Draw ye near hither. — Round that rough unfinished altar, in the dark night, King Saul hastily summoned his leading officers and the prominent chiefs of the Israelites who had joined him in the late battle. The word rendered “chief of the people” (pinnoth) is literally, corner stones (as in Judges 20:2).
He would ask God’s help in the casting of lots, to discover who of these was the transgressor, whose sin made dumb the Divine Oracle.