Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent.
Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel. This hand of picked men was a body-guard who were kept constantly on duty, while the rest of the people were dismissed until their services might be needed. It seems to have been his tactics to attack the Philistine garrisons in the country by different detachments, rather than by risking a general engagement; and his first operations were directed to emancipate his native territory of Benjamin from the occupation of these enemies.