Judges Chapter 20 verse 1 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 1. - Went out, i.e. from their several homes to the place of meeting. The congregation. The technical term (not, however, found in Samuel and Kings, except in 1 Kings 12:20) for the whole Israelitish people (Exodus 12:3; Exodus 16:1, 2, 9; Leviticus 4:15; Joshua 18:1, etc.). From Dan to Beersheba. Dan, or Laish (Judges 18:29), being the northernmost point, and Beersheba (now Bir-es-saba, the springs so called) in the south of Judah the southernmost. It cannot be inferred with certainty from this expression that the Danite occupation of Laish had taken place at this time, though it may have done so, because we do not know when this narrative was written, and the phrase is only used as a proverbial expression familiar in the writer's time. The land of Gilead. In its widest sense, meaning the whole of trans-Jordanic Israel (see Judges 10:8; Judges 11:1, etc.). Mizpeh, or, as it is always written in Hebrew, ham-Mizpeh, with the article (see Judges 21:1). The Mizpeh here mentioned is not the same as the Mizpeh of Judges 10:17; Judges 11:11, 29, 34, which was in Gilead, but was situated in the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:26). That it was a national place of meeting in the time of Samuel is clear from 1 Samuel 7:5-12, and we learn from ver. 16 of that same chapter that it was one of the places to which Samuel went on circuit. We find it a place of national meeting also in 1 Samuel 10:17, and even so late as 2 Kings 25:23, and in the time of the Maccabees (1 Macc. 3:46). Its vicinity to Shiloh, where the tabernacle was, was probably one reason why it was made a centre to the whole congregation (see especially 1 Samuel 10:17, 22, 25). Its exact site is not known with certainty, but it is thought to be that of Nebi Samuil, from which Jerusalem is seen at about two hours' distance to the south-east. Unto the Lord, i.e. in the presence of the tabernacle, which was doubtless brought there, on so solemn an occasion, from Shiloh (cf. Exodus 34:34; Leviticus 1:3; Judges 11:11; Judges 21:2, and ver. 26 of this chapter).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(1) 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 (1Kings 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 (1Samuel 3:18; 1Samuel 17:11, &c.). Unless it be added by an anachronism, because it had become familiar when the Book of Judges was written, we should certainly infer from it that, early as were these events, 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.Unto the Lord.--See Note on Judges 11:11. There is not, however, the same difficulty in supposing that the ark and Urim was taken to this Mizpeh, for we see in Judges 20:27 that it was taken to Bethel. . . .