Commentators explain that Israel's search for an absent tribe was not just about punishment, but a desperate attempt to find a loophole. Since the men of Jabesh-Gilead were not present at Mizpah, they had not taken the rash oath forbidding marriage to Benjamites. This reveals, as Matthew Henry notes, how people can compound one bad decision with another, prioritizing their own vows over seeking God's true will and repentance.