1 Samuel 9:19
And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart. And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart.
The meeting that frames the saying took place when all the elders of Israel gathered at Ramah to ask for a king to judge them like all the nations. The injustice of Samuel's sons was used as a pretext for a change long secretly desired from discontent and pride, while no complaint was made against Samuel's own integrity and wisdom. Samuel felt the request as censure upon himself and a direct effort to set him aside, yet he uttered no reproach but carried the matter to the Lord in prayer and sought counsel from Him alone.
In the encounter itself Samuel identified himself as the seer and invited Saul to go up before him to the high place to eat with him that day and share the feast. His words hinted that a great destiny lay ahead for Saul and began to reveal it. That destiny was that Saul was the man chosen to become king of Israel, a role bound up with the nation's desire for a king. Saul answered with modest self-depreciation, pointing to the low standing of his tribe and his family.