The Israelites ask rather than state to emphasize the investigative process of identifying which tribe violated the sacred assembly oath, heightening the gravity of the collective obligation and the consequences of absence.

The Israelites discovered through their inquiry that the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead had not come up to the assembly at Mizpah (Judges 21:8-9), leading them to send warriors to destroy that city.

The Israelites’ question seeks to identify which tribe violated their sacred assembly oath at Mizpah, where they had sworn death against any who failed to appear. The Hebrew construction emphasizes the comprehensive nature of the inquiry, scanning through all the tribes to find the guilty party. This question functions rhetorically to underscore the binding nature of corporate Israel’s covenant obligations, where individual or tribal absence constituted rebellion against Yahweh Himself. The irony permeates the text: Israel enforces one oath (assembly attendance) while simultaneously seeking to circumvent another oath (not giving daughters to Benjamin), revealing the moral confusion that marks the book’s closing chapters. The question ultimately exposes how legalistic zeal can coexist with ethical inconsistency, foreshadowing Israel’s need for righteous kingship.