again, for his wife's
sake, and Saul hoped that they might kill him.

Although in our day, David would have been far too young to think of
being married, in those days such things were different, and David
accepted the hand of Merab, but at the last moment, through some new
caprice of Saul's, the promise was broken and Merab became another
man's wife. But Saul's younger daughter, Michal, who had admired
David's behaviour ever since he had been her father's armour-bearer,
was as fond of him as her brother, Jonathan was, and when she told her
father this, he was greatly pleased and said to himself that she should
marry David, who would then fight the Philistines for her sake and be
killed by them. And when David objected to marrying her, saying that it
was no easy matter for a poor man to marry the daughter of a king,
Saul's messengers answered:

"The King requireth no dowry from him, only that he kill a hundred
Philistines."

This pleased David, for he was a born warrior, and he did not know that
the King's purpose in this agreement was to have him fall by the sword
of the enemy. So even before the marriage took place, he was so eager
to fulfil the king's request that he and his men went out and killed
twice as many Philistines as Saul demanded, and came home unhurt, and
although Saul was angry at this, he was obliged to give him Michal in
marriage, but from that moment, Saul hated David more fiercely than
ever, and was determined to kill him, especially when he saw that the
people loved David more and more deeply for his wisdom and bravery.
Intent on this purpose, Saul even called his ministers and servants
together and told them that they must kill David, and he told Jonathan
this too, and Jonathan, loving David as he did, was filled with fear
that his father's wishes would be carried out, and so he hurried to
David with the news of his father's command, and begged David to hide
until the next day, saying that meanwhile he would go to his father and
try to alter his feelings.

When David heard Saul's command, it did not frighten him as much as it
did Jonathan, for he was almost fearless by nature, but he listened to
Jonathan intently, and promised to do what he asked, and as soon as
Jonathan had left him and gone to Saul, David fled to a secret place
and hid there, while Jonathan, having sought his father, began to say
good things about David, even though he saw there was danger of
arousing his father's fierce ang