Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 10:25

"Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before Jehovah. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house." — 1 Samuel 10:25 (ASV)

Wrote it in a book. —The “Law of the Kingdom,” which Samuel declared to the people, and which he wrote in a scroll, and solemnly deposited and preserved among the State archives, pertained to the divinely established rights and duties of the God-appointed king, and also clearly outlined the limitations of his power. The earthly representative of the invisible King could not be an arbitrary despot, unless he plainly and openly transgressed the “manner of the kingdom” written in a book, and placed before the Lord by Samuel.

This sacred document, we may assume, also contained the exact details of the singular story of the choice of the first king of Israel. Samuel, no doubt, thought it well that future generations should know exactly how it happened that he, the seer, anointed the Benjamite of Gibeah as king over the Lord’s inheritance. Therefore, we may fairly conclude that from the record deposited among the sacred archives in the sanctuary, the compiler or redactor of this “Book of Samuel” derived his intimate knowledge of every little fact connected with the Divine choice of Saul.

The legal portion of this writing concerning the kingdom was, of course, strictly based on what Moses had already written on this subject in Deuteronomy (see 1 Samuel 17:14–20).

Here, in this writing of Samuel, we find the first trace of literary composition among the Israelites since the days of Moses. The great literary revival that began shortly after the days of Saul was most probably due to the influence of Samuel and those great schools of the prophets which he had established in the land.

And laid it up before the Lord. —We are not told where this was done, but the words seem to imply that the document, or scroll, was placed beside the Ark, then in the “city of woods,” Kiriath-yearim. Josephus says this writing was preserved in the Tabernacle of the Holy of Holies, where the Book of the Law had been laid up (Deuteronomy 31:26).

And Samuel sent all the people away. —It is noteworthy that even after the formal popular ratification of Saul’s election as king, it is Samuel who dismisses the assembly. Indeed, throughout the remainder of the great seer’s life, whenever he appears on the scene, he is evidently the principal person, occupying a position above king or priest. On the other hand, after this period Samuel made comparatively few public appearances; of his own free will he seems to have retired into privacy, and only left his retirement in emergencies.