Saul and his attendant are invited by the seer-priest Samuel into the banqueting chamber (lishkah) where thirty persons partake of the sacrificial meal.
The young Saul was chosen by lot and gained unanimous recognition by delivering Jabesh in Gilead from the Ammonites.
The heroic figure who stands at the head is Saul (" asked "), and two accounts of his rise are recorded.
It is precisely in Saul's time that the account of the Judaean monarchy, or perhaps of the monarchy from the Judaean standpoint, now begins.