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.
The lot (1 Samuel 10:20) showed all Israel that Saul was God’s choice, not Samuel’s (cf. Joshua 7:14-18). That is, he was the king God permitted (Proverbs 16:33). Was Saul hiding because he was humble or because he was afraid to assume the mantel of leadership? My judgment is that he was humble since there are other indications of this quality in chapters 9 and 10 (cf. Proverbs 25:6-7).