Samuel said to all the people, "You see him whom Yahweh has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people?" All the people shouted, and said, [Long] live the king.
". . . it remains very clear that God did not choose this king for Himself, but rather for the people. In other words, though God actually appointed Saul, Saul did not in the final analysis represent God’s choice, but the people’s choice." [Note: G. Coleman Luck, "The First Glimpse of the First King of Israel," Bibliotheca Sacra 123:489 (January-March 1966):51.] 