“(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness?”
Benjamin learns of the gathering defensively; the text provides no Benjamite response or counterassembly, implying fragmentation and unpreparedness. Benjamin's isolation signals separation from Israelite consensus. The phrasing emphasizes adversarial dynamics: one tribe mobilizes against another within Israel's borders. This moment crystallizes the central tragedy: without a king, justice becomes tribal self-administration. Civil war beckons.
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