שופטים, פרק כ״א, פסוק י״ט

The leaders of the community face a pressing crisis: two hundred men from the tribe of Benjamin remain without wives. To solve this, the elders devise a practical plan centered around a well-known public gathering, instructing the men to capture wives for themselves from a group of dancing women [מצודת דוד, מלבי״ם].

This gathering is a dedicated festival for God, characterized by the offering of many sacrifices [מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון]. It is a fixed, annual occasion [מצודת דוד], a joyous time that arrives faithfully each year, similar to major holidays like Passover, Sukkot, or Yom Kippur [רד״ק].

The celebration takes place in Shiloh, and specific geographical landmarks are provided to pinpoint the area: north of Bethel, east of the main highway ascending from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah [רש״י, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The primary approach among commentators is that these precise directions serve to map out the location of the city of Shiloh itself. However, since Shiloh was a prominent and universally known center, such detailed navigational aids seem unnecessary. Therefore, an alternative perspective suggests that these markers do not describe the city at all. Instead, they identify the exact spot outside the city limits where the women would go to dance. It was specifically in the vineyards adjacent to this isolated location where the men of Benjamin were told to hide and wait in ambush [רד״ק].