1 Samuel 18:17-30 – To Be The King’s In-Law

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 30 May 2021

Introduction

vs. 17-19 Merab’s Hand in Marriage

v.17 Offered by Saul with impure motives

v.18 Humbly Declined by David

v.19 Denied David by giving to Adriel

vs. 20-27 Michal’s Hand in Marriage

v. 20 Desired by Michal’s love

vs. 21-22 Offered to David by Saul with malice

vs. 23-24 David decided to Humbly decline Saul’s second offer as well.

vs. 25-26 Dowry re-negotiated and agreed upon by David

vs. 27 Dowry paid and marriage consumated

vs. 28-30 An Epilogue: David Blessed, Saul Afraid

  1. He was gracious and humble.

  1. David behaved wisely and obeyed God.

  1. David avoided the snares

1 Samuel 18:17-30 - Side-by side comparison of versionsA

Septuagint

Brenton

DRB

KJV

NAW

MT

B

[17 And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merob, I will give her to thee to wife, only be thou to me a mighty man and fight the wars of the Lord. And Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but the hand of the Philistines shall be upon him.]

17 And Saul said to David: Behold my elder daughter Merob, her will I give thee to wife: only be X X a valiant man, and fight the battles of the Lord. Now Saul said [within himself]: Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hands of the Philistines be upon him.

17 And Saul said to David, BeholdC 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 uponD him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.

17 Then Saul said to David, “Look at my oldest daughter Merab; I will give her to you to be your wife. Just be an army guy for me, and fight Yahweh’s battles.” Meanwhile, Saul said, “It won’t be my hand that’s against him; rather, let hand of the Philistines be against him!”

17 וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁאוּל אֶל-דָּוִד הִנֵּה בִתִּי הַגְּדוֹלָה מֵרַב אֹתָהּ אֶתֶּןE-לְךָ לְאִשָּׁה אַךְ הֱיֵה- לִּי לְבֶן-חַיִלF וְהִלָּחֵם מִלְחֲמוֹת יְהוָה וְשָׁאוּל אָמַר אַל-תְּהִי יָדִי בּוֹ וּתְהִי-בוֹ יַד-פְּלִשְׁתִּים: ס


[18 And David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is the life of my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?]

18 And David said to Saul: Who am I, or what is my life, [orG] my father's family in Israel, that I should be son in law of the king?

18 And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my lifeH, or my father's familyI in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?

18 But David said to Saul, “Who am I? And what are the lives of the family of my father in Israel that I should become an in-law to the king?”

18 וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל-שָׁאוּל מִי אָנֹכִי וּמִי חַיַּי מִשְׁפַּחַת אָבִי בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי-אֶהְיֶה חָתָןJ לַמֶּלֶךְ:


[19 But it came to pass at the time [when] Merob Saul’s daughter [should have been] given to David, that she was given to Israel the Mothulathite to wife.]

19 And it came to pass at the time [when] Merob, the daughter of Saul, [should have been] given to David, that she was given to Hadriel, the Molathite, to wife.

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 toK wife.

19 But when it was time to give Merab the daughter of Saul to David, she instead was given to Adriel the Mecholatite to be his wife.

19 וַיְהִי בְּעֵת תֵּת אֶת-מֵרַב בַּת-שָׁאוּל לְדָוִד וְהִיא נִתְּנָה לְעַדְרִיאֵלL הַמְּחֹלָתִי לְאִשָּׁה:

20 Καὶ ἠγάπησεν Μελχολ ἡ θυγάτηρ Σαουλ τὸν Δαυιδ, καὶ ἀπηγγέλη Σαουλ, καὶ ηὐθύνθηM X ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ.

20 And Melchol the daughter of Saul loved David; and it was told Saul, and [the thing] was pleasing in his eyes.

20 But Michol, the [other] daughter of Saul, loved David. And it was told Saul, and X it pleased X X him.

20 And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleasedN X X him.

20 Now, Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and {this was} related to Saul, and {it} was right in his eyes.

20 וַתֶּאֱהַב מִיכַל בַּת-שָׁאוּל אֶת-דָּוִד וַיַּגִּדוּ לְשָׁאוּל וַיִּשַׁר הַדָּבָרO בְּעֵינָיו:

21 καὶ εἶπεν Σαουλ Δώσω αὐτὴν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἔσται αὐτῷ εἰς σκάνδαλον. καὶ ἦν ἐπὶ Σαουλ χεὶρ ἀλλοφύλων· [kai eipen Saoul proV Dauid ef’ airesei esh gambroV moi X]P

21 And Saul said, I will give her to him, and she shall be a stumbling-block to him. Now the hand of the Philistines was against Saul. X X X X X X X X X X


21 And Saul said: I will give her to him, that she may be a stumbling­block to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be upon him. And Saul said to David: In two things thou shalt be my son in law this day.

21 And Saul saidQ, 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 dayR be my son in law in the one of the twainS.

21 So Saul said, “I shall give her to him, and she will become a snare for him while the hand of the Philistines is against him!” And Saul said to David, “For a second time you may become an in-law to me today!”

21 וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁאוּל אֶתְּנֶנָּה לּוֹ וּתְהִי-לוֹ לְמוֹקֵשׁ וּתְהִי-בוֹ יַד- פְּלִשְׁתִּים וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁאוּל אֶל-דָּוִד בִּשְׁתַּיִםT תִּתְחַתֵּן בִּי הַיּוֹם:

22 καὶ ἐνετείλατο Σαουλ τοῖς παισὶν αὐτοῦ [λέγων] Λαλήσατε ὑμεῖς λάθρᾳ τῷ Δαυιδ λέγοντες Ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεὺς θέλειU ἐν σοί, καὶ πάντες οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ ἀγαπῶσίν σε, καὶ σὺV ἐπιγάμβρευ­σον τῷ βασιλεῖ.

22 And Saul charged X his [servants, saying,] Speak ye privately to David, saying, Behold, the king delights in thee, and all his servants love thee, and do thou becomes the king's son-in-law.

22 And Saul commanded his servants to speak to David privately, saying: Behold, thou pleasest the king, and all his servants love thee. Now, therefore be the king's son in law.

22 And Saul com­manded his ser­vants, saying, CommuneW with David secretlyX, and say, Behold, the king hath de­light in thee, and all his servants love thee: now therefore be the king's son in law.

22 Then Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David on the sly, saying, ‘See, the king is delighted with you, and all his servants love you, so make yourself an in-law to the king!’”

22 וַיְצַו שָׁאוּל אֶת-עֲבָדָוY דַּבְּרוּ אֶל-דָּוִד בַּלָּט לֵאמֹר הִנֵּה חָפֵץ בְּךָ הַמֶּלֶךְ וְכָל-עֲבָדָיו אֲהֵבוּךָ וְעַתָּה הִתְחַתֵּן בַּמֶּלֶךְ:

23 καὶ ἐλάλησαν οἱ παῖδες Σαουλ εἰς τὰ ὦτα Δαυιδ τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα, καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ Εἰ κοῦφονZ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ὑμῶν ἐπιγαμβρεῦσαι βασιλεῖ; κἀγὼ ἀνὴρ ταπεινὸςAA καὶ οὐχὶ ἔνδοξοςAB.

23 And the servants of Saul spoke these words in the ears of David; and David said, Is it a light thing in your eyes to become son-in-law to the king? Whereas I am an humble man, an not honourable?

23 And the servants of Saul spoke [all] these words in the ear of David. And David said: Doth it [seem] to you X a small matter to be the king's son in law? But I am a poor man, and of small ability.

23 And Saul's ser­vants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, [Seem­eth] it to you X a light thing to be a king's son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?AC

23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words in David’s ears, but David said, “Is it insignificant in y’all’s eyes to be an in-law with the king? I am but a poor man and insignificant.”

23 וַיְדַבְּרוּ עַבְדֵי שָׁאוּל בְּאָזְנֵי דָוִד אֶת-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד הַנְקַלָּהAD בְעֵינֵיכֶם הִתְחַתֵּן בַּמֶּלֶךְ וְאָנֹכִי אִישׁ-רָשׁ וְנִקְלֶה:

24 καὶ ἀπήγγειλαν οἱ παῖδες Σαουλ αὐτῷ X κατὰ τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα, [] ἐλάλησεν Δαυιδ.

24 And the servants of Saul reported to him X according to these words, [which] David spoke.

24 And the servants of Saul told him, saying: Such words as these hath David spoken.

24 And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this man­nerXAE spake David.

24 So Saul’s servants related it to him saying, “David spoke along the lines of these words...”

24 וַיַּגִּדוּ עַבְדֵי שָׁאוּל לוֹ לֵאמֹר כַּדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה דִּבֶּר דָּוִד: פ

25 καὶ εἶπεν Σαουλ Τάδε ἐρεῖτε τῷ Δαυιδ Οὐ βούλεται ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν δόματι ἀλλ᾿ ἢ ἐν ἑκατὸν ἀκροβυσ­τίαις ἀλλοφύλων ἐκδικῆσαι εἰς ἐχθροὺς τοῦ βασιλέως· καὶ Σαουλ ἐλογίσατο αὐτὸν ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς χεῖρας τῶν ἀλλοφύλων.

25 And Saul said, Thus shall ye speak to David, The king wants no gift but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to avenge himself on the kings enemies. Now Saul thought to cast him into the hands of the Philistines.

25 And Saul said: Speak thus to David: The king desireth not any dowry, but only a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to deliver David into the hands of the Philistines.

25 And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowryAF, 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.

25 Then Saul said, “Speak thus to Dav­id, ‘There would be nothing more delightful to the king for a dowry than a hundred Philistine foreskins – to get revenge on the king’s enemies!” (Now, this was Saul’s scheme to cause David to fall by the hand of Philistines.)

25 וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁאוּל כֹּה-תֹאמְרוּ לְדָוִד אֵין-חֵפֶץ לַמֶּלֶךְ בְּמֹהַר כִּי בְּמֵאָה עָרְלוֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּים לְהִנָּקֵם בְּאֹיְבֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְשָׁאוּל חָשַׁב לְהַפִּיל אֶת-דָּוִד בְּיַד-פְּלִשְׁתִּים:

26 καὶ ἀπαγγέλλ­ουσιν οἱ παῖδες Σαουλ τῷ Δαυιδ τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα, καὶ εὐθύνθη ὁ λόγος ἐν ὀφθαλ­μοῖς Δαυιδ ἐπι­γαμβρεῦσαι τῷ βασιλεῖ.XXXXXAG

26 And the servants of Saul report these words to David, and X X X David was well pleased to become the son-in-law to the king. X X X X X

26 And when his servants had told David theX words [that Saul had said], the word was pleas­ing in the eyes of David to be the king's son in law. 27 And after a few days

26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased X X David well to be the king's son in law: and the days were not expired.

26 Well, his servants related these words to David, and the deal was right in the eyes of David to become an in-law to the king, and the time-limits had not been surpassed,

26 וַיַּגִּדוּ עֲבָדָיו לְדָוִד אֶת-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וַיִּשַׁר הַדָּבָר בְּעֵינֵי דָוִד לְהִתְחַתֵּן בַּמֶּלֶךְ וְלֹא מָלְאוּ הַיָּמִיםAH:

27 καὶ ἀνέστη Δαυιδ καὶ ἐπορεύ­θη αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπάταξεν ἐν τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις ἑκατὸνXAI ἄνδρας

27b καὶ ἀνήνεγ­κεν X τὰς ἀκρο­βυστίας αὐτῶν X X XAJ τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ ἐπιγαμβρεύ­εται τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ XAK δίδωσιν αὐτῷ τὴν Μελχολ θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ αὐτῷ εἰς γυναῖκα.

27 And David arose, and went, he and his men, and smote among the Philistines a hundred men:

and X he brought their foreskins X X X X XAL, and he becomes the king's son-in-law, and [Saul] gives him Melchol his daughter to wife.

X David rose up, and went X with the men [that were under] him, and he slew of the Phil­istines 200 men,

and
X brought their foreskins and numbered them out to the king, that he might be his son in law. Saul therefore gave him Michol, his daughter, to wife.

27 Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men;

and David brought their foreskins, and they
gave them in full taleAM to the king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

27 so David got up and went, and he struck down 200 men among the Philistines.


Then {he} brought their foreskins, and he and his men gave them in fulfillment to the king in order he might become an in-law to the king. So Saul gave his daughter Michael to him to be his wife.

27 וַיָּקָם דָּוִד וַיֵּלֶךְ הוּא וַאֲנָשָׁיו וַיַּךְ בַּפְּלִשְׁתִּים מָאתַיִם אִישׁ

וַיָּבֵא דָוִדAN אֶת
-עָרְלֹתֵיהֶם וַיְמַלְאוּםAO לַמֶּלֶךְ לְהִתְחַתֵּן בַּמֶּלֶךְ וַיִּתֶּן-לוֹ שָׁאוּל אֶת-מִיכַל בִּתּוֹ לְאִשָּׁה: ס

28 καὶ εἶδενAP Σαουλ X X ὅτι κύριος μετὰ Δαυιδ καὶ πᾶς Ισραηλ AQἠγάπα αὐτόν,

28 And Saul saw X X that the Lord was with David, and that all Israel loved him.

28 And Saul saw, and understood that the Lord was with David. And Michol, the daughter of Saul, loved him.

28 And Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal Saul's daughter loved him.

28 When Saul saw and understood that Yahweh was with David and that Michal-bat-Saul loved him,

28 וַיַּרְא שָׁאוּל וַיֵּדַע כִּי יְהוָה עִם-דָּוִד וּמִיכַל בַּת-שָׁאוּל אֲהֵבַתְהוּ:

29 καὶ προσέθετο X εὐλαβεῖσθαι ἀπὸ Δαυιδ ἔτι. [kai egeneto Saoul ecqrainwn ton Dauid pasaV taV hmeraV]

29 And he was yet more afraid of David. X X X X X X X X X

29 And Saul began to fear David more: and Saul became David's enemy continually.

29 And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David's enemy continually.

29 Saul grew in fear from the presence of David still more, so Saul was an enemy to David all his days.

29 וַיֹּאסֶףAR שָׁאוּל לֵרֹא מִפְּנֵי דָוִד עוֹד וַיְהִי שָׁאוּל אֹיֵב אֶת-דָּוִד כָּל-הַיָּמִים: ס

[30 kai exhlqon oi arconteV twn allofulwn kai egeneto af’ ikanou thV exodou autwn, kai Dauid sunhken para pantaV touV doulouV Saoul kai etimhqh to onoma autou sfodra.]

[30 And the chiefs of the Philistines went forth, and it came to pass that from the sufficiency of their expedition David acted wisely above all the servants of Saul; and his name was honoured exceedingly.]

30 And the princes of the Philistines went forth: and from the beginning of their going forth, David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, and his name became very famous.

30 Then the prin­cesAS of the Phil­istines went forthAT: and it came to pass, afterAU they went forth, that David behaved himself more wiselyAV than all the ser­vants of Saul; so that his name was much set byAW.

30 Still, the Philistine army-officers came out, but as often as they came out, David was more prudent in execution than all of Saul’s servants, so his name became very popular.

30 וַיֵּצְאוּ שָׂרֵי פְלִשְׁתִּים וַיְהִי מִדֵּי צֵאתָם שָׂכַלAX דָּוִד מִכֹּל עַבְדֵי שָׁאוּל וַיִּיקַר שְׁמוֹ מְאֹד: ס


1 Full disclosure, I did not find any other commentator who interpreted Saul’s words this way.

2Another possible interpretation is that Merob and David didn’t have mutual interest in each other, so they let the marriage prospect die quietly.

3"When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 14:8-11 NKJV

4 Gill agreed with me on this.

5 Depending on whether you count David among the 8 sons of Jesse as I do, or whether you count 8 sons before David.

6“[M]ost interpreters understand it, that he was obliged to this by promise, on account of David's slaying Goliath (1Sam. 17:25), but Abarbinel is of another mind...” ~John Gill, 1766 AD. In 1891, Keil & Delitzsch reiterated this.

7Josephus seems to have gone a bit overboard with his poetic license by claiming that David killed 600 Philistines and brought back their heads. (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 10. sect. 3)

8John Gill made the following analogy: “David's marriage of the younger sister, when upon various considerations it might have been expected that he should have married the elder, may be an emblem of Christ's espousing the Gentile church, when the Jewish church, her elder sister, is neglected by him, she having rejected him.”

AMy original chart includes the NASB and NIV, but their copyright restrictions have forced me to remove them from the publicly-available edition of this chart. I have included the ESV in footnotes when it employs a word not already used by the KJV, NASB, or NIV. (NAW is my translation.) When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea Scroll containing any part of 1 Samuel 18 is 4Q51 Samuela, which contains fragments of vs. 4-5 (highlighted in purple), and which has been dated between 50-25 B.C. Where the DSS supports the LXX with omissions or text not in the MT, I have highlighted with yellow the LXX and its translation into English, and where I have accepted that into my NAW translation, I have marked it with {pointed brackets}.

BHere again the Vaticanus and Rahlf’s edition of the Septuagint have no text, but these verses do appear in the Alexandrinus Greek manuscript (and also in Theodotian’s version), and the translation in [brackets] is Brenton’s translation of the Alexandrine text from his appendix.

CNASB, NIV, ESV = “Here is”

DNASB, NIV, ESV = “against”

E“The term will give (impf.) is not a performative utterance (e.g., Gen. 15:18 <pf.> = “I (hereby) give,” which is usually in perfect; see on 17: 10). The Hebrew of if only you become… is an imperative clause…” ~David Tsumura, 2007 AD

FAll the places where this Hebrew phrase ben chaiyl occur seem to indicate a task force, usually of soldiers: Deut. 3:18 (militia), Judges 18:2 (spies), 21:10 (militia), 1 Samuel 14:52 (draft), 2 Sam. 2:7, 13:28 (revolutionaries in a coup), 17:10, 1 Kings 1:52 (usurper), 2 Kings 2:16 (prophets), 1 Chronicles 5:18 (able to be in army), 8:40 (archers), 26:7-9 & 30-32, 26:17 (priests), 28:6 (soldiers).

GThe Syriac supports this added conjunction, but it’s not in the Greek or Hebrew.

H“Life” (plural) is the literal rendering of this word, but NIV = “family” and ESV = “relatives.”
Gill took it to mean “lifestyle” i.e. that of a shepherd, and Keil & Delitzsch agreed: “Gesenius (Thes. p. 471) and Böttcher give the meaning ‘people’ for חַיִּים, and Ewald (Gramm. §179, b.) the meaning ‘family.’ But neither of these meanings can be established. חַיִּים seems evidently to signify the condition in life...”
Goldman commented: “Better, as R.V. margin, ‘who are my kinsfolk,’ the Hebrew noun for life being identical with the Arabid chayy, denoting ‘a group of families united by blood-ties.’”

INIV, ESV = “clan”

JThis word is translated "bridegroom" in Ex. 4:25, Isa. 62:5, Jer. 7:34 etc, and Joel 2:16, “father-in-law” in Ex. 18:5, and “son-in-law” in Judges 15:6, so it seems to denote “being related by marriage.” The verbal forms also bear this out, as Gen. 34:9 and Deut. 7:3 refer to both daughters and sons being given in marriage and therefore relating the two families. Willett translated “contract affinitie”

KNASB, ESV = “for,” NIV = “in marriage”

LThe Syriac and several Hebrew manuscripts support the Greek with a (visually-similar) zayin instead of a daleth for the third letter (luyrzul). (There are multiple English letters which could have been chosen to represent the sound of the first Hebrew letter, so Brenton’s choice of the English letter “I” instead of “A” to transliterate the opening vowel does not actually reflect a lexical difference.) However, that spelling occurs nowhere else in the Bible, and it wouldn’t make meaningful sense, anyway (“upon is my help”). With the zayin substitution, one would expect an aleph instead of an ayin in the penultimate syllable (“God is my help”), which is a name mentioned twice among the chiefs of Manasseh and Zebulun in 1Ch 5:24 & 27:19. Tsumura suggested that Adriel could just be the Aramaic form of the Hebrew name Azriel. However, it being a proper name, the spelling is not terribly important, except to make identification of the person consistent. The only other place he is mentioned is 2 Samuel 21:8, where the LXX has the same variation in spelling as it does here. There, the additional information is given that Adriel was “the son of Barzillai.” There is a Barzillai mentioned in 2 Sam. 19:33, an 80-year-old man from Gilead who escorted David across the Jordan when he returned after Absolom’s coup. Later, this Barzillai married his daughters to some Levites and then adopted them as his sons, so they lost their priestly status in Ezra’s reconstruction genealogies (Ezra 2:61). But this Barzillai and Adriel were Mehulites, and the closest place name to that in the Bible is Abel-Mehula, which is on the opposite side of the Jordan River from Gilead, so this must be a different Barzillai, kept distinct as being from Mehula (that is, Abel-Mehula - Goldman) rather than the Barzillai from Gilead. This guy was nowhere near as significant to Biblical history as was David, and his five sons were hanged for violating a treaty.

MThe LXX word has to do with “cheering up” whereas the MT word has more to do with “being right” Symmachus offered the translation hdu egeneto (“became pleasant”).

NNASB = “was agreeable” (NIV omitted “the thing” following the ancient Greek and Latin manuscripts)

OTwo Hebrew manuscripts omit “the thing,” as did the Greek, Latin, & NIV. This doesn’t change the sense of the verse, though. In v.26, David reaches agreement, and the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew manuscripts are agreed that “the thing” is present in the wording there.

Pcf. Aquila: numfeuseiV en emoi shmeron (“you shall be a bridegroom for me today”). Theodotian: epi taiV dusin epigambreuseiV moi (agreeing with the LXX in omitting “today”).

QNASB, NIV, and ESV read “thought,” but “said” is the more central meaning of this Hebrew word; there is a different Hebrew word which would more directly denote “thought.”

RThe Hebrew is literally “today,” NIV & ESV = “now,” NICOT = “this time”

SNASB, NIV, ESV = “[a] second [time],” AJV = “through one of the twain”

T[B]y ‘two,’ is here meant the second, the cardinal number, taken for the ordinal: as 2 Ki. 15.32... Saul meaneth that by the twaine, that is, the second of his daughters” ~Andrew Willett (Gordon concurred, and Goldman seemed to agree). Gill: “by marrying one of his two daughters”
Keil & Delitzsch: “‘In a second way’ (בִּשְׁתַּיִם, as in Job 33:14)”
Tsumura (NICOT): “for the second time”

UThe Hebrew word could be translated “wants” as the LXX did, or “is pleased” as Symmachus did (eudokei).

VThe Hebrew word translated “now/therefore” (עתה) looks a lot like the Hebrew word for “you” (אתה).

WThe Hebrew word is the standard one for “speak,” thus NASB, NIV, ESV.

XNIV/ESV = “privately/in private”

YThe ancient consonantal spelling of this word requires a singular interpretation (“his servant”), but the LXX (“all those belonging to him”) and Vulgate (servis suis) read plural, and the Masorites pointed the consonants with the vowels that would go with a plural, making a note that it should be edited by adding a yod before the last letter to spell it properly as a plural, as it is spelled later in the verse. At the beginning of the next verse, it is a plurality of servants who obey the command.

ZSymmachus chose a synonym (elafron) with a range of meaning closer to the Hebrew word.

AAcf. A.S. aporoV (“uncertain”), Q. penhV (“poor”), compared to the LXX which denotes “lowly” and the MT “poor”

AB A. eutelhV (“not well-ended”), S. atimoV (“dishonorable”)

ACDavid uses the same Hebrew word to describe himself and to describe what the servants thought of him marrying royalty, The KJV brings this over into English commendably, but most English translations use two different words: NASB = “trivial… lightly esteemed,” NIV = “small matter… little known," ESV = “little thing… no reputation” (The ESV followed the LXX rather than the MT in this.)

ADThe MT pointing (from manuscripts in the late 900’s AD) is for a Niphal participle; the Cairo Geniza manuscripts from the 800’s AD pointed it as a Niphal perfect (hl#q~nh), but that doesn’t really change the meaning. Such inconsequential vowel variants are typical in comparing the MT with the Cairo manuscripts.

AENASB rendered more literally “according to these words,” NIV omitted the phrase, and the ESV rendered very paraphrastically “thus and so.”

AFNIV = “price for the bride,” ESV = “bride-price”

AGIn the first few centuries AD, translators included the final phrase in their versions: A.Q. kai ouk eplhrwqhsan ai hmerai (“and the days were not fulfilled”), S. kai mh dielqouswn (twn) hmerwn (“and the days had not gone by”).

AHThis phrase is used of reaching term in pregnancy, fulfilling a vow by doing the action for the promised amount of time, reaching the end of one’s life, reaching the end of God’s mercy and being punished, but in two cases which seem most appropriate, it refers to preparation for marriage: Genesis 29:21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her." and Esther 2:12 “Each young woman's turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months' preparation, according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women.” (NKJV)

AIMost other Greek translations read diakosiouV (“200”) conforming to the MT. If David slew 200, then he did slay 100. It’s curious that he doubled the dowry. In 2 Sam. 3:14, he says he bought her for 100, so perhaps the other hundred was technically not part of the dowry, since 100 was the agreement.

AJAquila and Theodotian filled in the words from the Hebrew which are missing in the LXX: kai eplhrwsen autaV (“and made fulfillment with them”)

AKThe other Greek versions supply the subject Saoul here, in conformance with the MT.

ALBrenton apparently forgot to translate the phrase “to the king,” which is in the Greek versions.

AMNKJV = “full count,” NASB = “full number,” NIV = “presented the full number,” but the ESV solved the problem of it being a plural verb by ignoring the MT active Piel pointing and interpreting it as passive Niphal “which were given in full number. The original consonants (before the Masorite scribes added vowel pointings in the 800’s AD or so) could be interpreted Qal, Piel, or Niphal.

ANDavid’s name is not in any mss of the LXX or Vulgate, nor, as best I can tell, was it suggested by any later Greek versionist such as Aquila or Symmachus. NIV followed this tradition. This might suggest that it was added later for clarity by Hebrew editors, but the subject is the same whether stated or unstated, so this does not change the verse at all. Unfortunately there is no legible copy of this verse among the Dead Sea Scrolls for comparison.

AOThe word for “foreskin,” oddly enough, is feminine, but the pronominal object of this verb is masculine. Most commentators chose to ignore this difficulty. In the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, David Tsumura suggested that the masculine word “days” should instead be supplied by ellipsis from three sentences previous at the end of v.26, rendering it, “[the days] were fulfilled to the king to become the king’s son-in-law,” which works, but I think is an unlikely grammar construction considering the style of the author of 1 Samuel. Tsumura admitted that it would “not” be “impossible” for a masculine pronoun (“them”) in Hebrew to refer to a feminine antecedent (“foreskins”), which presents another possible solution to the difficulty, but I think there is a simpler solution which uses a nearer antecedent which matches in number and gender, and that is the phrase “men of the Philistines,” to which the previous pronoun also referred. Saul wasn’t as interested in the foreskins as he was interested in eradicating enemies. Each foreskin represented one man who had been killed (for each man has only one), so my solution to the difficulty is synecdoche: 200 men were presented before the king as dead by the presentation of 200 foreskins.

APThe other Greek versions supply the second verb “and knew” (kai egnw), which is in the MT.

AQThe MT בת-שרול is only somewhat similar to what the LXX would have had to read (כל-ישראל) to get the translation it did. The Lucian rescension corrected closer to the MT with kai Melcol h qugathr autou (“and Melchol his daughter” – changing “Saul’s” to “his”). Another explanation could be that the phrase from v.16 was supplied by memory to the LXX scribe.

AR Cairo Geniza manuscript reads pointed as a participle ([s)ay@w) instead of the MT Hiphil Imperfect, but that doesn’t really change anything. Some other Hebrew manuscripts removed the aleph to make clear that the root was not אסף (“gathering”) but יסף (“adding”) e.g. [swyw or [syw.

ASNASB, NIV = “commanders”

ATNASB, NIV, and ESV add the explanatory phrase “to battle,” but it is not in the Hebrew or Greek or Latin.

AUNASB, NIV, and ESV = “as often as” - the Hebrew word has to do with periodicity

AVNIV, ESV = “more success”

AWNASB & ESV = “highly esteemed,” NIV = “well known”

AXcf. this word in Psa 101:2a “I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me?”
Some commentators make much of the Mosaic law that a man should not go to war in his first year of marriage, suggesting that the Philistines must have invaded during the first year of David’s marriage in order to take advantage of Israel while David was out-of-commission, but the Biblical account says nothing of this, and it is an assumption that the Philistines knew of this law, and it is an assumption that the invasions referred-to in this verse happened during David’s first year of marriage, and it is an assumption that David broke that law, which makes it a tenuous proposition.

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