1 Samuel 16:2

And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear [it], he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.

Ver. 2. And Samuel said, How can I go?] This he might ask, not so much out of diffidence - for he was old and experienced; and if Solon could say, I fear not to oppose Pisistratus the tyrant, because I am old and must shortly die howsoever, much better might Samuel - as out of a desire to be directed, as Luke 1:34 .

And say, I am come to sacrifice.] This a prophet might do at any time, and in any place. "In everything give thanks." But when a king was to be anointed, there was a kind of necessity in this service. Neither was Samuel bound to tell all that he came about. Some part of a truth may lawfully be concealed out of civil prudence. See the like done, Jeremiah 38:27 .