Hacking oxen into pieces recalls an episode in Judges where the tribes of Israel were similarly summoned to fight against Benjamin (Judges 19:29).1 In that case it was a call to kill fellow Israelites, but now it is a call to fight against a common enemy. A new era has arrived where the nation of Israel is to be united and not torn apart.2 The meaning of the oxen in this case is quite simple. All of Israel is called upon to come and help a tribe (brother) in need.3 A refusal to do so will result in God’s covenant curse coming upon his people (see Deuteronomy 28:31).
7 He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the LORD fell upon the people, and they came out as one man.