When we read the history of Michal, Saul’s daughter, she seems to be a rather pitiful figure. Yet, if we read the whole story, it is clear that she was also a woman who was presented with tremendous opportunities — opportunities which she proceeded to squander because she was not a woman of God. In this way she serves as a warning to all of us, for while we are not responsible for the forces which act on us during our formative years, we are ultimately accountable before God for the way we react to the circumstances in our lives.
We first read of Michal in 1 Samuel 14:49, where she is named as the younger daughter of King Saul, his elder daughter being Merab. Later, when Goliath presented himself before Israel, demanding a man to fight with him, Saul promised, among other rewards, to give his daughter as wife to the man who would kill Goliath. When David killed him, he was promised Saul’s daughter Merab (1 Sam. 18:17), but then Saul decided to give her to another man. However, Saul then was told that his daughter Michal really loved David, and Saul proposed giving her to David instead of Merab.
Given to David as Wife
In both of these proposed unions, however, Saul was clearly using his daughters as pawns in his intrigue to try and get David killed by the Philistines. He cared little for their feelings, but said of Michal, “I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him” (1 Sam. 18:21). While we realize that this demeaning treatment of women was not unusual in the Old Testament, yet both girls must have felt cheapened by their father’s disposing of them solely for his own ends.
However, it is clearly stated that “Michal Saul’s daughter loved David” (1 Sam. 18:20). How deep this love went is questionable. Scripture does not say so explicitly, but in view of her subsequent conduct, Michal’s love would seem to have been rather superficial — the kind of attraction a young woman might have toward a popular hero, who had just distinguished himself by killing an enemy giant single-handedly. However, she became David’s wife, and for a time they evidently lived together.
She Saved His Life
We find Michal mentioned again a short time later, as Saul’s hatred of David escalated to the point where he tried to murder him. During this time, Michal helped David to escape Saul’s hand, first of all by warning him, and then by letting him down out of the house through a window. She then made an image to put in his bed and said that David was sick. She lied again later, telling her father that David had forced her, on pain of death, to help him escape.
What is noteworthy here is that Michal’s love for David was not deep enough for her to follow him into rejection. She helped him escape her father’s hand, but she stayed where she was. In this she was very different from Abigail, who readily left a wealthy home and followed David into rejection. David subsequently became a fugitive for a number of years, and Michal was given to another man as his wife. Here was another wrong move on Saul’s part, for it is explicitly recorded that “Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Phalti the son of Laish” (1 Sam. 25:44). Again, Michal likely had no say in the matter.
Reunited With David
We see Michal again united with David when Abner proposed helping David to become king over all Israel. David agreed to accept Abner’s help, but one of his conditions was that his wife Michal be restored to him. Accordingly she was taken from her second husband and reunited with David (2 Sam. 3:13-16). Whether it was wise for David to insist on this is again questionable, for he had married two other wives during his rejection. It would seem that Michal and her second husband were happy with each other and had probably lived together for 10-15 years at this point.
Michal Despised King David
Finally, we see Michal some time later, when David brings the ark of God up to Jerusalem, to keep it in a tent that he had prepared for it. It had been in the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-Jearim for many years, and David and the elders of Israel wanted to bring it up to Jerusalem. The event was a joyous occasion, and it was accompanied by dancing, shouting, music and sacrifices. David freely took part in all this, and Scripture records that “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” (2 Sam. 6:16). More than this, she confronted David with her sarcasm and scorn, and she obviously felt that all this was beneath his dignity as king.
What is significant here are two things. First of all, it is evident that Michal took no part in the rejoicing, although thousands had gathered together, at David’s invitation, to share in the joy of bringing the ark up to Jerusalem. Second, she could not enter into her husband’s joy, for her heart was on natural things, not on the Lord. David’s response to her accusations was simple: “It was before the Lord” (2 Sam. 6:21). What was due to the Lord was not dependent on man’s approval; David would express his joy in the Lord in a practical way, even though He was the king. The sad end of Michal’s attitude and hard words concerning David’s joy was that she fell under the government of God, and it is recorded that “Michal Saul’s daughter had no child until the day of her death” (2 Sam. 6:23).
In all this, we see a woman who could have been the wife of David and very possibly have had a place in the royal line of our Lord Jesus. Had she been willing to follow David into rejection and learn from him how to trust the Lord and to love Him, her life might have turned out very differently. But like her father, she preferred the things of this world, and there is no record that the Lord meant anything to her. She was given real opportunities, yet she threw them away. Her life is a lesson to all of us.
W. J. Prost