1 Samuel 10:17

17 Shemu'el called the people together to the LORD to Mitzpah;

1 Samuel 10:17 Meaning and Commentary

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, ( 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 conjectures that the ark might be brought hither at this time, the symbol of the divine Presence; though wherever the church and people of God were gathered together in his name, in a solemn manner, there the Lord was.

1 Samuel 10:17 In-Context

15 Sha'ul's uncle said, Tell me, Please, what Shemu'el said to you.

16 Sha'ul said to his uncle, He told us plainly that the donkeys were found. But concerning the matter of the kingdom, whereof Shemu'el spoke, he didn't tell him.

17 Shemu'el called the people together to the LORD to Mitzpah;

18 and he said to the children of Yisra'el, Thus says the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, I brought up Yisra'el out of Mitzrayim, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Mitzrim, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you:

19 but you have this day rejected your God, who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to him, [No], but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands.