Judges 20:1

Unto the Lord in Mizpeh - This city was situated on the confines of Judah and Benjamin, and is sometimes attributed to the one, sometimes to the other. It seems that there was a place here in which the Lord was consulted, as well as at Shiloh; in 1 Maccabees 3:46, we read, In Maspha was the place where they prayed aforetime in Israel. These two passages cast light on each other. Some think that Shiloh is meant, because the ark was there; but the phrase before the Lord may signify no more than meeting in the name of God to consult him, and make prayer and supplication. Wherever God's people are, there is God himself; and it ever was true, that wherever two or three were assembled in his name, he was in the midst of them.

The "congregation" is the technical term for the whole community of the Israelite people. Its occurrence here is an indication of the early date of these transactions.

From Dan to Beer-sheba - We cannot safely infer from this expression that the settlement of Dan, recorded in Judges 18 had taken place at this time. It only proves that in the writer's time, from Dan to Beer-sheba was a proverbial expression for all Israel (compare the marginal reference).

With the land of Gilead - Meaning all the trans-Jordanic tribes; mentioned particularly, both to show that the whole congregation of the children of Israel, in its widest meaning, took part in the council, and also because of Jabesh-Gilead Judges 21:8, Judges 21:10.

Unto the Lord in Mizpeh - The phrase "unto the Lord", implies the presence of the tabernacle (Judges 11:11 note). Mizpeh in Benjamin Joshua 18:26, from its connection with Bethel and Ramah, is probably meant here. It is the same as that which appears as a place of national assembly in 1 Samuel 7:5; 1 Samuel 10:17; 2 Kings 25:23-25. It must have been near Shiloh and Gibeah, and in the north of Benjamin. The Benjamites were duly summoned with the other tribes; so that their absence was contumacious Judges 20:3.

20:1 All - That is, a great number, and especially the rulers of all the tribes, except Benjamin, ver. 3 ,12.One man - That is, with one consent. Dan, &c. - Dan was the northern border of the land, near Lebanon; and Beersheba the southern border.Gilead - Beyond Jordan, where Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh were. To the Lord - As to the Lord's tribunal: for God was not only present in the place where the ark and tabernacle was, but also in the assemblies of the gods, or judges, Psalms 82:1 , and in all places where God's name is recorded, 20:24 , and where two or three are met together in his name. Mizpeh - A place on the borders of Judah and Benjamin. This they chose, as a place they used to meet in upon solemn occasions, for its convenient situation for all the tribes within and without Jordan; and the being near the place where the fact was done, that it might be more throughly examined; and not far from Shiloh, where the tabernacle was, whither they might go or send.