The Biblical Antiquities of Philo

1. And Samuel sent and gathered all the people, and said unto them: Lo, ye and your king are here, and I am betwixt you, as the Lord commanded me.

1 Sam. 12:1-4

2. And therefore I say unto you, before the face of your king, even as my lord Moses; the servant of God, said unto your fathers in the wilderness, when the synagogue of Core arose against him: Ye know that I have not taken aught of you, neither have I wronged any of you; and because certain lied at that time and said, Thou didst take, the earth swallowed them up.⁽¹⁾

3. Now, therefore, do ye whom the Lord hath not punished answer before the Lord and before his anointed, if it be for this cause that ye have required a king, because I have evil entreated you, and the Lord shall be your witness. But if, now the word of the Lord is fulfilled, I am free, and my father's house.

4. And the people answered: We are thy servants and our king with us; because we are unworthy to be judged by a prophet, therefore said we: Appoint a king over us to judge us. And all the people and the king wept with a great lamentation, and said: Let Samuel the prophet live. And when the king was appointed they offered sacrifices unto the Lord.

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5. And after that Saul fought with the Philistines one year, and the battle prospered greatly.⁽²⁾