The people of Israel and their elders had demanded that Samuel appoint a king for Israel. God had shown Samuel who his choice was, but now the people need to see it was the Lord who chose Saul. The prophet and judge, Samuel, had not merely made a human choice when he anointed Saul, but was following divine leadership.

Samuel calls the people to meet at Mizpah in a divine assembly. At Mizpah Saul is selected by lot from all the possible rivals who could lay claim to a right to rule. Samuel follows this selection of Saul by lot by stating;

“Do you see the man the Lord has chosen?
There is no one like him among all the people!”

Samuel is verbalizing the divine selection of Saul and stating the fact that no one else could claim that they had been chosen at this solemn assembly. There is, indeed, “no one like” Saul who had been chosen and had a future in God’s plans as the king, ruler, leader and judge of Israel. The people’s only response is to accept the Lord’s choice, so they respond by saying:         

“Long live the king!”

This legality of this assembly and the establishment of this kingship were confirmed and documented in written form and placed in the sanctuary (which may have been at the High Place of Gibeah since Shiloh had fallen.) This document would have included the rights and responsibilities of both the king and his subjects. It was the legal documents of the suzerain covenant between these two parties. It is worth noting that literacy is an assumed acquired educational trait that was commonly available in Israel. The creation and spread of the phonetic alphabet by the Phoenicians (Canaanites) around 1200 BC would have made mastery of reading and writing very accessible in Israel at this time (1050 BC)

Interestingly, instead of immediately assuming his role as king and ruler over the twelve tribes, Saul, probably following the model set by the judges, returned to his home, to his farm and to his work on his land. The main difference is that a group of patriots anticipating a conflict for the liberation of Israel from the Philistines accompany Saul back to his home. They stand ready to assist the chosen man of God in his service to his nation. (There is a group of dissenters in 1 Samuel 10:27 and 11:12)

Why the Late Date
is Wrong
Some critics of the Old Testament reject the idea that Moses wrote Genesis thru Deuteronomy in 1400 BC. Instead they say the first five books of the Old Testament were forged around the time of Josiah’s reform in 621 BC, or when the Jews returned from the Babylonian Captivity in 500 BC. This theory is wrong for several reasons. Imagine what would have
happened if the scribes and priests had suddenly presented a written copy of the “Law of Moses” to the Jews for the very first time in 621 BC or 535 BC. Imagine an entire generation of Jews
being told that priests had found some authoritive documents that they had previously lost, that included never seen before information concerning ancestors, history, God and religion. How could they have suddenly accepted:
1. A man named Moses led them out of slavery 900 ago.
2. The men needed to practice circumcision, now!
3. The priests who had lost these books, had now "found" these books.
4. The priests were in charge of a religious system that required that the people support these same priests with tithes and offerings.
5. People needed to build a temple and keep festivals celebrating events that they had never heard of before.