C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 15:12

1Sa 15:12

The next morning, after receiving the revelation from God (1Sa 15:11), Samuel rose up early, to go and meet Saul as he was returning from the war. On the way it was told him, “Saul has come to Carmel” - i.e., Kurmul, upon the mountains of Judah to the south-east of Hebron (see at Jos 15:55) - “setting himself a memorial” (יד, a hand, then a memorial or monument, inasmuch as the hand calls attention to anything: see 2Sa 18:18), “and has turned and proceeded farther, and gone down to Gilgal” (in the valley of the Jordan, as in 1Sa 13:4).