It was so on the next day, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it happened, that those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
The response of the Israelites constituted the greatest show of military strength since Joshua’s day (assuming eleph means "thousand" here). Bezek stood about 16 miles west of Jabesh-gilead on the River Jordan’s western side (cf. Judges 1:4-5). The division of the soldiers into Israelites and Judahites probably reflects the division of the nation that existed when the writer wrote this book. There is no evidence that such a division existed when the event recorded here happened.