John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 2. And he said unto them , etc.] In a very mild and gentle manner, giving soft words, which turn away wrath: what have I done in comparison of you ? he and his men, he signifies, had only blew trumpets, broke pitchers, and held torches; it was the Lord that did all, and set the Midianites one against another to slay each other; and in the pursuit as yet he had only picked up and slain some common soldiers, they had taken two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and had brought their heads in triumph to him: is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer ? the family of Abiezer, of which Gideon was; the meaning is, that whereas he began the fight, which may be called the vintage, and they had finished it, which was like gleaning; yet what they did last was much preferable to what was done by him at first; or the princes of Midian, which they had taken in the pursuit, and was like gleaning after a vintage, were equal, yea, superior to all the camp of Midian, or that part of it that had fallen into his hands. The Targum is, “are not the weak of the house of Ephraim better than the strong of the house of Abiezer?”
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-3 - Those who will not attempt or venture any thing in the cause of God will be the most ready to censure and quarrel with such as are of more zealous and enterprising spirit. And those who are the mos backward to difficult services, will be the most angry not to have the credit of them. Gideon stands here as a great example of self-denial and shows us that envy is best removed by humility. The Ephraimites ha given vent to their passion in very wrong freedom of speech, a certai sign of a weak cause: reason runs low when chiding flies high.
Original Hebrew ויאמר559 אליהם413 מה4100 עשׂיתי6213 עתה6258 ככם הלוא3808 טוב2896 עללות5955 אפרים669 מבציר1210 אביעזר׃44
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