Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 20:1

"Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto Jehovah at Mizpah." — Judges 20:1 (ASV)

The congregation was gathered together. —This phrase is one which was familiar to the Israelites in the desert. It disappears after the days of Solomon (1 Kings 12:20).

From Dan even to Beer-sheba. —This expression would be like “ from John o’ Groat’s house to Land’s End “ for England and Scotland (1 Samuel 3:18; 1 Samuel 17:11, and other passages). Unless it was added by an anachronism, because it had become familiar when the Book of Judges was written, we should certainly infer from it that, as early as these events were, they were subsequent to the migratory raid of the tribe of Dan to Laish.

With the land of Gilead. —The Trans-Jordanic tribes obeyed the summons, with the exception of the town of Jabesh-Gilead.

To the Lord. —See Note on Judges 11:11. There is not, however, the same difficulty in supposing that the ark and Urim were taken to this Mizpeh, for we see in Judges 20:27 that it was taken to Bethel.

In Mizpeh. —See Note on Judges 11:11. This Mizpeh is not the same as the one there mentioned, but is probably the bold hill and watch-tower now known as Neby Samwil, and called Mountjoie by the Crusaders, from which the traveller gains his first glimpse of Jerusalem. In the Hebrew the name has the article, “the watch-tower.” It was the scene of great gatherings of the tribes in the days of Samuel (1 Samuel 7:2; 1 Samuel 10:17) and of Solomon (2 Chronicles 1:3, probably), and even after the captivity (2 Kings 25:23).