Judges 8:1-3

The Ephraimites Appeased. After defeating the mighty foreign foe, Gideon had to settle a domestic dispute which might easily have become serious, and he again proved himself equal to the occasion. He is a man of wit and humour as well as of military prowess. He knows that a soft answer turns away wrath, and he can make the tongue as effective a weapon as the sword. He stoops to conquer. When the jealous Ephraimites complain that he has not given them the first place in his army (which would have entitled them to the best of the spoils), he returns a humble answer, in which they do not perceive any flavour of delicate irony. How should he ever compare his little clan with a mighty tribe? The mere gleanings of Ephraim are more than the vintage the whole harvest of Abiezer. We shall find later that while such treatment appeased the Ephraimites it did not cure them. Jephthah had experience of the same jealous temper, and was not so patient with it (Judges 12:1).