It’s Not Fair

1 Samuel 18:17-30

¹⁷Then Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you for a wife. Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “Let not my hand be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.” ¹⁸And 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?” ¹⁹But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife. ²⁰Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. ²¹Saul 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.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “You shall now be my son-in-law.” ²²And Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now then become the king’s son-in-law.’ ” ²³And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?” ²⁴And the servants of Saul told him, “Thus and so did David speak.” ²⁵Then Saul said, “Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.’ ” Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. ²⁶And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired, ²⁷David 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. ²⁸But when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, ²⁹Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually. ³⁰Then 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.

One of Saul’s promises to the man who would defeat Goliath was that they would get to marry into the king’s family. Saul would give his eldest daughter to the victor. As such, that marriage should have taken place shortly after David killed Goliath. Now, several months later, that promise is supposedly being fulfilled. But wait, Saul adds to the “bride-price”. He sends David out to fight some more Philistines. Saul plots David’s death yet again by placing him in the front lines. Then Saul gives Merab to another man. It almost defies understanding. Saul’s second daughter is Michal and she is actually in love with David (which probably rankles Saul). The bride-price for Michal is 100 Philistine foreskins. (It was a violent time!) David brings Saul 200. David acquires his first wife. All of this adds up to Saul’s fear growing even greater.

The portrait of Saul here is triply unflattering: he was using his daughter as bait to try to kill David; he was using David as the military leader to do the work that he ought to have been doing himself as king; and he was requiring an additional bride-price despite the fact that his original promise was contingent only on the defeat of Goliath.

Steinmann, A. E. ©2016. 1 Samuel. (p. 360). Saint Louis, MO: CPH.

All of Saul’s maneuvering cannot stand up against the will of God. The kingdom has been taken from the family of Saul and there is no amount of manipulation that will change that. Saul lives out the rest of his life as a desperate man.

Have you ever thought to yourself in a difficult situation, “I don’t deserve this kind of treatment”? Where you are endlessly hounded or bullied for reasons you don’t entirely understand? It happens to everyone and it brings with it a sense of true hopelessness. You have no power to change what is happening. It is easy to look to heaven in those times and cry out, “This isn’t fair!” And it’s not. But God never promised us life would be “fair”. I’m sure David sat at his fire and night and wondered what he had done to deserve such treatment. Jesus was treated to the ultimate unfairness as He hung on the cross for the sins of us all. He committed no wrong deed during His entire life, and yet He pays the price for our darkness. That’s not fair, but we are the recipients of grace because He bore it.