Introduction: David was a young man when Samuel anointed him to be king over Israel and only a few years older, most likely, when he went into battle against Goliath. In the days and months afterwards, God was with him and blessed him in every way.
But something that was not mentioned is David’s implied loneliness. True, he may have been too busy at the time to consider starting a family or even attempting to find his true love but somehow, the stirrings for a companion must have started to flow through him.
Strangely, his first true love was closer than he ever thought! She was right there in the king’s palace. She was the king’s youngest daughter!
And her name was Michal.
I. Michal loved David enough to marry him
Text, 1 Samuel 18:20, 26-27 (KJV): 20 And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. . . . 26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son in law: and the days were not expired. 27 Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.
This is a beautiful, but brief, summary of Michal’s and David’s falling in love with each other. The text does not say when they first began to notice each other, when they spoke to each other, or if they had any common interests. After all, Saul had been a keeper of livestock before he was crowned king (compare 1 Samuel 9:3 and 10:14-16 with 11:5-7) and David had been a shepherd (1 Sam. 16) so they may have found something to talk about. She might have even listened to David’s stories about how he chased away the lion and bear when they were looking for a dinner of fresh mutton!
But as beautiful as this love story may have been in the beginning, there was another side to this story, and it was anything but beautiful. Michal, we remember, was the daughter of King Saul. Saul absolutely hated David even though David had done nothing wrong according to the text. In the past, David had played music for the king and he had even fought for the king and his country, apparently seeking nothing in return (1 Samuel 16:14-23 and 18:1-10). Saul even threw a javelin or spear at David, trying to kill him (1 Sam. 18:10-11)!
Then Saul came up with a plan to get rid of David once and for all. He would, and did, dangle his oldest daughter as bait or a prize if David would “fight the Lord’s battles (1 Sam 18:17)” He most likely meant fighting the Philistines as they were Israel’s greatest enemies in those days.
The text does not record what or what kind of battles David fought for the king, but he was apparently gone long enough for Merab, Saul’s oldest daughter, to be married off to Adriel the Meholathite (about whom we know little). Could it be that Saul had engaged in a bit of “sorry, not sorry” in this case? Besides, there is no mention in the text where David had expressed any desire for Merab, nor she for him. David, then, may have felt it was no great loss.
Saul then proposed another quest for David. In verses 21-25, the text has the story of Saul’s plan to again get rid of David by sending him on what was basically a suicide mission. In brief, David would have had to kill 100 Philistine men in order to bring back the “proof” or evidence. The evidence, by the way, would not be easy to obtain from a living man, no matter what nation he was from! And Saul must have felt, when David left on this mission, that he was going to be free of David, he would be singing and making music instead of David, and his kingdom would endure for a long time to come. Oh yeah, did we mention, he hoped he would be free of David?
Saul, however, didn’t count on the Providence of God in taking care of David. David and his men (the number is not given) went to the Philistines, all right, and got the 100 pieces of evidence that Saul required. Oh, by the way, they got another 100 for a total of 200! Then David and his men brought the whole collection to the king as proof he had completed the quest.
Now what could Saul do? He had laid down a challenge, and David had fulfilled it. Saul had made plans for David to be killed but the LORD God of Israel did not let that happen. There was nothing else Saul could do but allow David and Michal, his daughter, to get married. Of course, the text mentions nothing about the ceremony itself, if there was one, but a ceremony does not make a marriage, nor does a wedding make a marriage. Weddings and ceremonies so often are for show, and simply do not reflect a genuine love between groom and bride (God’s definition of marriage, by the way). Without love, a real marriage cannot last. David and Michal seemed to have plenty of genuine love for each other and a desire to make their marriage a success.
It’s so beautiful: she loved him enough to marry him. But would that be enough for them once trouble came their way? Remember, Saul hated David and wanted him dead! What happened next is one of the saddest stories in the Bible.
2. Michal loved David enough to protect him
After David and Michal were married, Saul still wanted to kill him. Incredibly, Saul asked his own son, Jonathan to do this (1 Sam 19:1-7)! Jonathan warned David about this then spoke to his father about David. Jonathan succeeded in saving David’s life at this moment!
Even so, Saul was determined to kill David. Saul now thought he had another foolproof plan.
Text, 1 Samuel 19:11-17, KJV: 11 Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain. 12 So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped. 13 And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. 15 And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. 16 And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster. 17 And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?
Saul’s plan was foolproof, as far as he was concerned. He knew David and Michal were living together (the vast majority of married couples do!) at David’s house. Nothing is mentioned about how David was able to obtain the house or where it was located but surely he and Michal thought they would spend many wonderful years together. In view of this, Saul sent messengers to not only watch or observe him, but to kill him, in the morning. That way, Saul would be rid of his perceived enemy, and would plausibly be innocent (!) if David should lose his life (the “Who, me? I didn’t kill him, somebody else did” gambit, one might say). And, if the attack on David was carried out early in the morning, say, before the sun rose, then so much the better, he may have considered. But he forgot about one important thing.
He forgot that his daughter loved David, enough to protect him as best she could. Somehow Michal got wind of the plot to kill David and she warned him to run for his life while he could. Then she let him (David) down through a window and David fled! No doubt this saved his life but it placed a terrible strain on their marriage.
The first way Michal protected David, as mentioned, was to let him know his life was in danger. She let him down through a window (implying this was at least a two-story or story-and-a-half house) so he could flee. Compare this with the story of Rahab in the Book of Joshua, where she protected the two spies of Israel, and let them down by means of the scarlet thread. Even though we do not know just how David escaped, he probably wouldn’t have made if not for Michal.
Now things begin to take a darker side. True enough, Michal did the right thing by warning David, she also did a number of questionable (at best) to evil (at worst) to add to the charade she was about to play.
The first questionable thing she did was to place an” image” in the bed. Just how large this “image” was is debatable: according to different commentators, the word translated “image” here is the same word for Laban’s household idols which Rachel took with her (!) when Jacob and his entire family left Laban for Canaan (Genesis 31:19). These were small enough to fit inside a saddlebag (“camel’s furniture”, Gen. 31:34, KJV) so it is unlikely a small statue was in view here. Regardless of the size, the “image” was of sufficient size to fool people into thinking it was really David!
Digressing for just a moment, here comes another thought. Few people that I know of have asked, where did she get this image, or why was it in the house? Did David know about it? What would his opinion about Michal become if she knew she had one of the images in the house?
Even worse, did she worship this image in place of or, worse, alongside Jehovah, the God of Israel? Something almost sobering to consider is that nowhere is it stated that Michal worshiped the God of Israel.
Returning to Michal’s love for David, she then added to the disguise in order to protect David. She made a pillow of goat’s hair and covered it with a cloth. Was this “trick” going to work?
Apparently it did, because when Saul sent messengers to take David, Michal responded. “He’s sick” This was her second questionable deed, telling a lie, but only to save her husband’s life. The fact is, she was in a position that no matter what she did, she would have been wrong. Had she said, “He escaped,” then it was possible Saul would have punished her, saying, “You’re against me!” and doing anything he wanted. He was the king and had absolute power.
But if she said, “I told him you were coming” then surely she would have been punished for something along the lines of aiding and abetting a criminal or a 1000-year-BC edition of that particular statute. Again, some of the commentators say she used the only option she had to protect David and herself. Of note is that Michal’s tactic here mirrors that of Rahab, again in the Book of Joshua, when she told a lie to the soldiers that the Israelite spies weren’t anywhere near her home—when they were on the roof, hiding under flax (Joshua 2)!
Note how stark this contrast was: Rahab was a pagan, a Gentile, who accepted the God of Israel as her own God; Michal was a Hebrew woman, but was perhaps flirting, perhaps deeply involved, with worship of an image (why, again, would she keep an image or idol in the house?). Rahab received a reward for her faith, marrying a leader of the tribe of Judah and her descendant through her son Boaz was David himself! Michal never acknowledged the God of Israel and did not have any children of her own. Sin costs the sinner dearly.
Imagine the surprise when the messengers came to the bedroom, probably just waiting for the chance to kill David, but found something oh, so different there! Saul was probably furious when he asked Michal, “Why did you lie to me, and help him escape?” The second lie Michal told was this time a flat-out lie: David had said nothing to her like “help me or else”—Michal had warned him to flee for his life before the messengers would arrive to destroy David!
3. But her love for David had vanished over the years
Sadly, this most likely ends this love story. David fled for his life but made occasional journeys back to Saul’s area. Between chapters 19-25 there are several meetings mentioned between David and Jonathan, even David and Saul, but Michal was nowhere to be found. I’ve wondered myself why, if Michal truly loved David enough to marry him and protect him, she didn’t run away with him. Or, why didn’t David ask Jonathan to bring Michal along on one of the visits?
There are two final incidents to this love story. In 1 Samuel 25:44, Saul (forcibly?) took Michal and re-married her to Phalti, son of Laish, who was from Gallim. She apparently willingly stayed with him until the occasion when David wanted her back as his wife. Abner, in the process of leaving Saul’s staff to join David, and asked what did David require to make this happen. David said “bring me Michal” and Abner did so.
And the final incident happened just a few chapters later. The Ark of the Covenant had been kept away from Jerusalem for many years—there was no Temple at this time, and there is no mention of the Ark when David spoke with any of the priests. He was now able to bring the ark home to Jerusalem and this was a festive time indeed! God was pouring out His blessings!
But as you might guess, somebody was not happy. Michal saw David as she looked through a window and hated him (despised him, 2 Sam 6:16, KJV). She even called him out on it, saying in so many words, “Today you really made a big show of yourself, didn’t you? I hope you’re happy with that big splash you made out there”. David gave her a rebuke—some of the only words he ever spoke to her as recorded in Scripture—and I believe he told her to mind her own business. The tragedy of this now-vanished love was there was no love left to hold on to. How can you love someone who despises you?
And worse than this, Michal had no children—ever. For a Hebrew woman of that era, this would have been a great burden to bear. Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, and other women were barren until God gave them a miracle baby or more than one. For Michal, she had crossed the line and would never have all the blessings she could have had.
All because she let her love for David die.
Many applications could be made but let me close with this: love requires diligent effort to keep it going. David and Michal both, perhaps, made bad decisions which destroyed their love, but it didn’t have to be that way. May each one of us learn what love is from the Word of God and from God Himself, and then may we share His love as often as we can.
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
