1 Samuel 18:17

“And Saul said to David, etc.] Not in friendship and good will to him, but designing to lay a snare for him: behold, my eldest daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife; most interpreters understand it, that he was obliged to this by promise, on account of David’s slaying Goliath, (<091725>1 Samuel 17:25); but Abarbinel is of another mind, and he rightly observes, that the words referred to are not the words of Saul, but of the men of Israel, who might suppose what the king would do; or if they heard anything like it spoken by Saul, it was only in a hyperbolical way, signifying he did not care what he gave, and what he parted with, to the man that killed the Philistine, but was not…”

“HE OFFERS HIM HIS DAUGHTER FOR A SNARE. (Sa1 18:17-21) Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife--Though bound to this already [Sa1 17:25], he had found it convenient to forget his former promise. He now holds it out as a new offer, which would tempt David to give additional proofs of his valor. But the fickle and perfidious monarch broke his pledge at the time when the marriage was on the eve of being celebrated, and bestowed Merab on another man (see on Sa2 21:8); an indignity as well as a wrong, which was calculated deeply to wound the feelings and provoke the resentment of David. Perhaps it was intended to do so, that advantage might be taken of his…”

“Saul had not hitherto fulfilled the promise of which David had heard (marginal reference); nor was it unnatural that Saul should delay to do so, until the shepherd’s boy had risen to a higher rank. return to 'Top of Page'”

“18:17-19 Saul offered his older daughter, Merab, to David. But it was an insincere gesture. 18:17 Saul had promised his daughter to anyone who could slay Goliath (17:25; cp. Josh 15:16; Judg 1:12), but he tacked on additional risks for David (see also 1 Sam 18:21, 25).”

“her will I give: Sa1 17:25; Psa 12:2, Psa 55:21 valiant: Heb. a son of valour the Lord's: Sa1 17:47, Sa1 25:28; Num 32:20, Num 32:27, Num 32:29 Let not mine: Sa1 18:21, Sa1 18:25; Deu 17:7; Sa2 11:15, Sa2 12:9 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 18:18”

“Craftiness of Saul in the betrothal of his daughters to David. - Sa1 18:17. As Saul had promised to give his daughter for a wife to the conqueror of Goliath ( Sa1 17:25), he felt obliged, by the growing love and attachment of the people to David, to fulfil this promise, and told him that he was ready to do so, with the hope of finding in this some means of destroying David. He therefore offered him his elder daughter Merab with words that sounded friendly and kind: "Only be a brave man to me, and wage the wars of the Lord." He called the wars with the Philistines "wars of Jehovah," i.e., wars for the maintenance and defence of the kingdom of God, to conceal his own cunning design, and make…”