1 Samuel 9:24 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

And Samuel said. — There is an error here in the English translation which requires correction. Although the matter is not one of great moment, yet it is important and deeply interesting to notice the little details that the inspired historian has thought it right to preserve in connection with this whole transaction. There was, no doubt, a very early and authentic tradition of the circumstance of this anointing of the first king, which was, of course, often rehearsed in the sacred assemblies of Israel. “Samuel’s name is not given in the Hebrew, and though inserted by the LXX. and Vulg., it is so only by a manifest error. The Syriac and Chaldee, like the Hebrew, make the cook the speaker. The right translation is, And the cook lifted up the shoulder, with that which was upon it, and set it before Saul, and said, Behold that which hath been reserved is set (a participle, and not the imperative) before thee; eat, for it hath been kept for thee unto the appointed time, of which he (i.e., Samuel) spake, saying, I have invited the people. The word translated in the Authorised Version, “since I said,” is one which means saying, and nothing else; and as what goes before contains no verb to which saying can refer, it is plain that there is an ellipse. But if the cook be the speaker, the meaning is plain, as follows: — When, on the previous day, the revelation was made to Samuel that Israel’s future king would present himself on the morrow, the prophet at once made preparations to receive him with due solemnity, and for this purpose arranged a sacrifice, and invited thirty of the chief citizens of Ramah to assemble at the high place, and sit at the banquet with him. And then it was, when telling the cook of his invitation, that he gave orders that the portion of honour should be carefully reserved, to be set at the fitting time before the stranger. The chat of the cook is entirely after the manner of ancient times, and would show Saul how completely his coming had been foreseen and provided for.” — Dean Payne Smith, in Pulpit Comm.