MERAB
(Meʹrab) [probably, increase].
The older of King Saul’s two daughters. (1 Sam. 14:49) Saul had evidently promised to give one of them in marriage to the man who would defeat Goliath (1 Sam. 17:25) and it may have been for that reason that he offered Merab to David. After his encounter with Goliath, David proved to be a prudent and successful fighter against the Philistines, so much so that Saul “was scared of him,” while the people of Israel and Judah loved him. (1 Sam. 18:15, 16) In offering Merab to David as a wife, Saul urged him on to continued valor, while thinking to himself, “Do not let my hand come to be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines come to be upon him,” hoping for David’s death in battle. David, in humility, hesitated to accept the offer to become the son-in-law of the king. As matters turned out, Saul did not keep his promise, Merab never becoming David’s wife. The account states that the younger daughter, Michal, “was in love with David,” which may imply that Merab was not. At any rate, “it came about that at the time for giving Merab, Saul’s daughter, to David, she herself had already been given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.”—1 Sam. 18:17-20.
Merab bore five sons to Adriel. However, David later gave these sons and two other members of Saul’s household to the Gibeonites, who put all seven to death. This was done to atone for Saul’s having tried to annihilate the Gibeonites.—2 Sam. 21:1-10.
MERAB’S SISTER REARS HER SONS
According to the Hebrew Masoretic text, 2 Samuel 21:8 speaks of “the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul whom she bore to Adriel.” Yet 2 Samuel 6:23 says that Michal died childless. It appears that some scribes have tried to resolve this difficulty by substituting the name of Merab for Michal at 2 Samuel 21:8. This seems apparent from the fact that the Syriac Peshitta Version, the Septuagint Version (Lagardian ed.) and two Hebrew manuscripts read “Merab” in this verse. However, a traditional explanation of 2 Samuel 21:8 as it appears in almost all Hebrew manuscripts is as follows:
Michal’s sister Merab was the wife of Adriel and bore him the five sons in question. But Merab dying early, her sister Michal, rejected by David and childless, undertook the rearing or bringing up of the five boys. Hence, they were spoken of as Michal’s children rather than those of Merab. In harmony with this view of 2 Samuel 21:8, the Bible translation by Isaac Leeser (7th ed., 1922) speaks of “the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she had brought up for Adriel,” and a footnote thereon states: “As Michal was David’s wife; but the children were those of Merab, the oldest daughter of Saul, who were probably educated by her sister.” The Targums read: “The five sons of Merab (which Michal, Saul’s daughter brought up) which she bare.” Other factors, not revealed in the Scriptures, may have a bearing on the way the text was set down.—See MICHAL.