So the cook took up the leg and what was on it and set them before Saul. And Samuel said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.
Samuel wore no robes, no retinue, no badge of office; he looked like a porter, not a prophet, so Saul never guessed who he was. Yet great worth hides often under mean appearance. Samuel knew his man before his man knew Samuel; so it is with all whom God calls to glory, He knows them first.
AI summary
Commenting on 1 Samuel 9:18-27
And the cook took up the shoulder, and that which was upon it,.... Meaning either, as some think, some sauce that was poured on it, or garnish about it; or the thigh, as the Targum, and so Jarchi, Kimchi, and others; or rather the breast, as a more ancient Jew (o); since this joined to the shoulder before separated, and in sacrifices went along with...
the cook took up the shoulder . . . and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that which is left; set it before thee, and eat--that is, reserved (see on Gen 18:7; Gen 43:34). This was, most probably, the right shoulder; which, as the perquisite of the sacrifice, belonged to Samuel, and which he had set aside for his expected guest.