Israel asks for a king; Saul anointed
Tired of Samuel's corrupt sons and wanting to be like the nations, Israel demanded a king; God gave them Saul of Benjamin.
Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them.”
1 Samuel 8:7 (World English Bible)
Samuel warned what a king would cost them: their sons for his army, their daughters for his kitchens, a tenth of their harvests. The people insisted. God told Samuel the request was really a rejection of God himself as their king, yet he let them have what they asked for.
Samuel anointed Saul privately, then presented him to the nation at Mizpah, where the tall young man was found hiding among the baggage.
Places
BethelGibeahGilgalMizpahBeershebaRamahGibeath-elohimShaalimShalishahTaborZelzahZuph
Dating notes
Ussher dates Saul's anointing to 1095 BC, 21 years after Eli's death, and counts Saul's reign as 40 years (Acts 13:21). The Hebrew text of 1 Samuel 13:1, which should give Saul's age and reign length, is damaged, so these numbers are debated.