[today’s run: nothing. Yesterday: 8.8 miles]
Two very interesting events in church this morning.
First, the pastor made a very gracious apology for going 30 minutes late last Sunday morning. I have never heard anything like that before.
Second: sermon from Judges ch 7 about Gideon.
I had heard for years that the dog-lapping drinkers where chosen to be the 300 elite troops because they were extra vigilant. That always struck me as kind of a doubtful point. If you’re supposed to be vigilant wouldn’t you drink from your hat or use a big leaf or something? Lapping like a dog is difficult! In fact, I don’t think I can imagine a less efficient way of getting water into my mouth. It’s kind of like saying they drank from the far side of the cup or something.
I have drunk water from streams a few times in my life, not many. It is a bit challenging, particularly if you don’t want to get wet. The most direct way is to stick your face in the water. A second way is to use some kind of dipper like your hat or your hand(s), or even a shoe. And if you had water in your hand, how many people would stick their tongue into the water instead of using their hand as a cup.
I always thought, “wow, those guys were weird.”
So our pastor today makes the point that God was trimming down the numbers of Gideon’s army for the express purpose of making them less effective. He pointed out, in that light, the argument that these were special super-warriors falls apart.
Maybe they were the guys that couldn’t bend over enough to get their face in the water. Maybe their knees hurt, they didn’t want to get their shirt wet, they didn’t have a hat, or a friend who would loan them their hat. Or maybe they didn’t want to wedge themselves in with a few hundred other guys on the shore of the stream.
That makes a lot more sense in the context of the test.