Reading… and Thinking

Then the people of Ephraim asked Gideon, “Why have you treated us this way? Why didn’t you send for us when you first went out to fight the Midianites?” And they argued heatedly with Gideon. But Gideon replied, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren’t even the leftover grapes of Ephraim’s harvest better than the entire crop of my little clan of Abiezer? God gave you victory over Oreb and Zeeb, the commanders of the Midianite army. What have I accomplished compared to that?” When the men of Ephraim heard Gideon’s answer, their anger subsided.

— Judges 8:1-3 (NLT)

If you pay attention to the behavior of the Ephraimites through Joshua, Judges, and Kings, you find out that…what can I say? They’re jerks. Now that’s a blanket generalization, and I’m sure that there were fine people from that tribe. In fact Joshua himself was from Ephraim, and he was exceptionally faithful.

But as a tribe, they’re always wanting to have the premier place, always quick to take offense. They caused more than one civil war. There are hints very early that there was a political struggle between Ephraim and Judah for leadership of the nation. (Even in Jacob’s blessings on his sons and grandsons in Genesis, he makes these two the top tribes.) So later on it comes as no surprise that Jeroboam is from Ephraim, and leads the fracturing of the nation after Solomon’s death.

In this passage from Judges, we have them trying to pick a fight with Gideon. Right on the heels of a tremendous victory over Midian, they now want to beat up Gideon and Manasseh, because they weren’t invited in earlier. Gideon could have, quite rightly, told them that he had invited in the specific tribes that the Lord told him to. He could have gotten just as hot as the Ephraimites, and a good case could be made that he would have been in the right.

But he chooses to give a soft answer. You could almost say that he flatters them, although he didn’t say anything untrue. What he did was to put the most positive interpretation possible on the accomplishments of Ephraim. Here’s the real point: he let them have top billing.

This goes against the grain of human nature. Why should a jerk, who is in fact wrong, be given credit? Why should I let this jerk look like he’s right?

In the Proverbs we read, “A soft answer turns away wrath.” (Prov 15:1) We need to look past the fact that this person confronting us is a jerk. Ask, what will happen if they get their way? Will any godly principles be compromised? If not, then why not just let them have their way? Particularly if the alternative is strife.

The jerk will always take the short term view. Don’t be like him! Take the longer view. Who got the credit in the long run? Gideon. God knows what the real score is; that’s all that counts. He also knows who the peacemakers are—and Jesus says they will be called children of God!