1 Samuel 18:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 18:17
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 be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
David
דָּוִ֗דda.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
elder
הַגְּדוֹלָ֤הha.ge.do.Lah
H1419
great (in any sense) · definite article + adjective, feminine singular absolute
daughter
בִתִּ֨יvi.Ti
H1323
a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Merab
מֵרַב֙me.Rav
H4764
Merab · proper noun, a woman's name
give
אֶתֶּן'e.ten-
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
wife
לְאִשָּׁ֔הle.'i.Shah
H802
a woman · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
valiant
לְבֶןle.ven-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
fight
וְהִלָּחֵ֖םve.hi.la.Chem
H3898
to feed on · conjunction + verb, niphal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
LORD’s
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
battles
מִלְחֲמ֣וֹתmil.cha.Mot
H4421
a battle (i.e. the engagement) · noun, common feminine plural construct
Saul
וְשָׁא֣וּלve.sha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
said
אָמַ֗ר'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hand
יָדִי֙ya.Di
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix
hand
יַדyad-
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct
Philistines
פְּלִשְׁתִּֽיםpe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 17:25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who ki…
1 Samuel 18:25 And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of th…
1 Samuel 25:28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the bat…
1 Samuel 18:21 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…
1 Samuel 17:47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our…
Numbers 21:14 Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon,
Numbers 32:20 And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the LORD to war,
Numbers 32:27 But thy servants will pass over, every man armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord saith.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 18:12–end
Saul had now, in effect, proclaimed war with David. He began in open hostility when he threw the javelin at him. Now we are here told how his enmity proceeded, and how David received the attacks of it.
I. See how Saul expressed his malice against David. 1. He was afraid of him, Sa1 18:12. Perhaps he pretended to be afraid that David would do himself mischief, to force his way to the crown. Those that design ill against others are commonly willing to have it thought that others design ill against them. But David's withdrawal (Sa1 18:11) was a plain evidence that he was far from such a thought. However, he really stood in awe of him, as Herod feared John, Mar 6:20. Saul was sensible that he ha…
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 hi…
Fight the Lord's battles - Mr. Calmet properly remarks that the wars of the Hebrews, while conducted by the express orders of God, were truly the wars of the Lord; but when the spirit of worldly ambition and domination became mingled with them, they were no longer the wars of the Lord, but wars of lust and profanity.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 18:17
And Saul said to David,.... 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, 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 strictly bound to…
The Church Fathers
Therefore, Saul said to David: Behold my daughter Merab, etc. Above, where Saul, through the anointing of holy chrism and the governance of the kingdom, holds the type of Christ, we understood the two daughters of Saul to signify the peoples, who, begotten for salvation by faith in Christ and love, are perfected by the chastisement of body and mind; or certainly, the greater to designate the Synagogue, and the lesser, the Church. However, in this place, because the order of surrounding affairs has changed, David indeed designates the Lord Christ, but Saul, envying him, designates the people of the Jews. Rightly, the elder daughter, who was promised to David but not given, signifies that part of his people which, greater in number and power, was promised as if to be joined to a strong and desirable hand of a bridegroom, when the predecessors of that part, namely the scribes, priests, Pharisees, and elders of the people, would flock to his hearing, call him a good teacher, and not only that but also uniquely wise as a master, whether for the sake of learning or tempting him, would frequent him with questions. However, she was not given to him but to another, when those same teachers, seeking to be called Rabbi by men, forced as many as they could to listen to them instead. The younger daughter, who by loving David deserved to be given to him, is indeed that portion of the Jewish people which, both in smallness and contempt, preferred to follow, love, and hear the Lord Savior rather than the scribes and lawyers, hearing from him: "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12). Therefore, the Pharisees and other leaders of the Jews said to Christ: Behold, we entrust the greater part of the subjected Synagogue to you for teaching, just see to it that, being strong in spirit, you fight with word for the freedom of the people, who are commanded to keep the law of God and serve Him alone. For we know that you are truthful and do not care for anyone; for you do not regard the person of man, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? (Matthew 22; Mark 12) They said this, however, in the presence of the ministers of Herod, so that if he forbade giving tribute, they, punishing him, might seem exempt from his death.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Merab — Increase, the eldest of Saul’s two daughters (1 Sam. 14:49). She was betrothed to David after his victory over Goliath, but does not seem to have entered heartily into this arrangement (18:2, 17,…
Armies Of Israel, The · Bravery and fidelity in, rewarded — Bravery and fidelity in, rewarded
David · .Saul’s jealousy of — .Saul’s jealousy of
Jealousy · .Saul, of David — .Saul, of David
Merab · Betrothed to David by Saul — Betrothed to David by Saul
Prudence · .David, in his conduct toward Saul — .David, in his conduct toward Saul
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
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 Da…
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).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 18:17
Shaul said. To himself.
Let not my hand be upon him. Lest I will be punished.
But let the hand of the Philistines be upon him. Therefore, he said to him, "and fight Adonoy's wars."
