“He poured out the water to the LORD”
he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD, saying… Is this not the blood of the men who risked their lives? (2 Samuel 23:16–17 BSB)
What it sounds like today
David wasting the water his men risked their lives to get.
The cultural key
David's refusal to drink is not ingratitude but reverence. Longing aloud for water from the well of his hometown Bethlehem, then behind enemy lines, David sees three of his mighty men break through the Philistine garrison at the risk of their lives to bring him a drink. Overwhelmed, David will not drink it; instead he 'pours it out to the LORD.' To pour a liquid on the ground before God was a drink offering (libation), a recognized form of sacrifice. David treats this water, purchased at the price of his men's lives, as too holy for his own throat, 'Is this not the blood of the men who risked their lives?', and so he gives it to God rather than consuming it himself. The gesture honors the devotion of his men by dedicating their costly gift to God alone. A modern reader sees him wasting hard-won water; the first hearers saw a king turning a reckless act of love into an offering, refusing to drink what cost blood.
Recovered meaning
David pours out the water his men risked death to fetch as a drink offering to God, treating it as too sacred to drink, as if it were their very blood. He honors their costly devotion by dedicating the gift to God rather than consuming it.