1 Samuel 9:6
And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go. And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.
This verse belongs to the time when all the elders of Israel gathered together to Samuel at Ramah and told him that he was old and his sons did not walk in his ways, and asked him to make them a king to judge them like all the nations. His sons had turned aside after lucre and had taken bribes and perverted judgment. The demand for a king was driven by discontent and pride and was made with deliberate purpose. Samuel did not reproach the elders for it but carried the matter to the Lord alone in prayer to seek counsel.
The immediate setting is the failure of Saul and his servant in searching to find the lost animals. At that point Samuel was regarded by the people as a man of God and an honorable man, whose every word surely came to pass. It was Saul's servant who proposed going to him in the city to ask him to show them the way they should go in order to find the animals. The servant's offer of a small piece of silver to bring to him was a customary sign of respect, not a bribe.