Bible Strands
1 Samuel 18:17
Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage. Only be valiant for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I need not raise my hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Saul addresses David, offering his elder daughter Merab in marriage conditional on David’s battlefield valor. This proposal follows the recorded affection of Israel and Judah toward David for his military leadership.
The words — The Hebrew text isolates בִתִּי הַגְּדוֹלָה (biti hag-gĕdōlâ, "my elder daughter") and מֵרַב (Merab), explicitly naming the royal daughter offered as a political instrument.
The thread — The conditional marriage offer recalls the battle reward in 1 Samuel 17:25 and directly precedes the altered dowry demand in 1 Samuel 18:25.
Why it lands — The passage records Saul’s public military condition for marriage while simultaneously noting his private calculation that Philistine forces should eliminate David. A reader must hold both the stated offer and the concealed intent in view without merging them.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to 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.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 17:25 Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.”
- 1 Samuel 18:25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 25:28 Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.
- 1 Samuel 18:21 “I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.”
- 1 Samuel 17:47 And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”
- Numbers 21:14 Therefore it is stated in the Book of the Wars of the LORD: “Waheb in Suphah and the wadis of the Arnon,
- Numbers 32:20 Moses replied, “If you will do this—if you will arm yourselves before the LORD for battle,
- Numbers 32:27 But your servants are equipped for war, and every man will cross over to the battle before the LORD, just as our lord says.”
- Numbers 32:29 And Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, with every man armed for battle before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.
- Deuteronomy 17:7 The hands of the witnesses shall be the first in putting him to death, and after that, the hands of all the people. So you must purge the evil from among you.