The Daughter of Saul

Previously in the Written on Our Hearts Series: Intro; Rahab: Got Labels? and That Prostitute is My Grandma; Ruth: Hang On , Woven and Spun Part One and Woven and Spun Part Two.

You may have already observed that Michal is a little different from the other women in this study. She is not in the bloodline of Jesus, nor is there any redemption recorded for her in the Bible. As a matter of fact, the last thing said about Michal is that she had no child to the day of her death. So, why are we looking at her life? Honestly, it started because I couldn’t help but wonder if she forfeited her place in Jesus’ bloodline. It was quite judgmental, actually. It changed, though, as I began to study and pray. I don’t want to end up like Michal. Michal’s temporary circumstances eventually unravel her. Where Rahab and Ruth turn towards God, Michal turns to her own understanding.

Here are Michal’s temporary circumstances.

Michal Was Saul’s Daughter

What characteristics come to mind when you think of King Saul? (Take a minute, I’ll wait.) Did your list include deceptive, disobedient, jealous, um…crazy? Those characteristics made up the atmosphere that Michal was raised under.

As Michal’s life unfolds, we find that she was treated like a pawn in her daddy’s game. Two out of the five passages where she is mentioned are of her being given away by Saul—for his purposes. First, Saul gives Michal to David for the small price of a hundred foreskins from the Philistines. “Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” (1 Samuel 18:21) The second time Michal is given away is sometime after she helps David escape from Saul. “Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish…” (1 Samuel 25:44)

Michal’s temporary circumstances included being part of a dysfunctional family.

Michal Loved David

Imagine the contrast David brought to Saul’s family dynamic. We know he made quite an impression because 1 Samuel 18 says that Jonathan loved David as his own soul; Saul wouldn’t let David return to his family and kept him in the palace; and Michal also loved David. This makes sense. David, after all, came from a long line of people dedicated to the Lord, and he himself was a man after God’s own heart.

It’s important to know that Michal loved David. After they were married, Saul became increasingly jealous of David. Michal warned David, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” She let David down through a window, and put a statue in the bed to make it look like him. When Saul questioned Michal’s loyalty to the family, she lied to her father. (1 Samuel 19:11-17) All this because she loved David.

Michal’s temporary circumstances included genuine love.

Michal Was Reclaimed

After Michal helped David escape, Saul gave her away again as a bride to another man. Perhaps this was Saul’s way of punishing her for deceiving him. A lot happened between the time David escaped Saul and the time he reclaims Michal. There were many battles, but also, the death of Samuel, Jonathan, and Saul. And, David had been anointed king of Judah. In 2 Samuel 3 we see that David is about to take over what is left of the house of Saul. As a requirement for the pending covenant, David demands that Michal be given back to him. Even though David’s intentions were honorable, Michal is once again a possession in a king’s game.

The Michal we see after David reclaims her is different than the Michal who was in love with David. Maybe this reclaiming move was the political straw that broke the camel’s back. Maybe David took too long to reclaim her. Maybe she really loved her new husband—He did follow after her weeping when David demanded her back. (2 Samuel 3:16) Whatever the reason, something had changed in Michal.

Michal’s temporary circumstances were out of her control.

Michal Despised David

David was a man after God’s own heart. His passion, even when momentarily eclipsed, was God’s presence. Everything—everyone—else took second place in David’s life. After he was anointed king of both Judah and Israel, the first order of business was bringing the ark of the Lord (God’s presence) back to Jerusalem. As you may recall, there was a great celebration and David danced before the Lord…in his skibbies. Michal watched this celebration from a window and despised David in heart. (2 Samuel 6:16) Notice the contrast between when she loved and helped David escape through a window and, now, is watching and despising him through a window.

When the celebration was over, David returns to bless his own house. He is greeted by Michal. All the hate brewing in her heart at the window came spewing out her mouth in David’s face. She mocked him. She mocked his worship. She mocked his passion. (2 Samuel 6:20)

Michal’s temporary circumstances became an uncontrollable stream of bitterness.

Michal Was Barren

David’s response to Michal included a little jab at Michal’s family, but it also spoke to the purpose of the extravagant worship. David told Michal that his worship was before the Lord and that it was only going get more undignified. (2 Samuel 6: 21-22) The last thing we read about her is, “Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.” (2 Samuel 6:23)

Michal’s temporary circumstances became lifeless.

 

Both Rahab and Ruth hear the testimonies of the Lord and respond with declarations and actions of faith. They become citizens of Israel…they become daughters of God. David was a walking testimony of the Lord. How many times do you think Michal heard David praising God? Recounting his goodness? Singing new songs about God’s love around the house? For some reason that I can’t grasp, Michal let the temporary circumstances of her life overshadow the testimony of God. It bothers me to the core. Rahab the prostitute becomes the mother of Boaz, Ruth the widow becomes David’s great grandmother. Michal the daughter of Saul … that’s where it ends. Ugh!!!! I want more for her…I want more for me…I want more for you.

Maybe you can relate to elements in Michal’s life. Maybe you come from a dysfunctional family. Maybe you have loved and lost. Maybe you have been used and abused again and again and again. And maybe hatred is brewing in your heart, and that makes it hard to trust.

I don’t want your story to end with the temporary. I know what its’ like to be hurting so bad you’re afraid to let anyone look at or touch the wound. I know what hatred tastes like, and know what it sounds like when it comes out of my mouth. But I also know there is an eternal God who is real and loves you very much. He wants to wrap himself around the hurt and the hatred and transform it into life. That’s who he is…Life!

Jesus said,
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
John 10:10-11