1. Judges 20:3 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

How does this verse present the tribe of Benjamin?

Judges 20:3 (ESV)

3 (Now the people of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the people of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this evil happen?”

The offending tribe, Benjamin, to which the men of Gibeah belonged, was not present. In fact, they are presented as outsiders: they heard about the summons to Mizpah and that the people of Israel had gone there. It almost reads as though this information came to them second-hand. In other words, they were not invited.