It certainly was no fairy tale romance. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The marriage of King David to his first wife Michal, though born in affection, would die in misery. At the center of the trouble was Michal’s father, King Saul, who was once a friend and commander of David. Then, out of jealousy and paranoia, Saul made every attempt to assassinate David. Michal was the unfortunate pawn in Saul’s plan. Yet we learn that Michal had the potential for deep love, selfless bravery, and standing up for what she thought was right. But she also was a woman with great resentment that she was not in control of her circumstances.
How Did Michal Meet David?
We first meet Michal in the Bible after her father had been anointed as Israel’s first king by Samuel, a judge appointed by God. Saul was chosen because at the time, the Israelites were not satisfied with anything less than a warrior king leader like other countries. Even though God had provided for them since the covenant with Abraham, they wanted more.
So God chose Saul and promised He would be with him if He followed God’s commands. Like many future kings, Saul soon disappointed God through power-hungry greed (1 Samuel 13:13-14).
God removed His blessing from Saul and chose a young David to be the next king of Israel (though it would be many years before he would make it to the throne). In the meantime, God was preparing David for the throne. One day, the Philistine army challenged the Israelite army. In fact, their largest warrior, the giant Goliath, challenged the Israelites to send out their strongest fighter to take him on. David, who was working as a musician for King Saul, asked to go out and fight the giant Philistine warrior who dared to come against the army of the living God. He was not built for battle: in fact Saul’s armor was much too big for David.
The battle is the stuff of legends. The underdog defeated the giant with a stone’s throw that hit Goliath in the head and killed him—all glory be to God, who showed His great power and mercy (1 Samuel 17:49). Suddenly, David became more popular with the people than Saul, and Michal fell in love.
Suddenly King Saul burned with anger against David because he knew that David had God’s blessing and the people’s support.
What Did David Have to Do Before He Married Michal?
Because Saul couldn’t just be happy for his youngest daughter’s affection for David, he promised her in marriage to David, thinking, “I will give her to him…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).
Saul wanted the death of David. Daughters were for political advantage, so how would King Saul “use” her to get what he wanted? Though he gave his permission, he made achieving her dowry as impossible as he could. In his article on David’s wives, Stephen Baker wrote, “Saul told David he could still become his son-in-law by marrying Michal. He need only give 100 Philistine foreskins as dowry. Saul’s hopes of David falling by the hand of the Philistines is once again thwarted because David killed 200 Philistines and gave double the agreed-upon dowry. Saul had no choice but to give Michal to David as his wife.”
Saul would never have believed that David could defeat 200 men. The Lord was with David throughout his life, giving him an incredible opportunity to show the power of “a man after God’s own heart.”
How Did Michal Help David Escape Death?
Saul told his son Jonathan he intended to kill David, but Jonathan was fond of David and warned him of Saul’s evil intent. Saul then sent men to watch David’s house at night and kill him in the morning. Michal knew this would happen, so she warned him to flee. Her love for David led her to put her life in danger—she had no way of knowing how what would happen to her, but she wanted to save his life.
David ran away, and Michal made a bed to look like someone was sleeping there. When Saul’s men arrived to capture him, Michal said he was ill. When confronted by her father for her behavior, Michal lied and said David threatened to kill her.
According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Michal “not only outwitted and delayed the messengers, but afterward also soothed her father’s jealous wrath.” How smart of Michal not to add to King Saul’s anger by implying that she was a traitor to her father.
At this point, David entered years of exile on the run from Saul. Her father quickly married her off to another man named Paltiel. The Jewish Women’s Archives contends that Michal never fell out of love with David and never had intercourse or children with this new husband.
How Many Women Did David Marry After Michal?
In 2 Samuel, after David is crowned king, he reclaims Michal as his wife and has soldiers go and retrieve her from her sorrowful husband, Peltiel.
By this time, David had acquired other wives—and would acquire more during his reign. He married at least seven other women—Ahinoam, Abigail, Maachah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, and Bathsheba.
The next time we hear of Michal, the Ark of the Covenant, which had been in the hands of the Philistines, was restored to Israel. King David was beyond happy; he danced before the Ark, even removing his outer clothing.
Apparently, Michal didn’t feel about David the way she did earlier:
“As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart” (2 Samuel 6:16).
Did her love grow cold when she returned to him and had to encounter David’s other wives? Perhaps.
She also may have felt David was flaunting himself in front of other women. When he returned to the palace, she said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” (2 Samuel 6:20).
Why Did David Rebuke Michal?
When Michal said David embarrassed himself as king by disrobing and dancing before the Ark, he chastised her for her criticism.
Reminding her that God chose him before He chose Saul as ruler of the nation, David said, “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes . . . And Michal . . . had no children to the day of her death”( 2 Samuel 6:21-23).
To his credit, David put worshipping God first. Even so, he didn’t try to minister to Michal, to talk with her about her feelings, and find a way to reconcile.
Perhaps it cut him to the heart that she, his first wife and love, who had saved his life, couldn’t see how important it was to celebrate unashamedly before the Ark’s return. Instead, David sent her into a form of exile by not letting her bear children through him. This would have been regarded as a great tragedy since women in Michal’s were valued chiefly by how many children they had.
Can We Learn Anything from Michal?
Michal had a very strong personality and strong emotions. She fell in love with David and very cleverly risked her life for hers, without knowing if she would ever see him again.
Assuming tradition is correct, she was loyal to him after he left, not sleeping with the man her father forced her to marry.
But was she upset that David didn’t come for her while on the run? She came back when he asked for her, but she couldn’t have been happy now she would have to share his home and bed with several other women.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia contributor John Lees observes, “[Michal] manifested her love in an age when it was almost an unheard-of thing for a woman to take the initiative in such a matter . . . Even her later mockery of David affords proof of her courage, and almost suggests the inference that she had resented being treated as a chattel and thrown from one husband to another.”
I can understand how it must have felt to be so enamored of David, to make a huge sacrifice to save him and then to lose him again by his choice. In Psalm 51, David says, “Create in me a clean heart . . .” I wonder if David regretted how he handled his relationship with Michal at the end of his life.
Photo Credit: 1865 painting by Virginio Grana, via Daderot/Wikimedia Commons
Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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