Search This Blog

Monday, June 1, 2020

Not Your Usual Father-in-Law! 1 Samuel, Part 33

1 Samuel 18:17–30 (ESV)

Undoubtedly this is the strangest marriage arrangement on the pages of Scripture.  In keeping with his promise (And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.”” (1 Samuel 17:25, ESV)) Saul offers his eldest daughter Merab to David as a wife.  The first hint that not all is well in the king’s heart is his added expectation: “Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.”[1]

It is here the author lets us in on a secret: Saul still wants to kill David (v17b).  David, on the other hand shows a humility of heart. “And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and who are my relatives, my father’s clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”” (1 Samuel 18:18, ESV).  This supports the notion that his desire to combat Goliath was truly for God’s honor and not for his own reward.  During the time that passed Merab became the wife of another. 

Father Saul learned that daughter Michal loved David, so immediately he saw another opportunity.  His motives were still ungodly.  “Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.””[2]  We are not sure how Michal could be a snare to David.  In Chapter 19 we learn that she practiced idolatry and perhaps Saul saw that to morally defeat David.  But with the help of David’s servants, Saul was able to convince David to accept Michal as his wife.  But again, he adds a dangerous proviso: “‘The king desires no bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.”[3]

Saul thought that surely David would die as he takes up this challenge.  Not so! 

David arose and went, along with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife.” (1 Samuel 18:27, ESV)

Saul’s failure to get David killed exasperated this monarch: “Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually.”[4]

The author’s postscript on David was amazing: “Then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.” (1 Samuel 18:30, ESV)

In Psalm 76, Asaph wrote, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt.” (Psalm 76:10, ESV) A modern paraphrase reads, “Human defiance only enhances your glory . . ..” (Psalm 76:10a, NLT) The message of this story as we consider the Big Story is that “I am God, and there is none like me,  declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.[5]

David was God’s anointed.  In David there would come the greatest son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The rage of Saul could not prevent that.  God’s purposes will stand.  It was Job that would say, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2, ESV)

All of Saul’s plans failed. He added expectations to his original offer hoping David would die in battle. He asked for the lives of 100 Philistines, hoping David would die in battle. He viewed his daughter as a snare and offered her to David.  The result was the intensified anger of Saul and the magnified glory of God.  Every time Saul tried to bring David into a vulnerable place, into a place that would take his life, it brought David closer to kingship – it brought the purposes of God to establish a Davidic dynasty closer to fruition.  It brought Jesus Christ the Son of David, into reality.  “No purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

 

 

 

 

 



[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 18:17). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 18:21). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 18:25). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 18:29). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Is 46:9–10). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.


No comments: