Hola Divas! Welcome to our Bad Girls of the Bible Study by Liz Curtis Higgs. (YAY!) Just in case you are joining us for the first time, please read about the “Dance Fit Divas Bad Girls of the Bible Study“. You should also read past posts on each bad girl: “EVE“, Potiphar’s Wife, Lot’s Wife , Woman at the Well, Delilah, Sapphira, Rahab, and Jezebel.
Our bad girl this week is a woman scorned. Her name was Michal and she was a victim of betrayal by men in her life she should have been able to trust: her father, her brother and her husband David.
Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.” 1 Samuel 18:20-21
Huh? Yes you read that correctly. Saul gave Michal to David as a way to get to him. Saul was jealous of David because the Lord was with David and had left Saul. You also read the “second opportunity” part correctly. David originally wanted Michal’s older sister Merab but Saul gave Merab to another man.
Michal’s love for David was mentioned more than once but there is no mention of David loving Michal.
When I think of Michal I can hear Taylor Swift singing “You belong With Me”.
Michal loved David so much she chose the welfare of David over the wishes of her father. Michal warned David about her father’s plan to kill him and he escaped through a window. When Saul’s messengers were searching for him, Michal sent them away while pretending David was ill.
While David was in hiding, Saul married Michal off to a man name Palti.
Stop the car! Was she even divorced? Did she WANT to be married to Palti? Wouldn’t David come back for her?…She loved him and she helped him escape.
David, “Mr. Big Man on Campus”, seemed to have forgotten about Michal. While in hiding, he acquired several concubines and actually married two new brides Abigal and Ahinoam with whom he had children.
About fourteen years passed and through a turn of God-ordained events, David became king of Judah and Ish-bosheth Michal’s brother (and Saul’s son) was king of Israel. In a total political move, David demanded Michal be given back him, in return for peace between them.
Oh no he didn’t!
Yes Divas, he did and Michal’s brother went right along with it.
So Ish-Bosheth gave orders and had her taken away from her husband Paltiel son of Laish. Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back home!” So he went back. 2 Samuel 3:15
So Michal is taken from a man who loved her so much he wept behind her when she was taken away and was then forced to endure seeing David’s new wives their children and his concubines on a daily basis?
WOW!
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 Kings 6:16 (NIV)
Before we get too upset with Michal….2 Samuel 6:14 reads: Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might. Liz Curtis Higgs describes an ephod as a loincloth–in Katina terms….thong like underwear.
When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said in disgust, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!” (2 Samuel 6:20)
After all the hurt in her life, Michal was so filled with bitterness she simply could not sense God’s presence or feel his love.
She couldn’t see that David was dancing for the Lord, she only saw him dancing in his undies in front of other women.
While her bitterness may have been justified, her story illustrates the cost of remaining bitter…..HER happiness.
So Michal, the daughter of Saul, remained childless throughout her entire life. 2 Samuel 6:23 (For a Hebrew woman, life happiness and value were tied into having children.)
Divas, we must learn from Michal to be BETTER not bitter.
We become better by forgiving people who hurt us…not for them but for us.
We become better by forgiving ourselves.
We become better by giving our bitterness over to God and concentrating on our own dance with the Lord.
KDB says
I had an unexpected situation at work that made me bitter about the situation, but I was able to “let it go” and I’m glad that I did. I KNOW that a year ago, I would not have dealt with this as quickly and or as well, so I’m thankful that we’ve had these life lessons and I’m still learning to apply them.
Sarah says
Oh, this situation is so much more complicated! Both she and David made valid points. Michal is not a bad girl of the Bible and there were other psychological issues she and others were dealing with. She is a heroine who’s more of a peacemaker doing her best to be strong in a dangerous and judgmental environment.
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