If the antecedent of the pronoun he will not be clearly understood, it will be necessary to use the name “Saul.”

The English word mustered is a technical military term, meaning to gather together the military or enroll people in the army in order to go fight. The same Hebrew verb occurs with this same sense in 2 Sam 18.1, and a different Hebrew verb has this same meaning in 13.5, 11. In the present context it may mean “gathered” or, after having brought the troops together, “reviewed” (New American Bible) or “inspected” (New Jerusalem Bible).

Bezek, a town on the west side of the Jordan River about nineteen kilometers (twelve miles) northeast of Shechem and about seventy kilometers (forty-four miles) north of Jerusalem, is mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament only at Judges 1.4-5.

Three hundred thousand … thirty thousand: the Septuagint has even larger numbers: 600,000 and 70,000. New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible follow the Greek in stating that the number from Judah was 70,000, since this is also supported by a manuscript from Qumran. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project has no discussion of this textual problem. The Masoretic Text, as reflected in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, should be followed.

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 .