The men of Ephraim said to him, Why have you served us thus, that you didn't call us, when you went to fight with Midian? They did chide with him sharply.
The leaders of this tribe protested Gideon’s action, ". . . less from any dissatisfied longing for booty, than from injured pride or jealousy, because Gideon had made war upon the enemy and defeated them without the co-operation of this tribe, which was striving for the leadership [in Israel]." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, p. 351.] 