Judges 8:1-3

Judges 8:1-3

[1] And the men  of Ephraim  said  unto him, Why hast thou  served  us thus,  that thou calledst  us not, when thou wentest  to fight  with the Midianites?  And they did chide  with him sharply.  [2] And he said  unto them, What have I done  now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning  of the grapes of Ephraim  better  than the vintage  of Abiezer?  [3] God  hath delivered  into your hands  the princes  of Midian,  Oreb  and Zeeb:  and what was I able  to do  in comparison of you? Then their anger  was abated  toward him, when he had said  that. 

What does Judges 8:1-3 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Gideon had not invited the men of Ephraim to join him when he recruited the tribes of Prayer of Manasseh , Asher, Zebulon, and Naphtali ( Judges 6:35). Presumably he did not invite them at the Lord"s command since he did not need more soldiers. The men of Ephraim took this omission as an insult ( Judges 8:1). [1]
The leaders of this tribe protested Gideon"s action, "...less from any dissatisfied longing for booty, than from injured pride or jealousy, because Gideon had made war upon the enemy and defeated them without the co-operation of this tribe, which was striving for the leadership [2]." [3]
". . . nothing is more common than for those who will not attempt or venture anything in the cause of God, to be ready to censure those who show more zeal and enterprise than themselves." [3]
Gideon responded diplomatically and satisfied the Ephraimites ( Judges 8:2). The "gleaning" of Ephraim refers to the lives and spoils the Ephraimites took from the fleeing Midianites, and the "vintage" of Abiezer refers to the Midianites that Gideon and his300 men had defeated and slain. The Ephraimites" victory was greater too in that they had killed two Midianite commanders, Oreb and Zeeb.
It is significant, however, that Gideon based his appeal on psychology rather than theology. Why did he make no reference to God"s direction of him or God"s provision of victory (cf. ch5)? Having participated in a great deliverance, Gideon seems to have begun to exclude the Victor from His own victory.
"When the plot resumes, something seems to have happened to the character of the hero. In chaps6-7 we have witnessed his transformation from a fearful private citizen to a fearless agent of God, willing to take on the enemy against all odds, not to mention a sensitive diplomat. But the portrait of the man the author paints in this chapter creates a radically different impression in the reader"s mind. If Judges 8:1-32 had been handed down without the literary context in which it is embedded, modern readers would reject Gideon as a tyrant, arbitrary in his treatment of the enemy and ruthless in his handling of his own countrymen. Instead of "hacking" and "contending" with the enemy, Gideon/Jerubbaal "contends" and "hacks" his own people." [5]
"Although appropriately faithful to God and humble in the presence of others in Judges 8:1-3, Gideon proves to be alarmingly self-assertive and prideful in Judges 8:4-21." [6]