Difference between revisions of "Merab"

<p> [[Merab]] (''Mç'R'' ''Ăb'' ), ''Increase.'' The eldest daughter of Saul, &nbsp;1 Samuel 14:49, promised to David, but given to Adriel in marriage. &nbsp;1 Samuel 18:17; &nbsp;1 Samuel 18:19. </p>

<p> ''''' mē´rab ''''' ( מרב , <i> ''''' mērabh ''''' </i> "increase"; Μερόβ , <i> ''''' Merób ''''' </i> ): The elder daughter of Saul (&nbsp; 1 Samuel 14:49 ), promised, though not by name, to the man who should slay the [[Philistine]] Goliath (&nbsp;1 Samuel 17:25 ). David did this and was afterward taken by Saul to court (&nbsp;1 Samuel 18:2 ), where he was detained in great honor. Merab was not, however, given to him as quickly as the incident would lead one to expect, and the sequel showed some unwillingness on the part of some persons in the contract to complete the promise. The adulation of the crowd who met David on his return from Philistine warfare and gave him a more favorable ascription than to Saul (&nbsp;1 Samuel 18:6-16 ) awoke the angry jealousy of Saul. He "eyed David from that day and forward" (&nbsp;1 Samuel 18:9 ). Twice David had to "avoid" the "evil spirit" in Saul (&nbsp;1 Samuel 18:11 ). Saul also feared David (&nbsp;1 Samuel 18:12 ), and this led him to incite the youth to more dangerous deeds of valor against the Philistines by a renewed promise of Merab. He will have David's life, but rather by the hand of the Philistines than his own (&nbsp;1 Samuel 18:17 ). Merab was to be the bait. But now another element complicated matters - M ichal's love for David (&nbsp;1 Samuel 18:20 ), which may have been the retarding factor from the first. At any rate Merab is finally given to Adriel the [[Meholathite]] (&nbsp;1 Samuel 18:19 ). The passage in &nbsp;2 Samuel 21:8 doubtless contains an error - M ichal's name occurring for that of her sister Merab - though the Septuagint, Josephus, and a consistent [[Hebrew]] text all perpetuate it, as well as the concise meaning of the Hebrew word <i> '''''Yāladh''''' </i> , which is a physiological word for bearing children, and cannot be translated "brought up." A T argum explanation reads: "The 5 sons of Merab (which Michal, Saul's daughter brought up) which she bare," etc. Another suggestion reads the word "sister" after Michal in the possessive case, leaving the text otherwise as it stands. It is possible that Merab died comparatively young, and that her children were left in the care of their aunt, especially when it is said she herself had none (&nbsp;2 Samuel 6:23 ). The simplest explanation is to assume a scribal error, with the suggestion referred to as a possible explanation of it. The lonely Michal (&nbsp;2 Samuel 6:20-23 ) became so identified with her (deceased) sister's children that they became, in a sense, hers. </p>

<p> (Hebrews Merlab', מֵרִב, [[Increase]] ; Sept. Μερόβ and Μερώβ; [[Josephus]] Μερόβη, Ant. 6:6, 5), the eldest of the two daughters of king Saul (doubtless by his wife Ahinoam), and possibly the eldest child (&nbsp;1 Samuel 14:49). She first appears (BC. cir. 1062) after the victory over Goliath and the Philistines, when David had become an inmate in Saul's house (&nbsp;1 Samuel 18:2), and immediately after the commencement of his friendship with Jonathan. In accordance with the promise which he made before the engagement with Goliath (&nbsp;1 Samuel 17:25), Saul betrothed Merab to David (&nbsp;1 Samuel 18:17), but it is evidently implied that one object of thus rewarding his valor was to incite him to further feats, which might at last lead to his death by the Philistines. David's hesitation looks as if he did not much value the honor, although his language in &nbsp;1 Samuel 18:18 may be only an Oriental form of self-depreciation (comp. &nbsp;1 Samuel 18:23; &nbsp;1 Samuel 25:42; &nbsp;2 Samuel 9:8); at any rate before the marriage Merab's younger sister Michal had displayed her attachment for David, and Merab was then married to Adriel the Meholathite, who seems to have been one of the wealthy sheiks of the eastern part of Palestine, with whom the house of Saul always maintained an alliance. To Adriei she bore five sons, who formed five of the seven members of the house of Saul who were given up to the Gibeonites by David, and by them impaled as a propitiation to Jehovah on the sacred hill of [[Gibeah]] (&nbsp;2 Samuel 21:8). (See [[Rizpah]]). </p> <p> The Authorized Version of this passage is an accommodation, rendering יָלְדָה, "she brought up," although it has "she bare" for the same Hebrew word in the previous part of the verse. The Hebrew text has "the five sons of Michal, daughter of Saul, which she bare to Adriel," and this is followed in the Sept. and Vulgate. The [[Targum]] explains the discrepancy thus: "The five sons of Merab (which Michal, Saul's daughter, brought up) which she bare," etc. The [[Peshito]] substitutes Merab (in the present state of the text " Nodob") for Michal. J. H. Michaelis, in his Hebrew Bible (&nbsp;2 Samuel 21:10), suggests that there were two daughters of Saul named Michal, as there were two Elishamas and two Eliphalets among David's sons. Probably the most feasible solution of the difficulty is that "Michal" is the mistake of a transcriber for "Merab;" but, if so, it is manifet from the agreement of the versions and of Josephus (Ant vii. 4,30) with the present text, that the error is one of very ancient date. (See Michal). </p>