ADRIEL

(Aʹdri·el).

The son of Barzillai, from the city of Abel-meholah.

Adriel was given Saul’s oldest daughter Merab as wife, though she had previously been promised to David. (1Sa 18:17-19) All of Adriel’s five sons were later surrendered for execution to help atone for Saul’s attempted annihilation of the Gibeonites. (2Sa 21:8, 9) In this account Michal rather than Merab is spoken of as the mother of Adriel’s five sons. Since Michal died childless (2Sa 6:23) and is nowhere spoken of as having been the wife of Adriel, some translators view the appearance of Michal’s name as a scribal error. Nearly all Hebrew manuscripts, however, use Michal’s name, and the traditional explanation is that Merab, Michal’s older sister, died early after having borne five sons to Adriel and that Michal thereafter undertook the bringing up of her sister’s five boys, thus resulting in their being spoken of as her sons. Isaac Leeser’s translation reads at 2 Samuel 21:8: “And the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she had brought up for Adriel.”