Adriel the Meholathite appears in two places that feel very far apart. First, Saul’s daughter Merab was meant to be given to David, but she was given to Adriel as his wife. Years later, five sons born to Michal, whom she brought up for Adriel, were among seven descendants of Saul given to the Gibeonites, who hanged them before the LORD. The first is a story of a broken promise, and the second is among the hardest scenes in Samuel. Both are brief, and 2 Samuel 21 gives the setting for the second.
3 verses
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.
But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
Flock of God, the son of Barzillai, the Meholathite, to whom Saul gave in marriage his daughter Merab (1 Sam. 18:19). The five sons that sprang from this union were put to death by the Gibeonites (2 Sam. 21:8, 9. Here it is said that Michal “brought up” [R.V., “bare”] these five sons, either that she treated them as if she had been their own mother, or that for “Michal” we should read “Merab,” as in 1 Sam. 18:19).
William Smith, 1884
(flock of God), son of Barzillai, to whom Saul gave his daughter Merab, although he had previously promised her to David. (1 Samuel 18:19) (B.C. about 1062.) His five sons were amongst the seven descendants of Saul whom David surrendered to the Gibeonites. (2 Samuel 21:8)