1 Samuel 18:17-30

1 Samuel 18:17-30

[17] 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  of the Philistines  be upon him. [18] And David  said  unto Saul,  Who am I? and what is my life,  or my father's  family  in Israel,  that I should be son in law  to the king?  [19] But it came to pass at the time  when Merab  Saul's  daughter  should have been given  to David,  that she was given  unto Adriel  the Meholathite  to wife.  [20] And Michal  Saul's  daughter  loved  David:  and they told  Saul,  and the thing  pleased  [21] And Saul  said,  I will give  him her, that she may be a snare  to him, and that the hand  of the Philistines  may be against him. Wherefore Saul  said  to David,  Thou shalt this day  be my son in law  in the one of the twain.  [22] And Saul  commanded  his servants,  saying, Commune  with David  secretly,  and say,  Behold, the king  hath delight  in thee, and all his servants  love  thee: now therefore be the king's  son in law.  [23] And Saul's  servants  spake  those words  in the ears  of David.  said,  Seemeth  it to you a light  thing to be a king's  son in law,  seeing that I am a poor  man,  and lightly esteemed?  [24] And the servants  of Saul  told  him, saying,  On this manner  spake  David.  [25] And Saul  said,  to David,  The king  desireth  not any dowry,  but an hundred  foreskins  of the Philistines,  to be avenged  of the king's  enemies.  But Saul  thought  to make David  fall  by the hand  of the Philistines.  [26] And when his servants  told  David  these words,  it pleased  David  well to be the king's  son in law:  and the days  were not expired.  [27] Wherefore David  arose  and slew  of the Philistines  two hundred  men;  and David  brought  their foreskins,  and they gave them in full tale  to the king,  son in law.  And Saul  gave  him Michal  his daughter  to wife.  [28] And Saul  saw  and knew  that the LORD  was with David,  and that Michal  Saul's  daughter  loved  [29] And Saul  was yet the more  afraid  of  David;  and Saul  became David's  enemy  continually.  [30] Then the princes  of the Philistines  went forth:  and it came to pass, after  they went forth,  that David  behaved himself more wisely  than all the servants  of Saul;  so that his name  was much  set by. 

What does 1 Samuel 18:17-30 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Since he had been unsuccessful in murdering David himself, Saul also tried to get other people to kill him (cf. 2 Samuel 11:15). Saul had promised his daughter in marriage to Goliath"s victor ( 1 Samuel 17:25). In spite of this, Saul now added the condition that David also had to fight more battles for his king. David, on the other hand, did not aspire to marry the king"s daughter even though such a marriage would have advanced his career greatly ( 1 Samuel 18:18; cf. 1 Samuel 16:18). He evidently dismissed this possibility since he could not afford the dowry (bridal price, 1 Samuel 18:23). Saul went back on his promise to give David his older daughter, Merab, anyway ( 1 Samuel 18:19; cf. Judges 14:20 to Judges 15:2).
Michal, like her brother Jonathan, had come to love David ( 1 Samuel 18:20). Evidently Saul meant that Michal would become a snare to David ( 1 Samuel 18:21) because as the Song of Solomon -in-law of the king David would have been in line for the throne. This would have made David an even more important target for the Philistines in battle. This time Saul tried to break down David"s humble resistance to becoming his Song of Solomon -in-law by sending servants (courtiers, leading men of the kingdom) to persuade him. They assured David that his lack of wealth would not be a problem. Normally grooms paid their prospective fathers-in-law a price to compensate for the loss of their daughter. [1] But Saul was willing to take100 uncircumcised Philistine foreskins instead. He probably thought that David would respond to the challenge and perhaps die in the encounter with the Philistines. Saul used Michal as the bait to lure David into what he thought would be a fatal encounter with the Philistines.
God protected David, however, and he was able to provide the king with twice as many foreskins as Saul had specified ( 1 Samuel 18:27). David"s accomplishment was similar to scalping practices in the Indian wars in the United States. This time Saul gave David his daughter. [2] Saul saw in these events evidence that Yahweh"s blessing was with David ( 1 Samuel 18:28), and this made him even more fearful of him ( 1 Samuel 18:29). Ironically, Saul from then on became David"s enemy continually ( 1 Samuel 18:29), even though David had become his Song of Solomon -in-law, as well as his faithful commander-in-chief and his effective field general. By setting himself against David, Saul was setting himself against God since David was the Lord"s anointed (cf. Genesis 12:3).
"Saul"s playing the part of a latter-day Laban (cf. Genesis 29:15-30) has rebounded upon himself, for now a second member of his own family has made her special contribution to the theme "all Israel and Judah loved David" ( 1 Samuel 18:16)." [3]
David"s behavior and wisdom in battle, guided and provided by God"s Spirit, caused him to become increasingly effective and appreciated in Israel ( 1 Samuel 18:30). David had regarded himself as lightly esteemed ( 1 Samuel 18:23), but God made him highly esteemed ( 1 Samuel 18:30; cf. 1 Samuel 9:2).
Throughout this chapter the writer balanced statements that credit God for David"s successes ( 1 Samuel 18:12; 1 Samuel 18:14; 1 Samuel 18:28) with others that credit David for them ( 1 Samuel 18:5; 1 Samuel 18:14-15; 1 Samuel 18:30). Both reasons were true. God"s choice of David and David"s choice of God worked together to make him successful. The opposite was also true of Saul. The Lord had forsaken Saul, but Saul had also forsaken the Lord, and the result was tragedy.
This chapter illustrates the fact that the godly often suffer through no fault of their own. It shows too that God causes even the worst intentions of the ungodly to strengthen the godly (cf. Psalm 7:12-16; Romans 8:28). We see here that the selfishness of the ungodly can produce irrational behavior (e.g, paranoia, 1 Samuel 18:12, and schizophrenia, 1 Samuel 18:11; 1 Samuel 18:17), and it leads to their ruin. I am not implying that this is the only cause of these mental problems. If we allow jealousy to take root in our hearts, it will devour us like a cancer. We should desire God"s glory, as Jonathan did, rather than our own glory, as Saul did.