1 Samuel 9:6

6. In this city The city here referred to could not have been Ramah, Samuel’s home, as most commentators have assumed, for that lay five miles north of Jerusalem, (see note on 1 Samuel 1:1,) and Saul and his servant were now somewhere in the vicinity of Rachel’s tomb. 1 Samuel 10:2. What city it was we are nowhere told. But if it was not Samuel’s place of residence, how did Saul’s servant know that Samuel was there? This question we can answer only by conjecture, and the most plausible conjecture is, that this servant had heard on their route, or before they left Gibeah, that Samuel was to be at this city at this time. He seems to have had considerable knowledge of Samuel’s history and character, and would, therefore, naturally inform himself of his movements. See note on 1 Samuel 9:3. From 1 Samuel 9:12 we also learn that the prophet’s visit to the place in question was a hasty one, for he had come to the city on that day, and the maidens tell Saul and his servant to hasten if they would see him, implying that if they did not make haste he might depart from the city before they arrived. This place, being not far from Rachel’s tomb, could not have been either of the cities mentioned 1 Samuel 7:16-17, and regularly visited by Samuel in his yearly circuit. His going aside, therefore, from his usual circuit to bless the sacrifice in this more southern city may have caused special notices of it to be spread in that part of the country, and thus Saul’s servant might have gained his information.