“If we do go,” Saul replied, “what can we give the man? For the bread in our packs is gone, and there is no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”
God raises the poor from dust to set them among princes, not by chance or human planning but by His own counsel. Saul steps into the throne from nothing, yet we find him first in the humblest errand, seeking his father's lost asses. His ready obedience to his father in this small thing is commendable, and it shows us that those entrusted with much should know the state of their possessions, and children should serve their parents' interests faithfully.
AI summary
Commenting on 1 Samuel 9:3-10
Then Saul said to his servant, but behold, if we go,.... The Targum is,"if he receives money,''which it seems Saul was not clear in; some sort of persons that set up for prophets, and a sort of diviners and fortune tellers, did; but he could not tell whether so eminent and honourable a person as Samuel was, did; in as much he was not better...
Saul said to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man?--According to Eastern notions, it would be considered a want of respect for any person to go into the presence of a superior man of rank or of official station without a present of some kind in his hand, however trifling in value.