Michal, whose name means “brook,” was the daughter of King Saul and his wife Ahinoam. Michal fell in love with David, who was destined to become Saul's successor. However, Michal's deep affection for David may not have been returned. He was infatuated with her, but had actually asked for and was promised her older sister, Merab. The king didn't want David as a son-in-law. In fact, he hoped that David would be killed battling the Philistines, attempting to fulfill the conditions set for him to marry Merab. So sure was Saul that David would perish, he gave Merab to another man.

Saul learned that his daughter Michal loved David. He made a bargain with David: The young man was to offer no dowry, except to bring the king the foreskins of one hundred Philistines. Saul was already beginning to fear David, and wanted him dead. David slew 200 men and brought their foreskins to King Saul. The king had no choice but to keep his end of the bargain. The king knew two things for certain: The Lord was with David now, and so was Michal. Saul's hatred of David increased.

Michal Thwarts an Attempted Murder Plot

Saul's messengers went to watch David's house. Michal informed her husband that if he didn't flee that night, the next morning he would be dead. “So Michal let David down through a window…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” (1 Samuel 19:12–13). She told the messengers (sent to kill him) that he was sick, so they took David's bed to Saul. The king soon discovered the ruse.

Michal and David Endure a Long Separation

Saul confronted Michal and asked her why she had deceived him. Michal explained that David had begged her to let him go and had asked her “…why should I kill thee?” (1 Samuel 19:17). Michal did not see her husband for years after his narrow escape. Most people believed the marriage had ended. David married other women, including Abigail and Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Michal was given to Phalti (1 Samuel 25:40–44).

David Sends for Michal

The house of Saul had suffered and weakened over the years, as David's strength increased. one day David demanded that Michal be returned to him. Michal was brought before her estranged husband, and viewed him with contempt for having taken other wives, and for snatching her away from her current husband, who had wept at her departure. Phalti must have loved her, and perhaps she loved him. In any event, alienated from David, her passion for him was gone.

Michal's Contempt

In a jubilant procession with trumpets and shouting, David and the Israelites took the ark of the Lord into the City of David (Jerusalem). David, caught up in the moment, began leaping and shouting and dancing in celebration with only his linen ephod on. Michal watched from a window, “And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart” (2 Samuel 6:16).

David's nearly naked dancing irked Michal, who told him, “How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncov-ereth himself!” (2 Samuel 6:20). Her outrage brought about the demise of their marriage. David shot back at her that he was dancing before the Lord, not the maidservants, but that they would hold him in honor. Apparently, David never slept with Michal again after she ridiculed him, for the Book of 2 Samuel states, “Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death” (2 Samuel 6:23).