Scripture References:
1 Samuel 14:50, 1 Samuel 18:20-29, 1 Samuel 19:8-17, 1 Samuel 25:4, 2 Samuel 3:12-16, 2 Samuel 6:16, 2 Samuel 6:20-23, 1 Chronicles 15:29
Name Meaning:
Who is like Jehovah?
Introduction:
The story of Michal is one that is full of political gain at the expense of one woman. It is the story of a woman given in marriage, abandoned, passed off again in marriage, then ripped from her home to return to her first husband. We see a complete change of attitude in this woman as the events of her life unfold in the Scriptures. Hopefully we learn much about our own attitude as we see the shift in Michal.
Lesson:
The first time we hear of Michal is in the verse 1 Samuel 14:50:
Now the sons of Saul were Jonathon, Ishvi, and Malchishua; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn was Merab, and the name of the younger, Michal.
David was quickly becoming a name in the lands. He clearly had God on his side and was doing His will. The people loved him, and the Scriptures repeatedly tell us that fact. Amongst those who love him is Michal. In 1 Samuel 18:20 we are told that she is in love with David, which pleases Saul greatly. Saul had great jealousy of David and was ready to stop at no ends to have him destroyed. He had already tried to give his first daughter to David in marriage, as a means of controlling him, but David refused. When Saul learned that his younger daughter Michal was in love with David, he plotted to give her to David “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” (1 Samuel 18:21)
Being aware of his daughter’s love for David, Saul then plotted to take him down by setting a bride’s price at a hundred Philistine foreskins, assuming David would be killed in battle. His daughter had become a pawn in his scheming to destroy the one man in Israel he felt was the biggest threat to his authority as king.
Of course, David won his battles, and thus was rewarded with his bride. Unfortunately, the motives are not for love – he became the husband of Michal, but only to become the king’s son-in-law – not because he loved Michal. Yet how happy she must have been to know that the man she loved fought the enemy and brought back twice as much as her father had asked to marry her. How happy she must have been to be able to be with the man she loved.
Saul continued to plot against David. He was sent into hiding by Jonathan, his dear friend and Saul’s son. Michal helped by warning her husband of her father’s plans. In 1 Samuel 19:11 Michal warned David of her father’s men coming to kill him and in verse 12 she helped him escape by letting him down through a window. She then laid an idol on the bed and covered it. She claimed her husband was sick when the men came for him. Her father was appalled to learn that she had deceived him. She had proven her love for her husband by protecting him in the face of adversity. She helped him to escape the wrath of her father.
It is interesting to note that she used an idol to fool the men of the king. What is an idol doing in the house of a man of God? It is obvious his wife did not share his faith. Yet God uses something not of Him to do His will – He can and DOES use all things for His glory.
David leaves his wife and flees for his safety. Did she feel abandoned? Was this when her attitude towards him began to change? Why did he not take his wife with him? He had many men who followed him, so he was not the lone man fleeing. Surely, he could have taken his wife. Why does he take other wives while away? We learn that he married Ahinoam, followed by Abigail. In the meantime, Saul has given his daughter Michal in marriage to Phalti, son of Laish from Gallim (1 Samuel 25:44). And finally, Michal has a marriage with a man who loves her.
The story continues and we do not hear of Michal again until 2 Samuel 3:13. David refuses to meet with the men of Saul without “Sauls’ daughter Michal” present. Is this him wanting to see his wife, to be restored in marriage? Why does he not say “my wife” when he refers to her? He does immediately follow in verse 14 with: “Give me my wife Michal.” What is his motive in this? Is it political? We can only assume it is for political gain that this man, now a king for 7 years and married to 4 women with numerous children, calls for his first wife from his enemies. Otherwise, we assume he would have retrieved her much sooner than this if it had been for love. Not to mention the recalling of his wife is not legal – it is against Hebrew law. Once a woman is married to another she cannot return to her first husband.
Poor Michal is ripped from her home where she has been living with a husband who is in love with her and is sent to David. We see the heart-breaking scene as her husband follows her “weeping behind her all the way.” (2 Samuel 3:16) What this poor woman must have felt, being given in marriage without her consent to a man she fortunately DID love, then being abandoned by the man she loved, being given in marriage once again without her consent to another man, being ripped from the home she had known for many years to be returned to the man who had abandoned her, watching her husband follow her weeping for his wife.
Unfortunately, all she has gone through DOES influence her. Her husband has become king of Israel, has established Jerusalem as the City of David, and has taken countless wives and concubines by this point. She soon despises her husband. In 2 Samuel 6:16 we see this as Michal watches from a window as the Ark of the Covenant is brought back into the city triumphantly. David is dancing and leaping for joy, and she despises him. When he returns home, she goes out to meet him and says, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight to the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” She chastises him for his public actions! He responds in the same manner, and we are told that she had no children to the day of her death. Some speculate it was punishment from the Lord, but others claim it was a manifestation of God’s judgment on the house of Saul. Regardless, in a world where a woman’s worth was dependent upon her childbearing, this must have been a hard thing for her to bear, especially with the number of wives and concubines he had who bore children. She was the first wife and should have held a position of honor, but instead we see a childless, bitter woman who is not mentioned again
What, do you ask, can we learn from such a tragic story?
Sometimes it is hard to see what we can learn from stories like this. But in this case, we can learn that though we may be a victim, sinned against and used for political gain (or any other gain) our attitude is still of our choosing. We can choose to harbor that bitterness and let it fester within us, making us seem unattractive later when it flows out our mouths in anger and disgust, or we can choose to give it to God and ask Him to speak words of love through us, letting HIM be seen in us despite all we have endured. We can give our all to Him and let Him be the husband of our hearts, even if our own husbands fail to be that. He alone can be the perfect husband.
Be the first to comment