Shmuel Alef 10:17

17 And Shmuel called HaAm together unto Hashem at Mitzpah;

Shmuel Alef 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.

Shmuel Alef 10:17 In-Context

15 And the dod Sha’ul said, Tell me, now, what Shmuel said unto you.

16 And Sha’ul said unto his dod, He told us plainly that the donkeys were found. But of the matter of the melukhah (kingship), whereof Shmuel spoke, he told him not.

17 And Shmuel called HaAm together unto Hashem at Mitzpah;

18 And said unto the Bnei Yisroel, Thus saith Hashem Elohei Yisroel, I brought up Yisroel out of Mitzrayim, and delivered you out of the yad Mitzrayim, and out of the yad kol HaMamlachot, and of them that oppressed you;

19 And ye have this day rejected Eloheichem, who Himself was Moshi’a for you out of all your adversities and your tzoroses; and ye have said unto Him, No, but set a Melech over us. Now therefore present yourselves before Hashem by your Shevatim (Tribes), and by your alefim (thousands, larger kinship units).