Introduction

Michal is the youngest of two daughters born to King Saul and his wife Ahinoam. Michal falls in love with David. Despite marrying the man she loves, Michal's story does not have a happily ever after. David reluctantly marries her after passing on Saul's offer for him to marry the eldest daughter. During the early days of their marriage, Saul seeks to kill David and it is Michal who helps him escape. It is after this moment of bravery and collective decision making that the relationship starts to turn sour. While David is in hiding from Michal's father, he takes two more wives and Saul marries Michal off to Palti. Once Saul is dead and David is made king, he negotiates for Michal to be given back to him. In total, David has at least 8 wives (including Michal). We are not told how Michal feels about returning to David nor are we told the motivation of why he asked for her return. We are told, however, that her second husbad (Palti) loved her and was deeply effected by her being restored to David. After their reunification, Michal chides David for dancing before the Lord—possibly the most famous part of her story—and David rebukes her for her words. Michal's story concludes with the knowledge that she never had children and grows to despise David.

Origin & Etymology

Name

Like the name Michael, Michal means "who is like God," but it is not the same name. This version is a shortened version, closer to how we might see the name Mike.[1]

Heritage

As the daughter of Saul, we know that she is both an Israelite and from the Tribe of Benjamin.

She marries David, but is later married to Palti, before being returned to David. The narrative tells us that Michal loved David, so we can assume that marriage was performed with her consent, but the marriage to Palti is a mystery. Saul makes this arrangement while David is on the run, though its unclear of his motivations. Was he trying to get back at David? Was David's departure seen as an act of abandonment by Saul? By Michal? Did Michal agree to the marriage? None of these questions are answered explicitly in the text. We also aren't told how Michal feels about returning to David. Palti is clearly upset and disappointed, but no indication is given to Michal's opinion on the matter. We are told, however, that at some point after she returns the relationship between her and David sours. She does not have any children (for David or Palti).

Questions

About the Passage

1. What was Michal's relationship with her family (e.g., parents and siblings) like?
2. Did she have any half siblings?
3. Was she just the youngest daughter, or the youngest overall?
4. How old was she when she met David? When they got married? When he left? When they were reunited?
5. How did Michal feel about David's engagement with her older sister?
6. Why did David's engagement to Michal's older sister fall apart?
7. Did David have feelings for Michal?
8. Why was David willing to collect 100 foreskins—through battle, at that—to obtain Michal as a wife if he didn't care about marrying her?
9. What did Michal love about David (initially)?
10. Did Michal have a long term plan for her and David, knowing that Saul wanted David dead?
11. Was the time recorded in 1 Samuel 19 the only time she intervened to save David's life?
12. Why doesn't Michal stand up for David in front of Saul like Jonathan?
13. Did her lie about David's escape enrage Saul more?
14. Did Saul ever realize Michal's role in David's escape?
15. What would have happened to her if she had admitted to helping David?
16. Why did Saul "give" Michal to Palti?
17. How did Michal feel about this arrangment?
18. Why didn't Michal run away with David?
19. How long were Michal and David separated?
20. Did Palti love Michal? Did Michal develop feelings for Palti?
21. How were humans so easily able to dissolve marriages?
    • Why didn't people fight back or run away
22. Did Michal want to go back to David?
23. Why was Michal upset with David's dancing?
24. Some versions make it sound like David was inappropriately dressed, was Michal actually upset about dancing or something else?
25. Why didn't she have children?
26. Did she want children?
27. Why do Michal and David have an idol in their house? Why is it large enough to pass for a real person?

Why Didn't Michal Have Children?

While I'm studying each woman from the Bible I often listen to sermons about the woman throughout the week. One of the first things I noticed when I started to listen to sermons on Michal was that alot of people think that the reason she didn't have children (2 Samuel 6:23) is because she was cursed by God. Many of them claimed she was cursed because she mocked God. I was shocked, but also not shocked.

What Does The Text Say?

This passage is one where translation can greatly change how you view this passage. Compare the KJV, NASB, and MSG below.

If you pay attention you'll notice a slight difference in all three versions' start to verse 23. The KJV says "therefore", implying the text preceding the verse is the cause of the information presented. The NASB says "and," implying this information could be related or simply in addition to the previous information. While the MSG has no transitional word, meaning this could informationcould be completely detatched from the previous verses. If you look at an interlinear translation, the original Hebrew is closest to the NASB.

A History of Women Being Shamed

The general public has always placed women's value in having children and thus a woman not being able to have children has always been seen as a curse. It's only been in recent years that people have acknowledged that infertility could be a man's fault. According to the National Institute of Health, 66% of infertility cases are caused by an issue with the man's reproductive system, with half of those cases being an issue with both the man and the woman and the other half being only the man. In the case of David and Michal, we know he didn't have fertility issues because he had children with other women, but I make the point to remind us that traditionally fault has been placed on women. Men have never been referred to as barren and there isn't a word for a man who can't have children (note: impotent sort of covers that territory but it's much closer to a description of Erecticle Dysfunction than infertility).

Assumptions People Think Are Facts

The notion that it is the woman's "fault" if a couple can't have kids has roots in the idea that all women are meant to have children and that our purpose is motherhood. If that belief is embedded in your subconscious, you will inevitably believe that something is wrong with a woman who cannot have kids. If you believe that Michal must have done something wrong for her to not have children, then you will look for something in the narrative that insinuates sin. This of course leads people to the passage in which Michal becomes angry with David for dancing and he chastises her for it. A similar scenario is seen in the New Testament where a man is born blind and everyone asks Messiah if he is blind because of his own sin or his parents' sin. Messiah testifies that nobody's sin caused the blindness. Sometimes things happen so that God can show His glory.

Possibilities & Things to Consider

In reality there are actually three possibilities for why Michal never had children:

1. God closed her womb as a curse for the way she spoke to David
2. David chose not sleep with her after he got mad at how she spoke to him (or perhaps even before then)
3. She chose not to sleep with David after she realized she despised him
4. The line of David wasn't supposed to include Saul

Let's talk about that last scenario because it's the most interesting. I think we often forget that Michal was a princess and the daughter of the former king. Despite Saul's fear and displeasure of David, his marriage to Michal not only put him in the position to claim the throne legally,[3] but gave any child they produced a more legitimate claim to the throne as well. If the two had a son, he would have claim to the throne as the grandson of former king Saul, and as the son of current king David. This child would have represented the best of both kings and possibly recieved much support from people. Yet, God's design was for the lineage to continue through David and Bathsheba's son Solomon.

If you're inquisitive like me, you may ask why it mattered which son the king's lineage continued with. In 1 Samuel 15:10,34, God says that He regreted making Saul king. Saul's lineage was not to live on (as it would have if Michal had been a son)! I think it's also interesting to think about which wife the king's lineage continued through (Bathsheba).

If I Could Meet Her...

Michal is an interesting woman because the most well known part of her story is her scolding David for dancing. As such, we paint her as the villain, but there's a lot of history and context the goes before that moment. What was Michal's relationship with Saul like? She lies when she helps David, never really choosing one or the other.

• Was she afraid of disappointing Saul?
• Was she torn between her duties as a wife versus her duties as a daughter?
• What was it like to just be married off to another man when you already have a husband whom you love and who is running for his life?
• Did she feel abandoned?
• Was she mad about the fact that David was dancing, the manner in which he was dancing, or how he was dressed (or not dressed) when dancing? Did David ever even love her?

Michal is actually a very relatavle person in the sense that she was seemingly used and discarded—our society is good at doing this to both men and women.

Phototheology

Phototheology is a way of learning the Bible taught by Ivor Myers.[4] I am employing this technique in my weekly Woman of God study journal. The following three prompts are the ones I drew from the card deck while studying Michal.

Connect the text with an object lesson from nature

Most plants have to be repotted over time, sometimes it is because they outgrow their pot and other times the soil has been depleted. Either way, it is for the health of the plant.

Michal was raised by Saul and she probably loved her father. She was transplanted or repotted with David, whom she also loves. She is then re-transplanted to Palti beofre being potted with David again. Each of these changes would have a profound impact on her growth, attitude, and outlook on life. It is very similar to how plants grow, thrive and sometimes die.

Compare or contrast this cycle with the post Christ/Holy Spirit cycle

Michal was stuck in the battle between her husband (who was apointed to become king by God) and her father (who was essentially cursed by God). This was power shift and she had ties to both parties. Similarly, we are caught in a power struggle today between Christ our true King and Satan, who is hanging on to rulership of the Earth for dear life. We are born in sin, the same way Michal was born from Saul, but we can choose to love Messiah the way Michal chose to love David. Satan will be angry when we choose Messiah over him, and he may try to make us suffer in response to our choice (the way Saul married Michal off to Palti).

How does the text relate to genetleness?

I think Michal's story is the opposite of gentle...

• She loves a man who doesn't love her back and she is ripped away from the man who does love her
• She is stern with David when she disagrees with him and David is stern in his response
• We don't get a lot of the interaction between Michal and her siblings—I hope they showed her some gentleness

Journal Pages

Journal pages on Michal from May 27 - June 3, 2025

References & Footnotes

1. "Strong's H4324. מִיכָל". Blue Letter Bible; visited June 2025
2. "How common is male infertility, and what are its causes?". National Health Institute. November 18, 2021; visited June 2025
3. Think about when Aladdin is told he would be sultan if he married Princess Jasmine in Disney's Aladdin. As the husband of the person next in line for the throne, he too became next in line.
4. Pastor Ivor Myers' Phototheology Game Deck