Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” Yahweh said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.
And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear [it], he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. (b) That is, to make a peace offering, which may be done even though the ark was not there.
And Samuel said, how can I go?.... Which argues weakness of faith in Samuel, and fear of man, and a diffidence in and distrust of divine power; for otherwise he that sent him on such an errand could protect him: if Saul hear it, he will kill me; should hear that Samuel went and anointed another king, it would so enrage him, that he would...
Samuel grieves too long for a man God has discarded. The decree is fixed; tears cannot alter it. Let him take comfort: Israel loses nothing, for God Himself has found a king after His own heart to fill the breach.
AI summary
Commenting on 1 Samuel 16:1-5