John Gill Commentary Judges 20

Then all the children of Israel went out
Of their tribes, cities, habitations, not every individual of them, but some of the chief of them, with a select company with them:

and the congregation was gathered together as one man ;
with as much unanimity and ease met together in one place, at the same time, as if only one man had been pitched upon and deputed for that purpose:

from Dan even to Beersheba ,
from the city Dan, lately built, which was in the most northern parts of the land of Canaan, to Beersheba, a city in the most southern part, which included all the tribes in the land of Canaan, who all, excepting Benjamin, assembled:

with the land of Gilead ;
which lay on the other side Jordan, inhabited by the two tribes of Reuben and Dan, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who also came on this occasion:

unto the Lord in Mizpeh; a city which lay upon the borders of Judah and Benjamin, and is therefore assigned to them both, (Joshua 15:38) (18:26) for this was not Mizpeh in the land of Gilead, but a city near to Shiloh; and, according to Fuller ^F2 , eight miles from Gibeah, and so was a convenient place to meet at.

It is not to be thought the tribes met here, by a secret impulse upon their minds, but by a summons of some principal persons in one of the tribes, very probably in the tribe of Ephraim, where the Levite dwelt, and in which was the tabernacle of the Lord, and of which the last supreme magistrate was, namely, Joshua; and all having notice of the occasion of it, met very readily; and because they assembled in the name and fear of God, and it was in the cause of God, and as a solemn assembly, a judicial one, in which God was usually present, they are said to be gathered unto him, and the rather, as they sought for direction and counsel from him in the affair before them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Pisah-Sight, B. 2. c. 12. p. 259.

And the chief of all the people
The princes of the tribes and heads of families, rulers of thousands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens; or the "corners" ^F3 , who were like the corner stones in a building, which are not only the most valuable and ornamental, but the strength of the building, which cement it, and support it, and hold it together; though Abarbinel thinks this intends the division and separation of each tribe, which encamped in a separate corner and side by itself: but the former sense seems best, and the meaning is, that the principal men of them,

even of all the tribes of Israel ;
excepting the tribe of Benjamin:

presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God ;
now gathered together: which assembly consisted, besides the heads of them, of

four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword ;
or were armed men; there were 600,000 or more in Israel able to bear arms; but as now the wars in Canaan were pretty much at an end, the militia of the nation was not so regularly kept up, and many were employed in tilling the ground, and dressing the vines, and the like; and besides, as there were none of the tribe of Benjamin present, it need not be wondered at there should be no more, but rather that so many should be gathered together on such an occasion.

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: (twnp) "anguli", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus, Drusius, Tigurine version.

Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel
were gone up to Mizpeh
Having no doubt the same notice the rest of the tribes had; but the thing complained of being done in theirtribe, and by some of it, they might be willing to screen the delinquents, or were careless about andindifferent to the case, and secure and easy, as imagining their brethren would never go to war with themabout it; or were proud and haughty, and would pay no regard to the summons given them:

then said the children of Israel, tell us, how was this wickedness ?
proclamation was made in the assembly, that if any person there knew anything of this shocking affair, andhorrid iniquity, which was the occasion of their meeting together, that they would rise up and declare whatwas the cause of it, how it came about, and by whom it was done; or they addressed themselves particularly tothe Levite, and his host, and his servant, who might all be upon the spot to bear witness in this case, as itis certain the former of them was, who upon this stood up, and spoke as follows.

And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain,
answered, and said
He rose up, and, in answer to their request, declared the whole affair as follows: and none so proper as he, who was upon the spot when it was done, and so near a relation of the deceased, and had a right to demand justice to be done; for from hence it appears that she was his lawful wife, though called a concubine:

I came into Gibeah, that belongeth to Benjamin ;
which he so particularly describes, to distinguish it from another of the same name in the tribe of Judah, lest any mistake should be made, and an innocent people should suffer in their reputation, or otherwise; and which also would account for the tribe of Benjamin not being present at this convention:

I and my concubine, to lodge ;
thither they came, not with an intention to stay, to sojourn there, and much less to do them any injury, or to infringe any of their rights and privileges; nor in the least to be burdensome to them, having brought all necessary provisions with them for themselves, servants, and cattle, only to get a night's lodging with them.

And the men of Gibeah rose against me
Not all of them, but some that dwelt in that city; he forbears giving them the character they justly deserved, sons of Belial. These came in a tumultuous and violent manner,

and beset the house round about upon me by night ;
that he might not make his escape, resolving if possible to get him into their hands, and do with him according to their will:

and thought to have slain me ;
their first intention was to commit the unnatural sin on him, and, if he resisted, to slay him; but this he modestly conceals, as being a sin not to be named in an assembly of saints; and besides he might say this, because he himself chose rather to be slain than to submit to their lust, which he knew must be the case upon his refusal and resistance; and even if he had yielded, being overpowered, this would have been the consequence, that he should have been abused even unto death, as his wife was:

and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead ;
or "afflicted", or "humbled" ^F4 her; which is a modest expression for carnal knowledge of her, and which they had to such excess that she died through it.