Evidently Merab, the elder daughter of Saul—her name means, “increase,” “multiplication” (see Isa. 9:6, 7)—had been promised to David as part of the reward for killing Goliath (1 Sam. 17:25), or in the hope of persuading him to accept the hazard of further attacks on the Philistines. David’s hesitancy in marrying Merab may have arisen from the fact that he was not in a position to provide the required dowry.