Adriel in the Bible — Hidden Meaning & Symbolism

flock of God; host of God; my help is God. Son of Barzillai the Meholathite. Saul gave his daughter Merab to Adriel to wife after he had promised her to David (I Sam. 18:19; II Sam. 21:8, 9). Meta. Merab refers to increase. The true thoughts of life and substance (flock of God) and the thoughts of increase that Adriel and Merab signify, one in the soul consciousness and the other in the outer intellectual realm, are closely related to the personal will (Saul). Therefore, though these thoughts and their activities may have been helped by God (my help is God), and seem to be good and true, they are of the personal consciousness and are limited; they need to be raised to a higher and more spiritual plane. David (love) gave the five sons of Adriel and Merab over to the Gibeonites, who hanged them. Gibeon represents a high place in consciousness, where man lets go of personal ideas and desires and seeks the presence of God only. It is here, at this place of sacrifice, that the thoughts of personality are lifted and transmuted into spiritual energy and substance. This transmutation is suggested by the Gibeonites' putting Adriel's sons to death.