Judg. viii. 1 — 3. Ajid the men of Ephraim said unto him. Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us 7iot, when thou wentest to fight ivith the Midianites ? And they did chide with him sharply. And he said unto them. What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaniyig of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abi-ezer ? 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 ivas abated toward him, when he had said that.
WE are apt to admire great military exploits, and to account men honourable in proportion to the vic- tories they have gained : but there is a victory over ourselves that far more dignifies a man, than the most extended conquests over others. We certainly
3i< JUDGES, VIII. 1—3. [268.
regard Gideon as one highly renowned in the feats of war : but his defeat of all the Midianitish hosts with only three hundred men, armed with pitchers, lamps, and trumpets, is less worthy of admiration, than the self-possession he exercised towards the offended and objurgatory Ephraimites. Solomon has weighed as in a balance the different characters, and has decided in favour of him whose victory is over his own spirit : " He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty ; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city^"
In the transaction before us we see, I. Whence it is that unreasonable men take offence —
There is scarcely a society or even a single family to be found, where the different members walk in perfect harmony together : in most circles there are frequent disagreements : one or other of the mem- bers is unreasonable in his expectations, and by the unquietness of his own dispositions spreads dis- satisfaction and disquietude all around him. The inquiry, " Whence come wars and fightings among you?" St. James answers by an appeal to our own experience ; " Come they not hence, even from the lusts that war in your members''?" The chief sources of offence are discernible in the conduct of the Ephraimites. It arises,
1 . From the pride of our own hearts —
[The Ephraimites had evidently a high conceit of their own dignity, and were offended that Gideon had not paid as much deference to them, as they supposed themselves entitled to. And from this root of bitterness it is that so many disputes arise. " Only by pride cometh contention," is the testimony of God himself*'. See the proud man, swelling with a sense of his own importance: if you differ from liim in judgment, or act contrary to his will, yea, if you do not comply with his humour in every thing, he is quite indignant, and bursts forth into a rage. Even the best-meant endeavours cannot always please him : as an inferior, he cannot brook the least restraint : as a superior, he never thinks that sufficient homage is paid him : and as an equal, he cannot endure that others should
'■' Prov. xvi. 32. ^ Jam. iv. 1. '^ Prov. xiii. 10.