Judges 8:1-3

Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better.

The conduct of the Ephraimites

1. Their unthankfulness was great, and the injury which he sustained thereby, who ought to have been much honoured of them for his industry and labour. We ought not to look for our reward and commendation for well-doing from men, but to rest in this, that God knoweth our works, and it is enough that we are sure that from Him we shall receive our reward.

2. Another of the faults of these Ephraimites against Gideon is that they envied him for the honour he got by the victory. Whereby, though they sustained no hurt, neither were the worse, but the better, yet they could not bear it, that Gideon should have the glory of it: where we may see a foul property of envy, and what it is. It is a grief and sadness for the prosperity of others, and namely, of such as be our equals. And when I say envy is a grief at our equals for any eminency or prosperity that they have above us, I mean such as are in kindred estate, years, dignity, or in gifts like us. And the cause of this envy is not for that we are troubled as though any hurt or danger were coming towards us from them whom we envy (for that is another affection, to wit, fear), but for that through a cankered stomach we cannot bear it, that such an one as is no better than ourselves should be lifted up so high and commended so far above us. And is not this a cursed mind in us, that we cannot be willing that another should fare well, we being never the worse, and that we should have an evil eye at that for the which we should rejoice? And because I now speak of the Ephraimites, I think it not amiss to add this of them, that their father Ephraim, the younger being preferred by Jacob before the elder brother Manasseh, the stock and offspring of them exalted themselves since from age to age, and are noted for it oft times in the history of the Old Testament. As in Joshua we read they among others were discontented with their portion, so in the twelfth of this book the posterity of them contended with Jephtha for not calling them with him to battle against the Ammonites after he had overcome them; even as these Ephraimites did here with Gideon. So Esau, himself deadly hating his brother, derived this sin to his posterity, the Edomites; so Ahab did idolatry to the generations that came after him. And hereby we may learn what force some blemishes and corruptions in a flock or kindred have to infect almost the whole posterity, God justly thus punishing the sins of the fathers upon the children to many generations, punishing sin with sin.

3. And yet one thing more note in these Ephraimites, namely, the flights, subtleties, doubleness, and hollowness that lie hidden in men’s hearts, till they have occasion to show them, or grace to repent of them. These would now seem to have had great injury that they were not called to the battle, whereas it was their own sin that they went not, for they did forbear for fear of danger, and were willing to stand by, as it were, lying in the wind to wait for the issue. So that if Gideon and their brethren the Israelites that joined with him had lost the day, then all the blame would have been laid upon them by these Ephraimites; but now they had got the victory by God’s direction and blessing, they complain on the other side that they had injury themselves, for that they were not, as they said, bidden to help in the battle. Wherein we may behold deep subtlety and hypocrisy, and how far all such are from simplicity and plain dealing, that according to the proverb, howsoever the world go they will save one, and however it fall out, they will provide for themselves. (R. Rogers.)

Gideon and the men of Ephraim

The scanty information that we have leaves the impression that in speaking as they did the men of Ephraim were entirely in the wrong. If they were the foremost of the tribes, why had they not organised resistance themselves? If they had neglected duty, what right had they to complain that others had discharged it? If Gideon had invited them, would they not have equally resented such an unwarrantable piece of presumption in a mere Manassite? But how few men in Gideon’s place would have made allowance for them as he did! It shows how grace had got the better of nature in him. It shows how little he cared for his own interest or honour; how much for the welfare of Israel and the ruin of its foes. That in the very moment of victory he who had been the instrument of it all should be reproached instead of honoured by his countrymen, and even by the very men who had been thinking only of themselves when he was planning and enduring and risking everything to save them all--this was trying in the extreme to flesh and blood. But Gideon knew that an angry reply might kindle mere discontent into a flame, and that even a continuance of jealousy would defeat his purpose of following up the pursuit and effectually terminating the war. His answer, therefore, was one calculated not only to soothe Ephraim, but even to restore their self-respect. The answer was in an important sense a true one. God had overruled for good the very slowness of Ephraim to come forward. It was their seizing the line of the Jordan that had turned defeat into irretrievable overthrow; and, as plain matter of fact, those slain by Ephraim must have been far more numerous than all that Gideon and his men had beaten down. The answer was true, no doubt, but not on that account the easier to give. To acquiesce in a statement of the case, nay, even to suggest it, in which no credit was given for those preparatory trials and schemes, and risks and conflicts, without which all the direct hard fighting of Ephraim would have been perfectly useless--this showed a moderation that nothing can have inspired except the deep sense that the real glory belonged to another altogether, and that Ephraim on the one hand, and he and his men upon the other, were only instruments that God employed, each in the way that He deemed best, for working out His own designs. When he thus effaced himself, and gave up the glory without a murmur that by all fair human standards was righteously his own, Gideon stood at a pitch of moral grandeur that few of the choicest saints in Scripture have exemplified. When we remember that he was no quiet, meditative spirit, but a mighty man of war, rejoicing in his prowess, keenly sensitive to dishonour, and animated by not a little of the fierce vindictive spirit of his age, the triumph of faith and grace within him becomes all the more conspicuous. (W. Miller, M. A.)

The gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim

The gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim. This is the portion that falls to us. We are living in a glorious day. Our fathers gathered the vintage with strife and travail, and garments rolled in blood. It is for us to stand at the waters of Beth-barah and gather up the fruits of victory. The world is at its very best. If life was ever worth living, it is worth living now. Great is the privilege, and correspondingly great the responsibility, of those who are appointed to glean the grapes of Ephraim.

I. Ours is the golden age of truth.

1. The body of truth is larger than that of any former times. Aristotle, one of the most learned of the ancients, if he were to return to-day, could hardly pass a preliminary examination for admission to one of our grammar schools. The results of past research and controversy along the past have accumulated into a great treasury of knowledge. Each generation has contributed its part. History is not a treadmill, wherein men go round and round, getting nowhere; but a thoroughfare, the King’s highway, whereon we journey like a royal troop, league by league, laden with the spoils of the conquest, until we come to the palace of the King.

2. The great body of truth thus accumulated is held in a truer spirit of toleration than the past ever knew.

3. Along with this goes a truer orthodoxy than of old. The denominations may differ, and indeed do differ, with respect to minor matters, but they are loyal to old landmarks.

II. Ours is also the golden age of morality, particularly in its larger sense as touching all the relations of man with his fellow-men.

1. The industrial reform may be cited in evidence. Capital has rights, for which it tenaciously strives; labour has rights, for which it vigorously contends. Out of this conflict must come the solution: an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work; corporations with souls, and labourers with rights.

2. The temperance reform. This was almost unheard of a century ago. For this we have to thank the fathers who gathered the vintage of Abi-ezer, who in the controversies of moral suasion and legislation wrought out these more salutary methods and passed on their achievements to us.

3. Political reform. We hear much of “civic corruption” in these days, of bribery, blackmail, etc. In the time of William

III. bribery was so commonly practised that the king publicly announced his inability to dispense with it, saying, “Under the existing order of things, to refuse the common practice would endanger the crown.” The municipal corruption which is so arousing the popular indignation at this moment would have been made little of in former days. It is a good sign--this stirring about the Augean stables.

4. Sociological problems. All branches of the Christian Church are concerned in the discussion of questions which touch the welfare of the community; the betterment of home and society; the care of the poor, the aged, and all incapables. The liberalitas of the ancient world has given way to the caritas of our religion. We are beginning to understand the song of the angels, not merely in its ascription of glory to God, but also in its expression of goodwill toward men.

5. As to personal character. We make more of character and less of adventitious prominence than of old.

III. This is the golden age of moral energy. Truth and ethics are changed into power by a fire burning beneath them. The Church works with a purpose. A man, aside from his creed and personal graces, must in these times have something to do.

1. There was a time when good people were chiefly concerned about their personal salvation. Each for himself was the shibboleth of those days.

2. At other times the people of God have been chiefly concerned for the preservation of the Church. This was the meaning of the Crusades; in them we find a stern endeavour to rescue the Holy Sepulchre, and so vindicate the majesty of the Church and avenge her wrongs. The effort was not to convert the infidel, but to destroy him root and branch.

3. In our time we speak of the kingdom. This is the missionary age. All are summoned to work--men, women, and children. All are summoned to work for the evangelisation of the world--the deliverance of souls from sin. We seem to be dwelling in the early twilight of the last days. The victory of Christ is a foregone conclusion. His glory shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)

The gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim is better than the vintage of Abi-ezer

In other words, the smallest experience of the joys of God’s people--mere vintage-gleanings--is worth far more than the richest world-clusters. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)