שופטים, פרק כ״א, פסוק ט׳

Following a devastating civil war, the national assembly conducts a careful accounting of its members. This investigation leads to a discovery that brings both severe punishment to one city and an unexpected solution for the surviving members of the tribe of Benjamin.

The nation decides to investigate exactly who failed to present themselves at the camp [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This process involves a meticulous census and a deliberate search for missing individuals, a concept of oversight and accounting found throughout biblical history [מצודת ציון, רד״ק]. Through this detailed check, a stark reality emerges. Not a single person from the city of Jabesh-gilead has attended the gathering.

Failing to join the national assembly at Mizpah is not viewed as a mere technical oversight. Instead, it is considered a severe offense, fundamentally equated with the grave sin committed by the tribe of Benjamin itself. Consequently, the people of Jabesh-gilead face a harsh sentence of total destruction, encompassing men, women, and children. This extreme response is likely tied to a prior oath made by the nation to destroy anyone who refused to participate in the gathering [אברבנאל].

Yet, the very absence that dooms the city inadvertently provides a way out of a separate national crisis. The surviving men of Benjamin desperately need wives, but the rest of the Israelites have sworn not to give their daughters to them. Because the people of Jabesh-gilead were missing from the assembly, they never took part in this national oath. This crucial detail allows the Israelites to spare the young, unmarried women of the city from the impending destruction and offer them as wives to the men of Benjamin. The nation can do this without violating their own vow, based on a careful reading of their original promise. They swore that no man among them would give his own daughter to a Benjaminite, but the oath does not prohibit them from taking the daughters of those who were entirely absent from the gathering and giving them to the tribe [אברבנאל].