1 Samuel 18:21

1Sa 18:21 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.

Ver. 21. Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law.] Here is a fair glove drawn upon a foul hand; there is a great deal of such colluding and colloguing in the world. "Be wise as serpents."

“ Sit licet in partes circumspectissimus omnes,

Nemo tamen vulpes, nemo cavere potest. ”

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa_18:21

And Saul said, I will give him her that she may be a snare to him.

Marriage an instrument of intrigue

We are not without examples in profane history of royal parents employing matrimonial contracts as instruments of intrigue or revenge. Antiochus the Great wedded his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy Epiphanes, King of Egypt, in order thereby to compass his destruction, though the baseness of the plot defeated itself (Delany). Saul, doubtless, in ordinary circumstances, would have violently resented the marriage of Michal; but he was artful enough to see, in the preliminaries to such a connection, a new opportunity for effecting his deadly purpose, and that, too, by a repetition of the identical stratagem and unworthy knavery which on two former occasions had been foiled. The thing pleased him, 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. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So his hypocrisy appeareth: for under pretence of favor he sought his destruction.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 21. That she may be a snare to him] Saul had already determined the condition on which he would give his daughter to David; viz., that he should slay one hundred Philistines: this he supposed he would undertake for the love of Michal, and that he must necessarily perish in the attempt; and thus Michal would become a snare to him.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(21) That she may be a snare to him.—Is it not possible that this dark plot of Saul against a life once so dear to him—a plot which in after days, when the enmity of the king was a matter of general notoriety, became of course known by David—suggested to him (David) the means by which, in the darkest hours of his life, he got rid of the brave Uriah, the husband of Bath-sheba, at the siege of Rabbah? (2 Samuel 11)

In the one of the twain.—More accurately translated. in this second time, or in this second way. The LXX. again leaves out this statement, no doubt because it refers back to the omitted passage in 1Sa_18:17-19.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. a snare] Michal was to he the bait to lure David into some venturesome raid upon the Philistines in which he might lose his life

Wherefore Saul, &c.] Probably, And Saul said to David a second time, Now shalt thou be my son-in-law. The Sept. (B) omits the clause, but adds, “Now the hand of the Philistines was against Saul.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Saul commanded his servants, saying, commune with David secretly,.... And persuade him to marry Michal, and assure him of Saul's real regard to him, and good intention towards him; for it seems that David being ill used in the affair of his eldest daughter, did not listen to the proposals of Saul as to the youngest, and therefore Saul took this method to bring him into them:

and say, behold, the king hath a delight in thee; bore a good will towards him, had an high opinion of him, and it would be a pleasure to him that he should he his son-in-law:

and all his servants love thee; which might be true in general, excepting some few; which was no small mortification to Saul, though he here pleads it, and puts his servants on making use of it to gain his present purpose:

now therefore be the king's son in law; accept of the proposal he has made, and marry his youngest daughter.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In the one of the twain - Some prefer “the second time” Job 33:14. The first contract had been broken by giving Merab to Adriel.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Days. Hebrew, "In two thou shalt," &c. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "in the one of the twain," Merob or Michol. (Haydock) --- Saul had deceived him with respect to the first; but he promises that he shall have "the second," (Calmet) or two motives induced the king to make him this offer, the victory over Goliath, and the slaughter of 100 Philistines. (Menochius; Tirinus) --- The Septuagint omit this sentence, and read, "And the hand of the Philistines was upon Saul, and Saul commended," &c.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This day, i.e. suddenly, within a time which probably Saul prefixed.

In the one of the twain: whereas I have only two daughters, and thou wast disappointed of thy expectation in the one by an unexpected accident, thou shalt certainly have the other, which is the same thing. Heb. in the twain. Thus the cities of Gilead is put for one of them, Jdg 12:7; and the sides of the ship for one of the sides, Jon 1:5. Or he saith in the twain, or in both, because he was in effect betrothed to the one, and should be married to the other, and so was I his son-in-law upon a double account.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. In the one of the twain — Better, In the second shalt thou become my son in law this day. That is, by means of the second daughter; or, thou shalt become doubly my son in law, for the first (Merab) was lawfully thine, and now the second shall certainly be given thee.

This day — Some day designated for the marriage.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Through the second [of my two daughters] you will become my son-in-law. I have two daughters; through one of them, you will become my son-in-law. And similarly did Targum Yonoson render, 'with one of the two.' Similarly [we find], "I hold three things [meaning, one of three things] over you," as Scripture clarifies there, "choose one of them."

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.