How does Gedeon answer Ephraim’s anger about not being called to fight Madian?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He says one bunch of Ephraim’s grapes is better than Abiezer’s whole vintage and points to the Lord delivering Oreb and Zeb into Ephraim’s hands. His comparison appeases their anger; Challoner separately calls the answer meek and humble.

Chapter breakdown

Ephraim’s men ask why Gedeon did not call them to fight Madian and rebuke him so sharply that they almost use violence. He asks what he could have done comparable to them: one bunch of Ephraim’s grapes is better than Abiezer’s whole vintage. The Lord has delivered Madian’s princes Oreb and Zeb into their hands; Gedeon asks what he could have done like that. Their anger is appeased. Challoner separately says his meek and humble answer appeases them, whereas otherwise they might have come to extremes; he calls this an example of humility’s power with God and man.

Gedeon crosses the Jordan with the three hundred, who are so weary that they cannot pursue the fleeing men. At Soccoth he asks bread for his fainting men so that he can pursue Madian’s kings Zebee and Salmana. Soccoth’s princes ask whether perhaps the palms of those kings’ hands are already in his hand, that he demands bread for his army. Gedeon says that when the Lord delivers the kings, he will thresh the princes’ flesh with desert thorns and briars. Phanuel’s men give the same answer; he says that when he returns a conqueror in peace he will destroy their tower. Zebee and Salmana are resting with their army: fifteen thousand from all the eastern nations remain, after a hundred and twenty thousand sword-bearing warriors have been slain. Gedeon goes by the route of those dwelling in tents east of Nobe and Jegbaa and strikes the camp, which is secure and expects no harm. The two kings flee; he pursues and captures them, and their whole army is thrown into confusion.

Gedeon returns from the battle before sunrise. He captures a boy from Soccoth and asks him the names of its princes and elders; the boy describes seventy-seven men. Gedeon returns to Soccoth, shows Zebee and Salmana and repeats their taunt: perhaps the kings’ hands are in his hands, and therefore he demands bread for his weary, fainting men. He takes the city’s elders and desert thorns and briars, tears them with these and cuts the men of Soccoth in pieces. At Phanuel he demolishes the tower and kills the city’s men.

Gedeon asks Zebee and Salmana what sort of men they killed in Thabor. They answer that the men were like him, one of them like a king’s son. He says they were his brothers, sons of his mother, and swears by the living Lord that if the kings had spared them he would not kill the kings. He tells Jether, his eldest son, to rise and kill them. Jether does not draw his sword because he is afraid, being still a boy. The kings ask Gedeon himself to rise against them, saying a man’s strength is according to his age. He rises, kills Zebee and Salmana and takes the ornaments and bosses used on their camels’ necks.

All Israel’s men ask Gedeon, his son and his grandson to rule because he delivered them from Madian. He says neither he nor his son will rule: the Lord will rule over them. He asks instead for the earlets from their spoils, since the Ismaelites customarily wear gold earlets. They willingly spread a mantle on the ground and each casts in an earlet. These weigh seventeen hundred sicles of gold, besides the ornaments, jewels and purple clothing used by Madian’s kings and the golden chains on their camels. Gedeon makes an ephod from these things and puts it in his city Ephra. All Israel commits fornication with it, and it becomes the ruin of Gedeon and his whole house. Challoner separately identifies the ephod as a priestly garment, says Gedeon made it with a good design and says that after his death Israel abused it through idolatrous worship.

Madian is humbled before Israel and no longer lifts up its head. The land rests forty years while Gedeon presides. Jerobaal son of Joas goes to his house. Gedeon has seventy sons of his body because he has many wives. His concubine in Sichem bears a son called Abimelech. Challoner separately explains that a concubine is a servant rather than a harlot: the Old Testament commonly calls wives of an inferior degree concubines, though otherwise lawfully married. Gedeon son of Joas dies in a good old age and is buried in his father’s tomb at Ephra of Ezri’s family. After his death Israel again commits fornication with Baalim and makes a covenant with Baal to be their god. They do not remember the Lord their God, who delivered them from all the enemies around them, and show no mercy to Jerobaal Gedeon’s house despite all the good he did Israel.

The story inside

Ephraim’s sharp complaint receives a comparison and reminder of Oreb and Zeb that appease its anger. Across the Jordan, Gedeon’s weary men need bread to pursue the kings; the refusals at Soccoth and Phanuel receive conditional threats. He captures the kings at their secure camp, returns before sunrise and carries out the punishments. His question about men killed in Thabor identifies his own brothers; Jether’s fear and boyhood explain why he does not draw the sword, and Gedeon kills the kings himself. The request for rule receives his refusal, followed by the collection of spoils and the ephod that becomes a ruin. The chapter records Madian’s humbling, forty years of rest, Gedeon’s household and burial, then Israel’s return to Baal and failure to remember deliverance or show mercy to his house.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Gedeon’s answer to Ephraim has a recorded effect. He compares their success favorably with his and names the princes delivered into their hands. Their anger subsides; Challoner’s separate observation says a harsher outcome might otherwise have followed.
2
The refusals and punishments keep their specific terms. Gedeon asks bread for fainting men to pursue the kings and threatens each city with a different consequence when he returns successful. After the capture, the account reports the severe actions at both cities without supplying a legal custom to explain them.
3
The ephod’s outcome and the later household account both matter. Scripture says the ephod becomes a ruin to Gedeon and his whole house, while Challoner separately gives a good-design and later-abuse explanation. After Gedeon’s death, Israel forgets its deliverer and shows no mercy to his house; the ending retains those stated failures.

Test your recall

How do the refusals of bread lead to Gedeon’s two threats, and what does he do at each city after capturing Zebee and Salmana?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 25938–25960
Judges Chapter 8 Gedeon appeaseth the Ephraimites. Taketh Zebee and Salmana. Destroyeth Soccoth and Phanuel. Refuseth to be king. Maketh an ephod of the gold of the prey, and dieth in a good old age. The people return to idolatry. 8:1. And the men of Ephraim said to him: What is this that thou meanest to do, that thou wouldst not call us, when thou wentest to fight against Madian? And they chid him sharply, and almost offered violence. 8:2. And he answered them: What could I have done like to that which you have done? Is not one bunch of grapes of Ephraim better than the vintages of Abiezer? What could I, etc.... A meek and humble answer appeased them; who otherwise might have come to extremities. So great is the power of humility both with God and man. 8:3. The Lord hath delivered into your hands the princes of Madian, Oreb and Zeb: what could I have done like to what you have done? And when he had said this, their spirit was appeased, with which they swelled against him.
Lines 25962–25995
8:4. And when Gedeon was come to the Jordan, he passed over it with the three hundred men that were with him: who were so weary that they could not pursue after them that fled. 8:5. And he said to the men of Soccoth: Give, I beseech you, bread to the people that is with me, for they are faint: that we may pursue Zebee, and Salmana, the kings of Madian. 8:6. The princes of Soccoth answered: Peradventure the palms of the hands of Zebee and Salmana are in thy hand, and therefore thou demandest that we should give bread to thy army. 8:7. And he said to them: When the Lord therefore shall have delivered Zebee and Salmana into my hands, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns and briers of the desert. 8:8. And going up from thence, he came to Phanuel: and he spoke the like things to the men of that place. And they also answered him, as the men of Soccoth had answered. 8:9. He said, therefore, to them also: When I shall return a conqueror in peace, I will destroy this tower. 8:10. But Zebee and Salmana were resting with all their army. For fifteen thousand men were left of all the troops of the eastern people, and one hundred and twenty thousand warriors that drew the sword were slain. 8:11. And Gedeon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents, on the east of Nobe and Jegbaa, and smote the camp of the enemies, who were secure, and suspected no hurt. 8:12. And Zebee and Salmana fled, and Gedeon pursued and took them, all their host being put in confusion.
Lines 25997–26014
8:13. And returning from the battle before the sun rising, 8:14. He took a boy of the men of Soccoth: and he asked him the names of the princes and ancients of Soccoth, and he described unto him seventy-seven men. 8:15. And he came to Soccoth, and said to them: Behold Zebee, and Salmana, concerning whom you upbraided me, saying: Peradventure the hands of Zebee and Salmana are in thy hands, and therefore thou demandest that we should give bread to the men that are weary and faint. 8:16. So he took the ancients of the city, and thorns and briers of the desert, and tore them with the same, and cut in pieces the men of Soccoth. 8:17. And he demolished the tower of Phanuel, and slew the men of the city.
Lines 26016–26029
8:18. And he said to Zebee and Salmana: What manner of men were they, whom you slew in Thabor? They answered: They were like thee, and one of them as the son of a king. 8:19. He answered them: They were my brethren, the sons of my mother. As the Lord liveth, if you had saved them, I would not kill you. 8:20. And he said to Jether, his eldest son: Arise, and slay them. But he drew not his sword: for he was afraid, being but yet a boy. 8:21. And Zebee and Salmana said: Do thou rise and run upon us: because the strength of a man is according to his age: Gedeon rose up, and slew Zebee and Salmana: and he took the ornaments and bosses, with which the necks of the camels of kings are wont to be adorned.
Lines 26031–26056
8:22. And all the men of Israel said to Gedeon: Rule thou over us, and thy son, and thy son’s son: because thou hast delivered us from the hand of Madian. 8:23. And he said to them: I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, but the Lord shall rule over you. 8:24. And he said to them: I desire one request of you: Give me the earlets of your spoils. For the Ismaelites were accustomed to wear golden earlets. 8:25. They answered: We will give them most willingly. And spreading a mantle on the ground, they cast upon it the earlets of the spoils. 8:26. And the weight of the earlets that he requested, was a thousand seven hundred sicles of gold, besides the ornaments, and jewels, and purple raiment, which the kings of Madian were wont to use, and besides the golden chains that were about the camels necks. 8:27. And Gedeon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city Ephra. And all Israel committed fornication with it, and it became a ruin to Gedeon, and to all his house. An ephod.... A priestly garment which Gedeon made with a good design; but the Israelites, after his death, abused it by making it an instrument of their idolatrous worship.
Lines 26058–26087
8:28. But Madian was humbled before the children of Israel, neither could they any more lift up their heads: but the land rested for forty years, while Gedeon presided. 8:29. So Jerobaal, the son of Joas, went and dwelt in his own house: 8:30. And he had seventy sons, who came out of his thigh, for he had many wives. 8:31. And his concubine, that he had in Sichem, bore him a son, whose name was Abimelech. His concubine.... She was his servant, but not his harlot: and is called his concubine, as wives of an inferior degree are commonly called in the Old Testament, though otherwise lawfully married. 8:32. And Gedeon, the son of Joas died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father, in Ephra, of the family of Ezri. 8:33. But after Gedeon was dead, the children of Israel turned again, and committed fornication with Baalim. And they made a covenant with Baal, that he should be their god: 8:34. And they remembered not the Lord their God, who delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies round about: 8:35. Neither did they shew mercy to the house of Jerobaal Gedeon, according to all the good things he had done to Israel.