What Does 1 Samuel 18:19 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Hebrew verb marks both the promised transfer and the actual one, the promise remains, but its recipient changes.
THE MEANING
A promised future can be redirected by the people who hold power over it. Merab remains the one being given, while the one who gives her to Adriel is left unnamed; the language of arrangement makes the transfer plain and its agency less visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A promise made about someone guarantees that person the promised outcome.
THE ROOT
תֵּת
tēt
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“given” in this verse is tēt. The expected giving to David and the completed giving to Adriel use the same root. Hebrew holds the two transfers together: what changes is the receiver, while Merab remains the person being placed in the arrangement.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift
מַתָּנָה
This branch names something given; it brings out how a transfer can be framed as a gift or arrangement, even when the person transferred is not the one making the choice.
Nethinim: Those given or assigned, especially to service at the sanctuary
נְתִינִים
This word applies the same root to people designated for a role, echoing the verse’s language of a person being assigned through another’s decision.
THE PATTERN
The act of giving places someone or something into another’s keeping, and its consequences turn on who receives it.
And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.THE THREAD
And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.Hannah’s request and vow use נתן (n-t-n, give or place) for receiving the child and then placing him in service to the LORD. That repetition opens this verse’s shift from David to Adriel as a change in who receives the person being given.
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