Judges 20:1

THE COUNCIL AT MIZPEH, Judges 20:1-11.

1. From Dan even to Beer-sheba The common formula to designate the entire country, from its northern to its southern boundary. Compare 1 Samuel 3:20; 2Sa 3:10 ; 2 Samuel 17:11; 2 Samuel 24:2; 2Sa 24:15 ; 1 Kings 4:25. In the later books the formula is reversed: 1 Chronicles 21:2; 2 Chronicles 30:5. On Dan, see at Judges 18:7; Judges 18:29; on Beer-sheba, Genesis 21:31.

Land of Gilead The country east of the Jordan. See on Judges 10:8; Judges 10:17.

Unto the Lord The meaning is, that the assembly was held as in the sight of the Lord. The tribes came together in the name of the Lord, and bound themselves by solemn oaths and execrations to destroy Benjamin. Compare Judges 21:15; see note on Judges 11:11.

In Mizpeh Not the Mizpeh in the land of Gilead, where the eastern tribes assembled in the time of Jephthah to prepare for war against Ammon, (Judges 10:17,) but the Mizpeh of Benjamin, which is mentioned in Joshua 18:25-26, in connexion with Gibeon and Ramah, and which was probably identical with the modern Neby Samwil, a little northwest of Jerusalem. See note on 1 Samuel 7:5. This was an appropriate place for the council. Commanding a wide prospect, it was a central place for all the tribes, and was in the territory of Benjamin, near the spot where the offence took place, so that all proper witnesses to the case might be near at hand.