Adriel

Adriel (meaning flock of God) was the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. Saul gave his elder daughter Merab to Adriel in marriage, though she had earlier been promised to David (1 Samuel 18:19). Merab bore Adriel five sons, who figure in a later and morally difficult episode: during a famine in David's reign, the Gibeonites demanded seven of Saul's male descendants as restitution for Saul's breach of the ancient treaty with their people (2 Samuel 21:1–9). David handed over two sons of Rizpah by Saul and five sons of Merab by Adriel, who were executed at Gibeon at the beginning of the barley harvest.

The narrative of Rizpah's vigil over the bodies (2 Samuel 21:10–14) is one of the most poignant in the books of Samuel. Adriel himself receives no further mention; he is known only as the husband of Merab and the father of the five sons given to the Gibeonites in the expiation of Saul's bloodguilt.