Judges 20:2
And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.
The gathering described is of the chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presenting themselves in the assembly of the people of God as four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. The muster is of leaders and representatives come together before God's people with a vast armed host. The events belong to the early period of the judges, before the story's conclusion in chapter 16.
The verse belongs to the closing chapters of Judges. It belongs to the account of the crime at Gibeah and of the whole tribe of Benjamin identifying itself with the men involved. It belongs to the account of the Levite's concubine being murdered at Gibeah, an outrage that nearly led to the extermination of the tribe of Benjamin.
Those closing chapters are a record of Israel's backsliding and of the low state into which the nation had fallen before the call of Samuel, resulting in disgrace and punishment. The account shows tribal loyalty taking precedence over justice, a wrong that has no excuse. The chapter shows that Benjamin had become the least and nearly extinct tribe, and God in divine wisdom chose Israel's king from that tribe to remove all grounds of jealousy among the other tribes. The passage stands in mighty contrast to the miracles and teaching of Jesus recorded in Luke, yet like them it speaks of the goodness and mercy of God.