Michal

About Michal

Michal was the younger daughter of King Saul and became the first wife of David, Israel's future king. She first appears in the genealogy of Saul (1Sa.14.49) and is later mentioned as loving David (1Sa.18.20). Saul, seeking to ensnare David, offered Michal's hand in marriage, demanding a bride price of 100 Philistine foreskins. David fulfilled this requirement, and Michal became his wife (1Sa.18.27-28). When Saul attempted to kill David, Michal helped him escape through a window and deceived Saul's messengers by placing an idol in David's bed (1Sa.19.11-17). During David's exile, Saul gave Michal in marriage to Palti (1Sa.25.44). After Saul's death, David demanded that Michal be returned to him as a condition for peace with Abner (2Sa.3.13-14). Later, when David danced before the ark of the Lord, Michal despised him in her heart (2Sa.6.16; 1Ch.15.29). She confronted David, criticizing his behavior, but David rebuked her (2Sa.6.20-21). As a result, Michal remained childless until her death (2Sa.6.23). Michal's story illustrates the complex relationships and conflicts within Saul's family and the early years of David's rise to power.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.