1 Samuel 18:18

18 And David said to Saul, "Who am I, and who are my kinsfolk, my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?"

1 Samuel 18:18 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 18:18

And David said unto Saul
Surprised at the offer Saul made him, yet not refusing it, but expressing himself with great modesty and humility:

who [am] I?
as to his person, parentage, and employment, mean and despicable, at least in his own eyes, a type of the lowly Jesus, ( Matthew 11:29 ) ;

and what [is] my life?
keeping sheep, for from thence was he taken and advanced; though some think his meaning is, that to hazard his life, as Saul proposed, was not equivalent to such an honour he meant to confer upon him, and that he was ready to do it at all times:

[or] my father's family in Israel;
though in an honourable tribe, and was an honourable family, yet it seems not to be very great, at least was not in David's esteem worthy of such high advancement, as that one of it should be so nearly related to the king; Ben Gersom thinks David has reference to the original of his family, Ruth the Moabitess:

that I should be son in law to the king?
as he would be by marrying his daughter.

1 Samuel 18:18 In-Context

16 But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them.

17 Then Saul said to David, "Here is my elder daughter Merab; I will give her to you for a wife; only be valiant for me and fight the LORD'S battles." For Saul thought, "Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him."

18 And David said to Saul, "Who am I, and who are my kinsfolk, my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?"

19 But at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to A'driel the Meho'lathite for a wife.

20 Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.