The Skeptics Annotated Bible (274 page)

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.

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 him.

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. And 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, Thus shall ye say 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 went, he and his men, and
slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king’s son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

(18.27)
“David … slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king’s son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.”
David kills 200 Philistines and brings their foreskins to Saul to buy his first wife (Saul’s daughter Michal). Saul had only asked for 100 foreskins, but David was feeling generous.
191 How many Philistine foreskins did David buy his first wife with?
God’s 68th Killing

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

(18.28)
“And Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David.”
(How else could David get so many foreskins?)

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

(18.29)
“Saul became David’s enemy continually.”
190 When did Saul become David’s enemy?

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.

(18.30)
“David behaved himself … wisely.”

19
And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.

2 But
Jonathan
Saul’s son
delighted much in David
: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:

(19.2)
“Jonathan … delighted much in David.”