The Bitter Michal
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Q: In
1Chronicles 15:29-- It states that "Michal" is Saul's
daughter and that she saw King David out of a window and she
despised him. Who was she and what happened to her after
Saul and his family were killed?
A: In hope that David would
be killed in the act, Saul offered his daughter
Michal to David for the dowry of 100 killed Philistines.
David doubled
the request by killing 200 Philistines and Saul had to
follow through
with his offer (1Samuel 18:20-28). After they were married,
Michal
protected David when Saul sought to kill him and helped him
escape her
father's wrath (1Samuel 19:10-18).
However, while David was in exile because of this personal
danger, Saul
gave Michal to another man as a wife; to Phalti the son of
Laish (1Samuel
25:44). We are not told how readily Michal went along with
this marriage.
In later years, when David was king of Judah but not the
northern
tribes, Abner, the captain of the host of the northern
tribes offered to
bring these tribes to David. As a prerequisite for any
agreement, David
demanded the return of Michal as his wife. She was taken
from her second
husband and given back to David (2Samuel 3:12-16).
When David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem and
rejoiced in
the streets with the people, Michal strongly criticized him
for his
crudeness and lowness (2Samuel 6:20-23). As a judgment,
Michal had no
child from that day unto the day of her death. Most Bible
scholars think
that this also means that David no longer had physical
relations with
her. The judgment may seem harsh but it is unlikely that
this was a
one-time offhanded remark. It was simply a window into her
heart and
revealed the bitterness that had permeated there.
The only mention of Michal after this time is in 2Samuel
21:8 - "But the
king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom
she bare unto
Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal
the daughter
of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai
the
Meholathite." Famine had come on the land of Israel because
of Saul's
mistreatment of the Gibeonites. When David asked what they
required for
restitution, the Gibeonites demanded the death of seven of
the
descendants of Saul. Five of those offered were the sons of
Michal's
sister, Merab, and Adriel. It is probably that both Adriel
and Merab had
died and that Michal took on the care of her five nephews.
This was
another terrible blow to a decidedly sad life. There was
evidently no
love lost between David and Michal. Although he protected
Mephibosheth, he readily offered the five nephews that Michal had brought
up.
We hear nothing else of Michal in the Bible. We can only
assume that she
died as she lived, a bitter and unhappy soul. Those who do
not learn to
rejoice in the Lord will be destroyed by the root of
bitterness.
Pastor David Reagan
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