And the LORD said unto Gideon,
By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand: and let all the other people go, every man unto his place.
All Commentaries on Judges 7:7 Go To Judges 7
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
And they were brought to the river to drink the waters; and whoever drank the waters with bended knees were removed from the struggle of war. For by the waters is designated the doctrine of wisdom, but by the unbended knee righteous conduct. Therefore those who are reported to have bent their knees while drinking the water retired from the strife of battles, having been forbidden because Christ proceeds to battle against the enemies of the faith with those who, when they drink the streams of doctrine, do not distort the uprightness of their actions. For all are said at that time to have drunk the water, but not all [are said] to have stood with unbended knee. And those who bent their knees while they were drinking the waters were rejected because, as the apostle witnesses, “It is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” For since weakness of conduct is, as we have said, signified by this very bending of the knees, it is rightly said again by Paul: “Lift up the hands that droop and the feeble knees and make straight steps with your feet.” Therefore those who proceed under Christ as their leader to battle, are those who exhibit in their conduct that which they profess with their mouth, who drink spiritually the streams of doctrine and yet are not carnally distorted by wicked works.
