1 Samuel 8-9: Where's the King?

Samuel had been a faithful servant to the Lord God, but his sons did not follow his lead.  Much like the sons of Eli, his predecessor, they were more interested in 'what's in it for me?' than in serving God. This was obvious to even the Israelites, so they ask Samuel for a king.  God told Samuel that he, Samuel, was not the one the people were rejecting, but the kingship of the Lord God himself.  God also tells Samuel to relay to the people what their life will be like under the king.  How the King will take the best of everything, their crops, their land, their flocks, and even their children, for his own benefit.  That does not discourage the Israelites.  'But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us.  Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." ' - 1 Sam. 8:19-20 NIV

So Samuel goes looking for a king.  And where does he find him?  He finds him wandering about, looking for a bunch of donkey's.  He's a big, strapping boy, but he's lost, and furthermore, he's from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel.  They became so small when the rest of the Israelites almost annihilated them because of their sinful treatment of the Levite and his concubine.  Even Saul protests that he should not be king.  'Saul answered, "But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?"  - 1 Sam. 9:21 NIV

But Saul was not of Samuel's choosing, he was chosen by God.  The people asked for a king, they would get one.  Saul may have not been what they needed, but he was what they deserved.