שמואל א, פרק י׳, פסוק כ״א

The public selection of Israel's first king reaches its dramatic climax through a process of elimination, narrowing the focus from an entire tribe down to a single man. Yet, at the very moment of his revelation, the chosen individual is nowhere to be found.

To begin the final stage of selection, the chosen tribe is divided and evaluated according to its constituent families [ביאור שטיינזלץ, מנחת שי]. Through a lottery system, the family of Matri is singled out. The narrative then condenses the sequence of events, omitting the specific step where the individual men of the Matri family are brought forward to pass before the prophet one by one. It is only after this unrecorded progression that Saul is ultimately identified as the chosen leader [רד״ק].

Since Saul is entirely absent during this critical moment, a practical question arises as to how the lottery could fall upon him. The procedure was carried out by writing the names of the eligible men on slips of paper and placing them into a box. The prophet, or the individual administering the lottery, reached inside and drew the specific slip bearing Saul's name [רש״י, מצודת דוד]. Once his identity is confirmed from among his family members, the people immediately search for him in order to formally crown him, only to discover that he cannot be found [ביאור שטיינזלץ].