Israel faced an overwhelming force of Midian, which was more than four times as large. Yet God still found Gideon’s army too large and forced him to reduce it further. God would grant Gideon victory with a small army. In the first selection, anyone who was afraid was allowed to return home. Twenty-two thousand men took advantage of this opportunity, leaving only ten thousand warriors.
Judges 7
4 And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will refine them there for you. And it will happen that anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one will go with you,’ will go with you; and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one will not go with you,’ will not go.”
5 Then he brought the people down to the water, and the LORD said to Gideon, “Anyone who laps at the water with his tongue as a dog laps, set him aside, and anyone who kneels down to drink.”
6 And the number of those who licked their hand to their mouth was three hundred men. And all the rest of the people knelt down to drink of the water.
separate
In this interruption of Gideon’s story, God told Gideon that He would refine his army. The NKJV translates it as “sifting,” but here the same word is used as for refining silver (Ps. 12:6; 66:10; Zech. 13:9). God is going to purify the group by setting a portion aside, and this happens in a very special way.
dogs
Gideon was to bring the people to the water, and any man who lapped at the water with his tongue as a dog laps was to be set aside. The dog represents the nations (Matt. 15:6). Water is a type of the word of God (Eph. 5:26), and in this story, it refers to spring water (Jer. 2:13). The tongue that licks speaks of those from the nations who have the word of God on their tongues (2 Sam. 23:2), of those separated from Israel and confess Jesus Christ as Lord (Phil. 2:11). The 300 men of the company assigned to Gideon represent the ecclesia.
Religion
Initially, twenty-two thousand of the people returned. They saw what was before their eyes and were afraid of the great army of Midian. But of the ten thousand who remained, the vast majority bowed their knees but did not drink as God required. They had a form of godliness (2 Tim. 3:5), but it was merely religiosity. The religious person draws near to God with words and honors Him with their lips, but their heart is far from Him (Isaiah 29:13). They have no part in Gideon.
A foolish people
The idea of the 300 men drinking the water like a dog is that it is a rather uncivilized way to drink. It speaks of “the nations, who receive the Word differently than Israel.” For the Jewish people, the Word is “precept upon precept, line upon line” (Isaiah 28:10, 13). They thought they were righteous by works (Romans 9:31). Believers from the nations read the same Word and see that it speaks of grace and promises, and they believe it (Romans 4:4, 16, 21-22).
Foolish
The ecclesia, gathered from the nations, is in the eyes of Israel “a foolish people” (Romans 10:19), and that is exactly how the ecclesia is described: not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble, but the foolish things of this world God has chosen (1 Corinthians 1:26-27). This is what these 300 men speak of.