And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.

And Samuel brought to him all the tribes of Israel, and the lot fell on the tribe of Benjamin.

And Samuel bringeth near the whole tribes of Israel, and the tribe of Benjamin is captured,

Caused to come near was taken - The Hebrew phrases are exactly the same as in Joshua 7:16-17, where the King James Version renders the first has "brought."

And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was (h) taken.
(h) That is, by casting of lot.

And when Samuel had caused all the tribes to come near,.... The heads and representatives of them, to the place where the lots were cast:
the tribe of Benjamin was taken; the lot fell upon that tribe for the choice of a king out of it; not the tribe of, Reuben, who was the firstborn, nor the tribe of Judah, to whom the kingdom was promised, but the tribe of Benjamin, the least of all the tribes, and which sprung from the youngest son of Jacob, contrary, as it were probable, to the expectation of all.

Benjamin - Which tribe was now preferred before Judah, because the kingdom was freely promised by God to Judah, and was to be given to him in love; but now the kingdom was in a manner forced from God, and given them in anger and therefore conferred upon an obscure tribe.