Yahweh said to Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for you there: and it shall be, that of whom I tell you, This shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whoever I tell you, This shall not go with you, the same shall not go.
"I suggest that the lapping by the 300 like dogs symbolizes a lapping of the enemy’s blood." [Note: D. Daube, "Gideon’s Few," Journal of Jewish Studies 7 (1956):156.] 