but you have this day rejected your God, who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to him, [No], but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes, and by your thousands.
". . . 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.] 