And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal; and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
All the people went to Gilgal ... and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord.
Peace offerings could be offered only at the sanctuary (see the note at 1 Samuel 13:9; 2 Samuel 24:25). On the occasion of the election of a king, there was a general convention of the nation through its representatives. It was a solemn festival of the people, and it is probable that the tabernacle was at hand; because, since it was moveable, and in point of fact had many temporary stations (Joshua 18:1; Joshua 24:25-26; 1 Samuel 1:9; 1 Samuel 7:2; 1 Samuel 15:24; 1 Samuel 21:1-15; 1 Chronicles 21:29); and, moreover, as David in his disastrous flight was accompanied by the ark (see the note at Joshua 24:1; 2 Samuel 15:24), it is probable that the tabernacle had its place in later times at the official abode of the chief magistrate; and consequently that Gilgal was in all probability chosen as the scene of Saul's inauguration, and the place of peace (i:e., federal) offerings, in consequence of the tabernacle being there (see 'Israel after the Flesh,' p. 147). 'The late period at which the regal form of government was established in Israel is an evidence of the divine origin of the law, which in a certain degree provides for it, yet disapproves of and restrains it. It was not unproductive of advantage to the permanent interests of religion that this great change was delayed by Providence until the Mosaic law had subsisted long enough to prove that its first establishment had not originated in any human policy, and that its subsequent support was independent of any human power' (Graves, 2:, pp. 161, 162).