Yahweh said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? fill your horn with oil, and go: I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided me a king among his sons.
"How can I go?  If Saul hears it, he will kill me."  (1 Samuel 16:2). In the light of this text, it is unnecessary to speculate on why Samuel was reluctant to go to Bethlehem to anoint Saul's successor.  He tells us here that he was afraid Saul would kill him.  This also reflects back on Samuel's accompanying Saul to worship after refusing at first to do so  (1 Samuel 15:31) where the same reason probably influenced Samuel's action in that incident.