as soon as you are come into the city, you shall immediately find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he come, because he does bless the sacrifice; [and] afterwards they eat who are invited. Now therefore get you up; for at this time you shall find him.
The high place (1 Samuel 9:12) was a hilltop on which the people offered sacrifices and may have been Mizpah (lit. watchtower; cf. 1 Samuel 7:9), or a town near Bethlehem (lit. house of bread, i.e., granary). [Note: Wood, Israel’s United . . ., p. 78, n. 12.] 