8:2 And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of {b} you? [Is] not the {c} gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?
(b) Who have slain two princes, Oreb and Zeeb.
(c) This last act of the whole tribe is more famous, than the whole enterprise of one man of one family.
8:2 What have I, and c. - What I have done in cutting off some of the common soldiers, is not to be compared with your destroying their princes; I began the war, but you have finished. The gleaning - What you have gleaned or done after me, Of Abiezer - That is, of the Abiezrites, to whom he modestly communicates the honour of the victory, and does not arrogate it to himself.
8:1-3 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 a more zealous and enterprising spirit. And those who are the most 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 had given vent to their passion in very wrong freedom of speech, a certain sign of a weak cause: reason runs low when chiding flies high.
