The Hebrew leaves implicit the reason that Saul chose three thousand men, but the immediate context makes clear that these men are chosen to fight in Saul’s army. The context also seems to suggest that the three thousand make up Saul’s standing or active army. The rest of the people, whom he sent home, were reserve members of his army.
Three thousand men: this is probably a round number (see the comments on 24.2).
The wording of Revised Standard Version, using were with, may possibly be understood to be an explanation of where these soldiers were before they were selected by Saul for this mission. But this is certainly not the case. Rather, this is an explanation of where the troops were told to go after they were chosen. It is therefore probably better to supply the verbs “remained … [in Michmash]” and “went [to … Gibeah].”
Michmash: this town was located about twelve kilometers (about seven miles) north of Jerusalem and a few kilometers southeast of the city of Bethel. It was on the north bank of a steep valley that ran west from the Jordan Valley into the hill country.
Jonathan, Saul’s son, is mentioned here for the first time in 1 and 2 Samuel, but he is not identified as Saul’s son until verse 16. Good News Translation has moved this information to verse 2 from verse 16, since the original reader would have very likely known it already.
Gibe-ah was opposite Michmash on the south bank of the Wadi es-Swenit, which runs from the hill country of Palestine to the Jordan River (see the comment on 10.5 and comments regarding “Geba” below in verse 3). Together these two villages held military control over the valley.
The rest … he sent home, every man to his tent: Good News Translation omits every man …, since it expresses the same idea as sent home. Other ways of translating this may avoid the repetition of the Hebrew while maintaining the reference to tents. New Revised Standard Version says “the rest of the people he sent home to their tents.” The translation in New American Bible (“He sent the rest of the people back to their tents”) may not be a good model, since readers may not realize that returning to their tents means returning home.
In this context the rest of the people refers specifically to the reserve members of the army (as in verses 4, 6, 8, and frequently elsewhere). Translators may find New Century Version a helpful model: “Saul sent the other men in the army back home.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .