1 Samuel 10:17

“And Samuel called the people together unto the Lord at Mizpeh.] Not that in Gilead, but in the tribe of Benjamin, where the people had been before convened on a certain occasion, (<090705>1 Samuel 7:5) and the people called together could not be every individual of the nation, but the heads and elders of the people, their representatives, and who were summoned by the orders of Samuel; perhaps by an herald making proclamation and cry of the same, as the word signifies; and these were gathered together to the Lord, to have the following affair transacted before him, and under his guidance and direction; the priest perhaps being here with the Urim and Thummim, as Kimchi thinks, and who also…”

“Samuel called the people together . . . at Mizpeh--a shaft-like hill near Hebron, five hundred feet in height. The national assemblies of the Israelites were held there. A day having been appointed for the election of a king, Samuel, after having charged the people with a rejection of God's institution and a superseding of it by one of their own, proceeded to the nomination of the new monarch. As it was of the utmost importance that the appointment should be under the divine direction and control, the determination was made by the miraculous lot, tribes, families, and individuals being successively passed until Saul was found. His concealment of himself must have been the result either of…”

“10:17 An earlier generation had gathered at Mizpah to decimate the tribe of Benjamin (Judg 20:1-4), making the city an ironic place to inaugurate a man of Benjamin as king.”

“unto the Lord: Sa1 7:5, Sa1 7:6; Jdg 20:1 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 10:18”

“Saul's Election by Lot. - After Samuel had secretly anointed Saul king by the command of God, it was his duty to make provision for a recognition of the man whom God had chosen on the part of the people also. To this end he summoned the people to Mizpeh, and there instructed the tribes to choose a king by lot. As the result of the lot was regarded as a divine decision, not only was Saul to be accredited by this act in the sight of the whole nation as the king appointed by the Lord, but he himself was also to be more fully assured of the certainty of his own election on the part of God. - (Note: Thenius follows De Wette, and adduces the incompatibility of 1 Samuel 8 and Sa1 10:17-27 with Sa1…”