My previous article grew a new root immediately after I published it. That often happens when writing: once you get one matter out of your mind, the next flows in to take its place. So from the pharaoh I continue my journey smoothly to King David and his wife Michal. Because I am who I am, I will examine this matter too from the only direction I can certainly manage, that is, from a woman’s perspective.
The Romanticized Story of Michal and David
I watched an old animated film about the young King David, in which the story of the pair was strongly romanticized. The tale was indeed beautiful and it ended with the death of King Saul, Michal’s father, and the uniting of the main couple. The two other wives David had already married by then had been smoothly left out of the story. Understandable in today’s monogamous culture. The golden crown was therefore placed only upon Michal’s head, who in the film defied her deranged father while saving the life of her God-anointed husband. In the end the wife spent her days and nights suffering from heartache, until her husband’s return.
Michal in 2 Samuel – The Pivotal Biblical Moment
I found myself wondering whether the story truly had such a side as well, so I turned to the Bible. If you wish to read the account yourself, you will find it in the First and Second Books of Samuel. I will strive to summarize as little as possible and go directly to the point. To the fateful moment when Michal judges her husband, who acted according to God’s will. Briefly explained, it goes like this:
King David returns to the city in triumph. In his ecstasy he strips down to very few clothes and dances through the streets. His wife sees this from her window and disapproves of her husband, who prances about nearly naked before the servants. Before servants consisting of women. This is followed by a short conversation in which the wife lets her husband hear her opinion about rejoicing in front of the maidservants, and the husband says he did it out of respect for his God. That conversation ends in the Bible with the words, “And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death.” (2 Samuel 6:23). I want to turn this perspective upside down. Usually the matter is interpreted so that Michal received a punishment precisely for condemning the praise of God. Was it about sin, or was it instead a blessing?
The Biblical Model of Marriage – Unity and God’s Calling
When we look at the couples in the Bible before the time of our heroes, Adam and Eve rise to the fore, Noah with his wife, as well as Abraham and Sarah. All power couples united by oneness. According to the creation account, the wives were heavenly helpmates to their husbands (Hebr. ezra, a term that God primarily uses of Himself). The couple under discussion had received religious upbringing, having heard the same history. Would it therefore be possible that they had a different view of marriage and God’s calling?
King David’s Many Wives – Polygamy vs Monogamy of Ezra
I could well imagine my own reaction if my soulmate returned home after a ten-year flight with two new wives. I would vent my anger at God. I would ask why and what He intends to accomplish with this. Nor would I need to wait long for an answer, for as is known, King David ultimately had a total of eight wives. So I can boldly claim that he interpreted the command “be fruitful and multiply” quite devoutly. God Himself told Abraham, David’s forefather, that the world would be filled with his descendants.
Why Did Michal Despise David’s Dancing?
To return to that fateful conversation. In order to live in the palace with all the other wives, Michal must have accepted her fate and her position. As we know today, we see what our mind is looking for, and Michal saw her spouse displaying himself to other women. Michal was completely blind to the fact that David was celebrating God’s victory and good deeds. Instead, the wife’s gaze was fixed on her husband’s shortcomings.
I can already hear a few readers muttering at this point that from this we cannot yet conclude that women were the man’s weakness. True, we cannot. Fortunately this is history, and we know what ultimately happened. From that it can be concluded that Michal already in that situation saw something that the writer of the said Bible passage did not see: David’s last wife led the man astray.
Was Michal a Divine Warning Sent by God?
It was not merely adultery. Rather, David first used his position to his advantage and so to speak seduced the neighbor’s wife. When the affair lasted longer and the woman became pregnant, David again used his position in an attempt to pass the child off as her husband’s. When that did not succeed, the king arranged the death of that husband. Thus the widow was freed for a new marriage and the woman became wife number eight.
God Sees the Heart – Divine Guidance Before the Fall
Since God is omnipotent and omniscient, this did not even come as a surprise in the Bible. We may therefore assume that God already knew of David’s vice at the moment of the fateful conversation. Is it therefore possible that on that day Michal was in fact a prompting sent by God to David? The first remark and a call to caution. If so, then Michal had acted as one called by God.
Childlessness as Protection – God’s Merciful Intervention
This perspective requires the same assumptions as I made in the pharaoh article. We must accept as fact that God Himself awakened in Michal a calling to monogamy. Yet she ended up in a union with one of history’s best-known womanizers, who did not feel the same. Because disappointment clearly led to contempt for the spouse’s behavior, they had in this too strayed somewhat from the Heavenly calling. Nevertheless, God apparently protected both spouses from each other.
I can well imagine how Michal prayed to her God for release from the obligations of the marriage bed. In that case childlessness is indeed a blessing and protection. Not a punishment and harm.
What Does Michal’s Story Teach About Marriage Today?
In my opinion this topic is timely also in the sense that I have encountered a vast number of couples who think differently about a relationship and marriage than their spouse does. For example, nowadays many series and films emphasize the duty of sexual satisfaction in a relationship. But if one for some reason is inhibited, or schedules are crossed for a long time, if you hardly meet each other for years, do you both understand ‘marriage’ or ‘relationship’ in the same way?
God’s Approval and Divine Timing in Marriage
In this story there was a heroine who was stuck in her marriage holding on to her own values. The same did her husband in his own role. Both followed their calling. It remains a mystery to us why the calling led them together. The outcome would have been entirely different if either had adopted the other’s views. Or if God had led Michal directly to another husband… Or then again, it is no mystery at all. We who live today would lack this lesson.
Because my God is entirely good and full of Heavenly Love, I believe that both parties followed their calling and did not sin in that moment. Both were where they were meant to be, at precisely the moment they were meant to be.
The Meaning of Michal
I personally greatly value this account and the broadened perspective it has opened. This is of course only my perspective, and I would gladly hear yours as well. Each of us reflects our own experience onto the account, and for that reason each view is true. The Bible is such a fascinating collection that its content changes as the reader grows. If you have never read this account or if it has been a while since the last time, I recommend taking a look and considering what this might teach us today.
Finally, such information told by Google, that ‘Michal’ (that is, in Hebrew מִיכַל) means ‘Who is like God?’
Who is like God?
Leave a Reply