Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh.
All ... the congregation was gathered ... as one man. In consequence of the immense sensation the horrid tragedy of Gibeah had produced, a national assembly was convened, at which 'the chief х pinowt (H6438), grainers] (cf. 1 Samuel 14:38, where the term is used for a leader in a military sense) of all the people' from all parts of the land, including the Eastern tribes, appeared as delegates.
Mizpeh - the place of convention (for there were other Mizpehs) was in a town situated on the confines of Judah and Benjamin (Joshua 15:38; Joshua 18:26). Assemblies were frequently held there afterward (1 Samuel 7:11; 1 Samuel 10:17); and as it was but a short distance from Shiloh, the phrase, "Unto the Lord," may be taken in its usual sense, as denoting consultation of the oracle. This circumstance, together with the convention being called "the assembly of the people of God," seems to indicate that, amid the excited passions of the nation, those present felt the profound gravity of the occasion, and adopted the best means of maintaining a becoming deportment.