שמואל א, פרק כ״ו, פסוק ב׳

Saul's relentless hunt for David resumes as the king once again mobilizes a large military force to track down his rival. He marches into the Wilderness of Ziph, targeting the specific desert region where the hill of Hachilah is located [מצודת דוד].

Saul brings three thousand men with him on this journey. This specific number shows that he is deploying an army of the exact same scale that characterized his earlier campaigns against David [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Furthermore, these soldiers are not merely average young men or standard troops. They are an elite force of warriors, carefully hand-picked and sorted by Saul from the entire nation specifically to carry out this mission [מלבי״ם].