Merab

Increase, the eldest of Saul’s two daughters (1 Sam. 14:49). She was betrothed to David after his victory over Goliath, but does not seem to have entered heartily into this arrangement (18:2, 17, 19). She was at length, however, married to Adriel of Abel-Meholah, a town in the Jordan valley, about 10 miles south of Bethshean, with whom the house of Saul maintained alliance. She had five sons, who were all put to death by the Gibeonites on the hill of Gibeah (2 Sam. 21:8).

me'-rab (merabh "increase"; Merob): The elder daughter of Saul (1Sa 14:49), promised, though not by name, to the man who should slay the Philistine Goliath (1Sa 17:25). David did this and was afterward taken by Saul to court (1Sa 18:2), where he was detained in great honor. Merab was not, however, given to him as quickly as the incident would lead one to expect, and the sequel showed some unwillingness on the part of some persons in the contract to complete the promise. The adulation of the crowd who met David on his return from Philistine warfare and gave him a more favorable ascription than to Saul (1Sa 18:6-16) awoke the angry jealousy of Saul. He "eyed David from that day and forward" (1Sa 18:9). Twice David had to "avoid" the "evil spirit" in Saul (1Sa 18:11). Saul also feared David (1Sa 18:12), and this led him to incite the youth to more dangerous deeds of valor against the Philistines by a renewed promise of Merab. He will have David's life, but rather by the hand of the Philistines than his own (1Sa 18:17). Merab was to be the bait. But now another element complicated matters--Michal's love for David (1Sa 18:20), which may have been the retarding factor from the first. At any rate Merab is finally given to Adriel the Meholathite (1Sa 18:19). The passage in 2Sa 21:8 doubtless contains an error--Michal's name occurring for that of her sister Merab--though the Septuagint, Josephus, and a consistent Hebrew text all perpetuate it, as well as the concise meaning of the Hebrew word Yaladh, which is a physiological word for bearing children, and cannot be translated "brought up." A Targum explanation reads: "The 5 sons of Merab (which Michal, Saul's daughter brought up) which she bare," etc. Another suggestion reads the word "sister" after Michal in the possessive case, leaving the text otherwise as it stands. It is possible that Merab died comparatively young, and that her children were left in the care of their aunt, especially when it is said she herself had none (2Sa 6:23). The simplest explanation is to assume a scribal error, with the suggestion referred to as a possible explanation of it. The lonely Michal (2Sa 6:20-23) became so identified with her (deceased) sister's children that they became, in a sense, hers.

Henry Wallace

• → Daughter of King Saul 1Sa 14:49
• → Betrothed to David by Saul 1Sa 18:17,18
• → But given to Adriel for a wife 1Sa 18:19