1 Samuel 10:17

17 Then Samuel summoned the people to Yahweh at Mizpah,

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 So Saul's uncle said to him, "Please tell me, what did Samuel say to you?"

16 Then Saul said to his uncle, "He told us for certain that the female donkeys had been found." But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingship [of] which Samuel had spoken.

17 Then Samuel summoned the people to Yahweh at Mizpah,

18 and he said to the {Israelites}, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that [were] oppressing you.'

19 But you today have rejected your God who always delivers you from all of your calamities and your distresses. You have said to him, 'No, but you must appoint a king over us!' So then present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes and by your clans."