Michal was the second daughter of King Saul, younger sister of Jonathan, Merab, and several other sons of Saul, and the first wife of David.
Michal was the second daughter of Saul, which naturally meant that she would marry after her sister had. Merab was the first daughter offered to David as a wife. For some reason, not known to us, David refused saying "Who am I? and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?".
So, Merab was given to another. But in 1st Samuel 18:20, it says that Michal loved David. Why? Perhaps it was because of how handsome he was, perhaps because of his mighty strength and faith, or perhaps it was just that she genuinely loved his character and found him to be a noble man. Michal did loved him. That much we know. But why?
Saul was jealous of David for his fame in the land - so much he wanted to kill him. Perhaps Saul caught whiff that there was an attraction between David and Michal, for he used this to his advantage and told David Michal would be his wife if he could bring him 100 Philistine skins; quite the feat for any man. Actually, Saul was positive that David would die. Not only did David bring back 100 skins, he brought back double that amount to assure that he brought enough. Was this a man who just wanted to please the king...or did David have a thing for Michal? After all, he said no to marrying Merab but doubled the necessary measures to assure that he won for himself Michal's hand. Perhaps David loved Michal too...
So David and Michal were married. But their happy life didn't last for too long. Saul wanted David dead, and in one desperate act Michal saved her husband's life by lowering him out the window of their abode, and followed by covering for him when the guards showed up at their door looking for David.
Saul later illegally gives Michal to another man as a wife. If Michal loved David still, this most have been heart wrenching!
So, after many years, Saul dies and David becomes king. He's no longer in hiding! Though he took other wives through his journey, he must have still loved Michal, for he ordered that she be brought back to him. It says that Palti, her second husband, wept as she left. Seems like he geninely loved her! Could she have loved him in return? After all, it had been many years since she'd known David. Was David destroying her life...again?
"Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart."
Apparently Michal was over David. When he came dancing through the streets with the Ark of the Covenant, she hated him. Despised him. Maybe in her mind, he'd ruined her life. She was mad about how he was acting, though, in public. Dancing? And without his kingly robes? This was never the way her father acted!
When he comes back, he rebukes her. And for her mistake, Michal was made barren.
So, Michal was foolish. She obviously didn't love David for David, she loved him for his appearance or for how famous he was. It proved the point that a marriage on unequal grounds will only result in chaos.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this look into Michal's life! Again, sorry it's late!
1 comments:
Do you think she was made barren? Or is it just that David never slept with her again, and she couldn't sleep with another man without being killed (for adultery) and so she never had children? That is what Liz Curtis Higgs thought in "Bad Girls in the Bible" which I found a very enlightening and highly interesting book. I'm not saying your wrong...it's impossible to know one way or the other for sure. Just a thought. :)
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