Originally posted 10/8/24
Michal loved David and asked to marry him. Saul considered it an opportunity to harm David so he consented. Saul required as a wedding payment that David bring him the foreskins of 100 Phillistines. Saul expected David to be killed in this attempt. Saul knew that the only way David succeeded was because the Lord was with him. He became afraid of David. We read in 1 Samuel 14:20-29, Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “You shall now be my son-in-law.” And Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now then become the king’s son-in-law.’” And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?” And the servants of Saul told him, “Thus and so did David speak.” Then Saul said, “Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired, David arose and went, along with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife. But when Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, 29 Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually.
[1Sa 19:11-17 ESV] 11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 13 Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’”
Saul continues to devise ways to have David killed. Micahl provided assistance to David to help him escape Saul’s wrath. She lets David down through a window so he could escape. Michal devised a plan quickly to give the impression that David was in his bed.
In the book, 31 Women of the Bible says, “The Bible doesn’t say much about Michal’s next few years, focusing instead on David’s life as a fugitive for a decade or more. What was that like for Michal, watching her own father put a bounty on her husband’s head? How did she deal with the dysfunction of it all, the separation and uncertainty? In effect, she became the widow of a living husband. How does one grieve such a thing? And then the shock of being given by her father to another man, “Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim” (1 Sam 25:44). Did Michal see that coming? Did she have any say in it? What was that marriage like? What was he like? Did Michal love him? (He sure seemed crazy about her.) Maybe if it weren’t too painful, Michal would speak about the wartime deaths of her father from? Finally, would we be right in assuming that Michal’s emotion in that moment was about much, much more than that moment?” p. 67-68
Michal is given to another man but Scripture doesn’t tell us why. David does ask that she be returned to him. 1Sa 25:44 says, “Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.”
[2Sa 3:13-14 ESV] 13 And he said, “Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you; that is, you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when you come to see my face.” 14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.”
When we get to 2 Samuel, Michal has gone from loving David to despising him.
In 2 Samuel 6:16 we read, ”As the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.”
Michal confronts David when she saw him dancing in 2 Samuel 6:20-21, “And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” And David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD–and I will celebrate before the LORD.”
There is not a ton of information about Michal. 31 Women of the Bible says, “The brief biblical portrait of Michal is of a brave, outspoken, resilient woman. On matters of faith, however, the Bible paints a less-than-encouraging picture. Though Michal was clearly smitten with David, her love for Yahweh was suspect. There are references to idolatry (see 1 Sam 19:11–17). And her reaction to David’s unabashed worship is troubling. What a shame that Michal wasn’t able to see past David’s many domestic shortcomings to the God he so adored.” pp. 68-69
Michal died before ever having a baby. Society would have looked down on her for being unable to bear children.
One final word from www.gotquestions.org is, “We can learn from Michal’s sad story what happens in a marriage when offenses go on for years, unaddressed. Michal’s youthful infatuation with Israel’s hero turned to bitterness when he treated her like property, tore her away from a loving husband, and apparently never made it right. Even someone like David, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), could also be selfish and cause pain in someone he should have loved. Although David was used greatly by God, he was also a sinful human being who made tragic mistakes. God placed stories like Michal’s in the Bible to remind us that heroes are also human and bitterness can destroy even a queen.”