Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 8:2

"And he said unto them, What have I now done in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?" — Judges 8:2 (ASV)

What have I done now in comparison of you? —Since Gideon was by no means a man of a very easily calmed and peaceful disposition, we see the strong and noble self-control which this answer manifests. He was not in a condition, even had he wished it, to humble the fierce jealousy of this kindred tribe, as the more independent Jephthah, who was not so closely bound to them, did not scruple to do. He remembered that Zebah and Zalmunna were still safe; the Midianites were as yet by no means finally crushed. Patriotism as well as right feeling demanded that at such a moment there should be no civil discord.

Is not the gleaning ...? —The answer has a proverbial sound. (Compare to Deuteronomy 24:21.) It here implies that Ephraim, by a mere subsequent and secondary effort, had achieved more (as yet) than Gideon himself had done, or perhaps that the two bloody heads which were their “gleaning” were better than the “vintage” of obscure thousands. In admitting this, in waiving all self-assertion, Gideon was setting an example of the spirit which is content to suffer wrong, and to take less than its proper due (elassousthai, Time. i. 77). Nor was there any irony or willful sacrifice of truth in his remark, for there can be no doubt that the Ephraimites had wrought a splendid victory (Isaiah 10:26). The Chaldee renders it, “Are not the weak of the house of Ephraim better than the strong of the house of Abiezer?”