1 Samuel 16:4

Beth-lehem Beth-lehem ("house of bread") was the later name of the ancient town of Ephrath(Genesis 48:7). It was situated about five miles south of Jerusalem, a short distance east of the road from Jerusalem to Hebron. As the scene of the fresh picture of domestic life contained in the book of Ruth it would possess no common interest, but as the "city of David" (Luke 2:4), and the birthplace of Him of Whom David was a type, it is, next to Jerusalem itself, the most sacred spot on earth. Here too, it should be remembered, "beside what he believed to be literally the cradle of the Christian faith … Jerome composed the famous translation of the Scriptures which is still the -Biblia Vulgata" of the Latin Church." Stanley's Sin. and Pal., p. 442.

the elders of the town, &c. The elders of the city (see note on 1 Samuel 8:4) came to meet him trembling. Perhaps Samuel's visits were often made with the view of rebuking sin and correcting abuses, and hence their alarm: or the breach between him and Saul may have made the elders afraid of incurring the royal displeasure by welcoming him.