Adriel (Hebrew: עדריאל) (Aramaic: ܥܕܪܝܐܝܠ) (literally
עדר(flock) י (of) אל (El)) was a person mentioned in the Bible. Adriel was a nobleman in the
ancient kingdom of Israel.
The name Adriel is translated from the Hebrew word עַדְרִיאֵל (ad-ree-ale'), which means "my help is God" or "flock of God". עַדְרִיאֵל comes from two Hebrew words: עֵ֫דֶר (ay'-der) and אֵל (ale). עֵ֫דֶר (ay'-der) means "flock" and comes from another Hebrew word - עָדַר (aw-dar') - that means "to dig" or "to arrange". אֵל (ale) means "God".
[Cheyne and Black (1899), ''Encyclopaedia Biblica,'' entry for "Adriel.]
/ref>[Strongs Exhaustive Concordance/Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Unabridged, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc]
/ref> Adriel was the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. According to 1 Samuel 18:19, Saul the King, Saul married his daughter Merab to Adriel.
However, 2 Samuel 21:8, in the Masoretic Text, records that Michal, another daughter of Saul "brought up" .V. "bare"five sons with Adriel. This is in apparent conflict with 2 Samuel 6:23, which records that Michal was barren, and 2 Samuel 3, which indicates that Michal was married to David, not Adriel.
The claim that Michal "brought up" these five sons has been taken to mean either that she treated them as if she had been their own mother, or that for " Michal" we should read " Merab" in 2 Samuel 21:8, as in 1 Sam. 18:19.
Due to that later discrepancy that states Michal as the wife of Adriel, instead of Merab as first said in 1st Samuel, many scholars believe this to be an ancient copyist
A copyist is a person that makes duplications of the same thing. The term is sometimes used for artists who make copies of other artists' paintings. However, the modern use of the term is almost entirely confined to music copyists, who are emplo ...
's error that should have read Merab in 2 Samuel 21:8.
References
House of Saul
Noblemen
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