James Lowther

Merab James Lowther

In the Bible in 1 Samuel we meet Princess Merab, King Saul's oldest daughter. She is promised to David as a wife for his deed of killing Goliath, but Saul reneges on the promise. She is one again promised to David after David becomes a renowned warrior, but David refuses to accept her as his wife since he is a poor man who could not pay the dowry for a princess. Finally, when Saul pursues David to kill him, Merab is given to Ariel, the son of Barzillai and brother of Chinham. Before Saul does this, though, he had given his second daughter, Michal, to David for the dowry price of killing 100 Philistine soldiers. Later, in 2 Samuel, we learn that Saul had slaughtered many Gibeonites in a fit of rage. For this God sent a 3 year drought to Israel during David's reign. The Gibeonites demand that seven male descendants of Saul be given to them for execution to satisfy justice for them. David selects the two sons of Saul's concubine, Rizpah, but instead of taking other descendants from wives and concubines, he takes all five of Merab's sons to give to the Gibeonites for execution.