1 Samuel 18:19

19 But it came to pass at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite for a wife.

1 Samuel 18:19 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 18:19

But it came to pass, at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter,
should have been given to David
Either when the giving of her to him was talked of, or when the time fixed for her marriage was come:

that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite to wife:
Saul either having in reality never designed she should be given to David, only proposed it to please the people, or to affront David, and expose him to shame and confusion by the step he meant to take, or however he soon changed his mind; though Abarbinel's notion is, that the young lady had disposed of herself to this person without her father's knowledge, which seems not likely; the person she was given to was the son of Barzillai the Meholathite, ( 2 Samuel 21:8 ) ; and some have observed, as the curse of God on this match, that all her sons were delivered to the Gibeonites, and hanged up, as related in the same place; for though these sons are said to be brought up by Michal, they were bore by Merab to him.

1 Samuel 18:19 In-Context

17 And Saul said to David, "Behold my elder daughter Merab; her will I give thee for a wife. Only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD'S battles." For Saul said, "Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him."

18 And David said unto Saul, "Who am I? And what is my life or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?"

19 But it came to pass at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite for a wife.

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

21 And Saul said, "I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." Therefore Saul said to David, "Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law through one of the two."