And Saul answered and said, am not I a Benjamite,.... Or the son of Jemini, the name of one of his ancestors, see 1Sa 9:1 or rather, as the Targum, a son of the tribe of Benjamin:of the smallest of the tribes of Israel?
having been greatly reduced, even to the number of six hundred men, by the fatal war between that tribe and the rest, on account of the Levite's concubine, and is called little Benjamin, Ps 68:27.and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin?
the smallest in number, had the least share of authority in the tribe, and of land and cattle, wealth and substance:wherefore then speakest thou so to me? Saul presently understood Samuel's meaning, that he should be chosen king of Israel, the affair of a king being at this time in everyone's mind and mouth; but could not believe that one of so small a tribe, and which sprung from the youngest son of Jacob, and of so mean a family, would be raised to such dignity, but that a person of great figure and character would be settled upon; and, therefore he took Samuel to be in joke, as Josephus says, and not in earnest.
Antiqu. l. 6. c. 4. sect.