. THE WELL OF HAROD, _i.e._ of _trembling_,_ _so called, no doubt, from the incident recorded in Judges 7:3, that every one who was _afraid _(Hebrew, _hared_)_ _departed from Mount Gilead. The well of _Harod _is not mentioned elsewhere, though two of David's mighty men are called Harodites (2 Samuel 23:25); but it is thought to be identical with "the fountain which is in Jezreel" ...

SO HE BROUGHT THEM DOWN TO THE WATER,....] His whole army of 10,000 men: AND THE LORD SAID UNTO GIDEON, EVERYONE THAT LAPPETH OF THE WATER WITH HIS TONGUE, AS A DOG LAPPETH, HIM SHALL THOU SET BY HIMSELF; this has led some, as particularly Grotius, to think of the Egyptian dogs; of whom Aelianus relates b, that they do not drink at once freely, and to satiety, being afraid of the crocodiles in the river; but run about the bank, and by stealth snatch a little here and a little there, and so satisfy themselves: but the allusion here is to dogs in common, whose usual way it is not to sup in, and drink a drought, but by putting out their tongues to lick and lap water with them, as Aristotle c says all creatures do that have teeth like saws; and the likeness between the drinking of these men, to be observed lay not in anything else but in the single action of lapping; for they first took the...

CHAPTER 7 THE VICTORY OF GIDEON _ 1. The sifting of Gideon's army (Judges 7:1)_ 2. The dream of the Midianite (Judges 7:9) 3. Victory through weakness (Judges 7:16) Gideon “the cutter down,” now also called Jerubbaal “the contender with Baal,” after his faith had been strengthened, pitched his camp at the well of Harod (trembling). The Lord did not need the large army he had gathered, lest Israel would say: “Mine own hand hath saved me.” First 22,000 were let go. They were afraid. What an evidence of the sad conditions among the people. Jehovah had commanded through Moses this test. “And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and faint he

THE REDUCTION OF GIDEON'S ARMY. This section teaches that Yahweh is the giver of victory, and that it is as easy for Him to save by few as by many (1 Samuel 14:6). The spring of Harod (trembling, _cf._ Judges 7:3) may be - Ain Jâ lû d, 2 m. from Jezreel, at the foot of Gilboa (p. 30). The hill of Moreh may be Little Hermon. Gilead (Judges 7:3) is on the eastern side of the Jordan, and we should probably read Gilboa. Judges 7:3. The number of those who, in modern phrase, showed the white feather, is surprisingly great. Gideon lets them go, having no use for the fearful and trembling....

LAPPETH: i.e. without kneeling down as idolaters were accustomed to do (1Ki 19:18. 2 Chronicles 29:9. See note on Esther 3:2. AS. according as....

Judges 7:1-8. _Gideon's army is reduced_ It seems to have been a fixed element in the tradition that 300 was the number of Gideon's force (Judges 7:6_; Judges 7:16; Judges 7:19_, Judges 8:4); but Judges 6:35 has just declared that four tribes responded to his call; accordingly we are here told how this army of volunteers, numbering 32,000, was cut down to 300. The story, however, rests upon an insecure foundation, for...

_Gideon's Men Reduced to Three Hundred Judges 7:1-14_ Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 4 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say

THE ROUT OF MIDIAN 1-7. Gideon's choice of his Followers....