06/13/2018 WITHSTANDING THE HEAT
Judges 7:4-7 And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; take them down to the water and I will test them for you there; and he of whom I say to you, ‘This man shall go with you,’ shall go with you; and any of whom I say to you, ‘This man shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water; and the LORD said to Gideon, “Every one that laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself; likewise every one that kneels down to drink.” And the number of those that lapped, putting their hands to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will deliver you…and let all the others go every man to his home.” [Revised Standard translation]
SUMMARY:
In Judges 7 GOD prepared Gideon for the heat of battle against the great army of the Midianites. Gideon starts off with about 32,000 men. GOD makes it clear to Gideon, in the beginning of Judges 7, that GOD who will deliver them. And, knowing human nature, GOD tells Gideon, in essence, that if Gideon takes his army of 32,000 men into battle, there will be some people who will brag that “they” defeated the Midianites. They will say “Look what I did.” So, GOD tells Gideon to winnow down the army. Gideon first gets rid of those “who are fearful and trembling.”(Verse 3)---and 22,000 go home. Gideon shows his 10,000-men army to GOD, but GOD says there are still too many. GOD then tells Gideon that HE will test them for Gideon. GOD tells Gideon to take the men to the water. Those that lap like dogs, putting their hand to their mouth were to go into one group. Those that bowed down to drink water went into the other. At the end of the test, the lappers numbered 300. GOD sent the rest home.
There is a lot of speculation why the 300 passed the test and the others did not. There are lots of theories. Some speculate that those who lapped with one hand cupped to their mouth had their other hand on their sword, proving how vigilant they would be in battle. Some speculate that those who stood lapping would have been scanning the area with their eyes as they drank; proving that they were more watchful and more ready than those who bent down on their knees and drank looking down in the water. Some speculated that those who looked in the water, were probably enjoying their reflection in the water or that perhaps they were used to falling on their knees, like those who worshipped idols, Baal. Some speculate that those who lapped like dogs were more outdoors type or were likely to be more energetic than the kneelers. What we do know is that it was GOD’s test. GOD’s thoughts are not our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8.) Each was tested. Only some were selected for battle. In the end, the victory belonged to GOD.