When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, Come, and let us return, lest my father leave off caring for the donkeys, and be anxious for us.
"When they came to the land of Zuph"  (1 Samuel 9:5).  "This was the territory in which Ramah was located."[7]  It is assumed by most commentators that Samuel's home town of Ramah was the city to which Saul and his servant came on this journey; however, Keil denied this, pointing out that the text nowhere mentions `Ramah,' also writing that, "What town it really was cannot be determined."[8]  Keil based his opinion upon the failure of the text specifically to mention the town's name; but Payne gives an adequate reason for that omission.  He stressed the artistry of the narrator here and stated that, "The name `Ramah' was deliberately avoided, because the narrator did not wish to give it away too soon that a meeting with Samuel was about to take place."[9]