I'm not sure exactly how long after Michal and David were married that the chaos started, but it seems like it wasn't long after they wed. By I Samuel 19:11, Michal would have really been able to see how much her father hated David. Who knows if she understood why he hated him, but she knew he hated him enough to kill him. In this passage, Michal found out about a plot to kill David and tells him to run. She came up with this whole plan after he left to try to cover for him, but there's something I can't get over. David left, but he didn't take her with him. I wonder if she planned it that way or if he did. Maybe she just didn't realize he would never be the same man after he jumped out of that window. I bet, however, if she could change things, she would have jumped out of that window with him.
After it was found out that she lied to her father and helped David escape, it would never be the same for her in that palace. Everyone loyal to Saul would look at her like a traitor. It's only a miracle her own father didn't kill her. Her father would change before her eyes from a good man to a man taken over by hatred. She was just left there to watch her world change. She had to have started changing here too. Her heart would ache for David and for her father's love. Maybe she even started to hate God for her circumstances or hate her family.
At some point we know Saul married her off to another man when David didn't return. What a mess. The Bible says she "loved" David. I don't see how she could have had those same feelings towards this other guy. Even if she was just happy to have a husband that adored her, she would always wonder about David. She would hear the rumors of him in battle. She would worry about him day in and day out. One day, she would even get a message that he married someone else.
Part of me wants to think she never was able to get over David; and, when he called for her back, she ran with open arms. However, I don't think that was the case. I think during this marriage would be the time her anger would start growing toward David. Maybe she saw how much this new husband loved her (we know he cared for her because he wept for her after she was taken back to David) and hated herself because she couldn't love him back. Maybe she started caring for this man. Maybe by the time David wanted her back, she had already become content with her life and didn't want David anymore.
We don't hear about Michal again until II Samuel 6:16. Here she sees David walk through the gates of the city dancing like a mad man because the Ark of the Lord was brought back to Jerusalem. Then she yells at David because he was being an embarrassment to her. This is where I see the change most evident. This is in no way the same Michal that we saw in I Samuel 18. She is a bitter woman now. Her husband is king. Her father and brothers are dead. She has had to learn to share her husband with several women. We see her hatred here. The old Michal would have been out there dancing with him. She would have had a huge smile on her face just to see him so happy.
They got into an argument. David told her that God had chosen him over her family. He told her that those women she spoke of had more respect that she did for him. He was completely blind to the pain he had caused her. I do believe Michal was wrong by saying David shouldn't have been dancing, however, she didn't speak out of anger because of dancing. She spoke out of the anger that had been boiling inside her for several years. Their marriage was not a good one. This argument seems like neither David or Michal could have a decent conversation. There was no love there at all.
After this argument, it reads "therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death." It's so sad to see where this marriage went. She was never loved again. David would just put her aside and move on to his other women; but Michal would be alone the rest of her life, just sitting and wishing something was different. Maybe she died an angry old woman. Maybe she died a woman changed and her heart in love with God. I'd love to say it was the latter, but I just don't know. I do know that God would have taken care of her.
That's Michal's story or at least the story I see when I read it. It's mostly opinion unless specified. Hope you learned something from it :)
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Michal: Before the mess
1 Samuel 14:49, 18:17-30, 19:11-17, 25:44, II Samuel 3:13-16, 6:16-23
Before I get into the probability vs. possibilities of Michal's untold story, I need to give the facts. We first learn about Michal in 1 Sam 14:49 simply as the younger daughter of King Saul. Later, we learn that because of her love for David, King Saul gave her to David instead of his older daughter, Merab. Saul was pleased to do this. Soon after her marriage, David is forced to flee from Saul's palace because Saul wants him dead. Michal learns of the severity of the danger and helps David escape (alone). To do this, she had to lie to her father which hurt her father. She doesn't see him for a very great time. In I Sam 25:44, we learn that King Saul gave Michal away to be married to a different man despite her being married to David already. In II Sam 3:13, David demands for her back, and she is taken from her husband as "her husband went along with her to Bahurim, weeping behind her." Finally we read about Michal a final time in II Sam 6:16-23. She has ridiculed David because he was dancing and acting drunk at the returning of the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem. This section ends with David being upset with Michal and Michal having "no children to the day of her death."
Seriously, this story is one of the saddest stories ever told. She's a princess in love with the king's worker (whom her dad hates), honorably helps her loved husband escape only to be left alone for years and given away to another man, and finally ends up never being loved physically or emotionally by her husband till the end of her life.
Because Michal's story is so long, I'm going to put it in two parts: before the mess and after the mess.
I like to the think of Michal as a child. Whether she was born in the palace or right before her father was anointed king, she would have dreamed about being a wife and a mother like most girls do. I would imagine even more so for her culture because so much pressure was put on women to bear sons. Even more so for her, a princess. As she grew older she would have realized she had no say in anything. She was a tool in her father's game. If Saul said go run off a cliff and die, she would have to do it. Therefore, she could only dream of marrying someone she loved and only pray she wasn't given to someone she despised.
I don't want to go too far and say that her and her father had a bad relationship, however. Saul did choose to to give her to David instead of another woman or daughter. The Bible almost makes it seem like he did it purely because she "loved" him. (Yes, the Bible says she "loved" him therefore I'm believing it's true love). He must have had a soft spot in his heart for Michal. Even later on when she deceives him, he doesn't kill her or punish her. He just asks her how she could have done this to him. He's genuinely hurt. I do believe Saul and Michal loved each other.
Let's talk about her and David for a second. She loved him. We don't know his feelings, but nevertheless she loved him so much that everybody knew it. I imagine she felt all these feelings toward David, but she felt so much pain with it because she was completely powerless with her life. In her mind, she would never marry David. She knew she would be married to someone of importance that her father had to please or make a bargain with. She also knew her sister would be married first. Even when word started spreading that Saul was going to give a daughter to David, she knew it wouldn't be her. She would stay up nights crying or in anger at her father or just her situation as a princess. Maybe she even talked herself into believing that her duty to her nation was more important than her happiness and left it at that. Imagine the hurt she must have felt when she heard the news that her sister would get David. I know I would feel absolutely horrible. Then imagine her sitting down in her room one day and a messenger comes in to tell her she will be given to David instead of Merab because Merab was to marry someone else. Her heart would hit the roof and ache all at the same time. Her dreams actually came true. Maybe she would be like I tend to be and just not get her hopes up until she has said "I do" because if she got her hopes up then it would hurt that much more when everything fell apart. Maybe she was opposite and started planning her future with David at nights in a journal.
Now we know that Saul's intentions were evil in giving David Michal. He wanted to use her as a "snare". I don't want to get into that, however, because that's his issues. I don't believe she knew she was intended as a snare and even if she did I don't believe she cared. She was getting her man, the one she loved. Her life would see so perfect at that point. I'm glad she had that overwhelming happiness because her life is going to be miserable from this point on. Right now, however, she is happy.
I will leave it at that for today. Second part, Michal: After the mess, will be coming soon.
Before I get into the probability vs. possibilities of Michal's untold story, I need to give the facts. We first learn about Michal in 1 Sam 14:49 simply as the younger daughter of King Saul. Later, we learn that because of her love for David, King Saul gave her to David instead of his older daughter, Merab. Saul was pleased to do this. Soon after her marriage, David is forced to flee from Saul's palace because Saul wants him dead. Michal learns of the severity of the danger and helps David escape (alone). To do this, she had to lie to her father which hurt her father. She doesn't see him for a very great time. In I Sam 25:44, we learn that King Saul gave Michal away to be married to a different man despite her being married to David already. In II Sam 3:13, David demands for her back, and she is taken from her husband as "her husband went along with her to Bahurim, weeping behind her." Finally we read about Michal a final time in II Sam 6:16-23. She has ridiculed David because he was dancing and acting drunk at the returning of the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem. This section ends with David being upset with Michal and Michal having "no children to the day of her death."
Seriously, this story is one of the saddest stories ever told. She's a princess in love with the king's worker (whom her dad hates), honorably helps her loved husband escape only to be left alone for years and given away to another man, and finally ends up never being loved physically or emotionally by her husband till the end of her life.
Because Michal's story is so long, I'm going to put it in two parts: before the mess and after the mess.
I like to the think of Michal as a child. Whether she was born in the palace or right before her father was anointed king, she would have dreamed about being a wife and a mother like most girls do. I would imagine even more so for her culture because so much pressure was put on women to bear sons. Even more so for her, a princess. As she grew older she would have realized she had no say in anything. She was a tool in her father's game. If Saul said go run off a cliff and die, she would have to do it. Therefore, she could only dream of marrying someone she loved and only pray she wasn't given to someone she despised.
I don't want to go too far and say that her and her father had a bad relationship, however. Saul did choose to to give her to David instead of another woman or daughter. The Bible almost makes it seem like he did it purely because she "loved" him. (Yes, the Bible says she "loved" him therefore I'm believing it's true love). He must have had a soft spot in his heart for Michal. Even later on when she deceives him, he doesn't kill her or punish her. He just asks her how she could have done this to him. He's genuinely hurt. I do believe Saul and Michal loved each other.
Let's talk about her and David for a second. She loved him. We don't know his feelings, but nevertheless she loved him so much that everybody knew it. I imagine she felt all these feelings toward David, but she felt so much pain with it because she was completely powerless with her life. In her mind, she would never marry David. She knew she would be married to someone of importance that her father had to please or make a bargain with. She also knew her sister would be married first. Even when word started spreading that Saul was going to give a daughter to David, she knew it wouldn't be her. She would stay up nights crying or in anger at her father or just her situation as a princess. Maybe she even talked herself into believing that her duty to her nation was more important than her happiness and left it at that. Imagine the hurt she must have felt when she heard the news that her sister would get David. I know I would feel absolutely horrible. Then imagine her sitting down in her room one day and a messenger comes in to tell her she will be given to David instead of Merab because Merab was to marry someone else. Her heart would hit the roof and ache all at the same time. Her dreams actually came true. Maybe she would be like I tend to be and just not get her hopes up until she has said "I do" because if she got her hopes up then it would hurt that much more when everything fell apart. Maybe she was opposite and started planning her future with David at nights in a journal.
Now we know that Saul's intentions were evil in giving David Michal. He wanted to use her as a "snare". I don't want to get into that, however, because that's his issues. I don't believe she knew she was intended as a snare and even if she did I don't believe she cared. She was getting her man, the one she loved. Her life would see so perfect at that point. I'm glad she had that overwhelming happiness because her life is going to be miserable from this point on. Right now, however, she is happy.
I will leave it at that for today. Second part, Michal: After the mess, will be coming soon.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
"Personae: The Untold Stories' Defined
Hi there!
I would like to give a definition of this blog. "Personae: The Untold Stories" is a series of posts (more like journal entries) giving insight into the behind-the-scenes world of characters from the Bible. So many times we read through a story and never focus on the people in the background. For example, everyone focuses on Samson, but what about Delilah. How did Delilah get to the place she was in life? What about Michal? That's right. You probably don't even recognize the name even though she was married to King David and the daughter of King Saul.
I'm majoring in communication studies at the University of North Texas. In one of my classes, we read between the lines and really try to embody and discover who a character (persona) is so we can better perform them. One day while I was reading a section of scripture, it hit me that if I learned to really discover each character in a story then I would better understand scripture in general. Instead of reading through it, I could feel it in me. I could be in the story!
This leads me to the point of this blog. I want to share my journey through scripture while discovering personae in a completely different way then I'm sure you've ever seen. I know I'm excited. So please join me.
I would like to give a definition of this blog. "Personae: The Untold Stories" is a series of posts (more like journal entries) giving insight into the behind-the-scenes world of characters from the Bible. So many times we read through a story and never focus on the people in the background. For example, everyone focuses on Samson, but what about Delilah. How did Delilah get to the place she was in life? What about Michal? That's right. You probably don't even recognize the name even though she was married to King David and the daughter of King Saul.
I'm majoring in communication studies at the University of North Texas. In one of my classes, we read between the lines and really try to embody and discover who a character (persona) is so we can better perform them. One day while I was reading a section of scripture, it hit me that if I learned to really discover each character in a story then I would better understand scripture in general. Instead of reading through it, I could feel it in me. I could be in the story!
This leads me to the point of this blog. I want to share my journey through scripture while discovering personae in a completely different way then I'm sure you've ever seen. I know I'm excited. So please join me.
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