‘ And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.'
There was now a change of tactics. Their previous tactics had not worked, probably because of the slingers. Now they decided that they must draw the children of Benjamin out of the city allowing the liers in wait to come in from behind and capture the city. These may well have been put in place at night. The tactics followed those of Joshua at Ai (Joshua 8). They had probably been reminded of them on recognising that their behaviour had been similar to Israel's then, with the same arrogance, a similar need to deal with sin, and now the promise of final victory.
But the use of ‘Israel' and not ‘the children of Israel' as the subject of an active verb is rare in Judges (see Introduction). Thus it may indicate that the writer did not approve of the tactics so that they were not seen as covenant behaviour. Possibly he considered that it lacked faith in the promise of Yahweh.