Married to David, 1Sa 18:20-27; she helps David flee, 1Sa 19:12-17; restored to David, 2Sa 3:13-16; she despises David, and is rebuked, 2Sa 6:16-23.
Michal (Heb. Mîkâl, “stream”). This name is generally interpreted as an abbreviated form of Mîkâ’êl, “Michael”, meaning “Who is like God?”; but it is also possible that it is the name of the god Mekal, documented by an inscription found in the excavations of Beth-sán. 1. Youngest daughter of King Saul (1Sa 14:49). When her father discovered that she was in love with David, she made plans for that affection to destroy the young man. He therefore offered her to David as his wife on the condition that she kill 100 Philistines, expecting her to lose her life in the venture. However, David successfully returned from her task and consequently she was given to him as his wife (18:20-28). When David was forced to flee from the king’s wrath, Michal helped him escape (19:11 -17). Later, she was given to another man (25:44). When Abner approached David and offered to hand him over the northern tribes ruled by Ishbosheth, David refused to negotiate with him until she returned Michal to him (2Sa 3:12-16). Michal is mentioned for the last time when she despised David in her heart by seeing him dance in public before the ark when she was being transported to Jerusalem (6:15, 16). Sensing that he had degraded, she rebuked him (vs 20-22); she died childless (v 23). 2. About the Michal of 2Sa 21:8, see Merab.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
(Heb., mikhal, contraction of mikha†™el, Michael). The youngest daughter of King Saul (1Sa 14:49). Saul offered David her eldest daughter Merab for her service in the war against the Philistines, but he changed his mind and gave her to someone else. When she learned that Michal loved David, she offered her to David if he could show evidence that she had killed 100 Philistines. David killed 200 and married Michal; but Saul hated him even more. Once when Saul sent some men to kill David, Michal helped him escape (1Sa 19:11-17). Although Michal truly loved David, she could not understand him and mocked him for rejoicing before Jehovah (2Sa 6:16-23). As a result she never had children.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
(Who is like God?). She was the youngest daughter of King Saul (1Sa 14:49) who fell in love with David (1Sa 18:20). When Saul found out, she decided to give her to him as a wife but with the real purpose of asking him as a dowry for her † œone hundred Philistine foreskins †, with the intention that David would die in the attempt to obtain them. David killed 200 Philistines, forcing Saul to keep his promise. When the king ordered David to be killed, he was able to escape because his wife knew about it and warned him, putting a statue on his bed and saying that he was sick. M. was reprimanded by her father, but she replied that she had done it under threats from David (1Sa 19: 11-17). Despite this, Saul gave her to another man named Palti (1Sa 25:44).
With Saul dead, when Abner suggested joining David in the fight against Ish-bosheth, David made it a precondition that his wife be returned to him, which was done (2Sa 3:13-16). It is evident that David, in addition to personal feelings, took into account the convenience of having M. as a wife and possible mother of her heir to attract the support of the ten tribes that followed Ish-bosheth. Later, at the time when David was “dancing with all his might before Jehovah” bringing the ark to Jerusalem, M. “gazed out of a window” at the spectacle and “despised him in his heart,” speaking disparagingly of him for acting thus “before the maidservants of his servants,” but David replied that he was doing it because Jehovah had chosen him instead of his father and that he would humble himself even more, but that he would be “honored before the maidservants.” The text seems to suggest that for this reason M. never had children (2Sa 6:12-23). Although 2Sa 21:8 mentions that David “took … five sons of M. daughter of Saul, whom she had borne by Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholatite,” in fact other manuscripts indicate that it was Merab, the eldest daughter of Saul (1Sa 18:19).
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
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vet, = “Who is like God?” She was the youngest daughter of King Saul (1 Sam. 14:49). When Saul, backing away from his oath, refused his eldest daughter Merab to David, she knew Michal’s love for the young hero; she then decided to give him the youngest of hers, on condition that she put to death a hundred Philistines. David got Michal (1 Sam. 18:27, 28); she later helped him escape Saul’s machinations. In David’s absence, having fled the wrath of the king, her father married her to another man, betraying her obligations to David (1 Sam. 25:44). Abner, general of Ishbosheth, allied himself with David, who demanded the return of Michal (2 Sam. 3:15). When David brought the ark back to Jerusalem, he danced in with it, carried away with pious enthusiasm; Mical sarcastically reproached him for an attitude that she considered humiliating. David replied that he had humbled himself before Jehovah, that he would continue to do so, and that his own servants would honor the king. Michal died childless (2 Sam. 6:14-23). With regard to Michal’s sons mentioned in 2 Sam. 21:8, they were evidently her sister Merab’s (cf. the above passage with 1 Sam. 18:19). Here she must have made a copying error, as evidence from some mss suggests. Hebrews.
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
(probably: Who Is Like God?).
The youngest daughter of King Saul, who married David. Saul had offered his eldest daughter, Merab, as a wife to David, but he gave her to another man. However, Michal † œwas in love with David †, and Saul offered her in exchange for the foreskins of 100 Philistines, since he assumed that David would die trying to kill so many enemy warriors. David accepted the challenge, presented Saul with 200 Philistine foreskins, and received Michal as his wife. From then on, however, † œSaul became even more afraid of David † and became David’s stubborn enemy. (1Sa 14:49; 18: 17-29) Later, when Saul’s hatred of David reached its peak for her, Michal helped her husband escape the wrath of the king. During David’s long absence, Saul gave her in marriage to Palti, the son of Lais de Galim. (1Sa 19:11-17; 25:44.)
When some time later Abner tried to enter into a covenant with David, David refused to see him unless he had Michal with him. David conveyed his request to Ish-bosheth, son of Saul, by messenger, and as a result Paltiel (Palti) lost his wife, Michal, and was returned to David. (2Sa 3:12-16)
Punished for not showing respect to David. David was already king when he had the ark of the covenant brought to Jerusalem and displayed his jubilation at the worship of Jehovah by dancing euphorically † girded with a linen ephod †. Michal watched him from a window and † œbegan to despise him in his heart †. After David returned to his house, Michal expressed his feelings sarcastically, showing a lack of appreciation for David’s zeal for Jehovah’s worship and calling his actions unworthy. David rebuked her and also had to punish her by not having sexual relations with her from that moment on, since he died without offspring. (2Sa 6:14-23)
He raises his sister’s children. The account at 2 Samuel 21:8 speaks of “the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul whom she had borne to Adriel.” These were found among the members of Saul’s house that David gave to the Gibeonites to atone for Saul’s attempt to annihilate them. (2Sa 21:1-10) The apparent conflict between 2 Samuel 21:8 and 2 Samuel 6:23, where it says that Michal died childless, can be resolved by accepting the viewpoint of some commentators: the five sons They belonged to Merab, Michal’s sister, and she raised them once they lost their mothers. (See MERAB.)
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
(heb. mı̂ḵal) was the youngest daughter of Saul (1 Sam. 14.49). She was given in marriage to David, instead of her sister * Merab, for a dowry of one hundred Philistine foreskins (1 Sam. 18.20ff.). Her capacity for action and initiative saved David from Saul (1 Samuel 19:11–17). During David’s exile she was given in marriage to Palti (the), son of Laish, from Galim (1 Sam. 25.44). When Abner wanted to deal with him after Saul’s death, David demanded Michal’s reinstatement, a political act designed to strengthen his claim to the throne (2 Sam. 3:14–16). When David brought the ark to Jerusalem, he danced so freely before it that Michal despised him (2 Samuel 6:12ff). For this reason she never had children (2 Sam. 6.23). Five sons are mentioned (2 Sam. 21.8), but tradition holds that they were Merab’s (thus the LXX and two ms(s). Heb.), and that Michal “brought them up.”
According to one view, David married Michal at Hebron “to unite the tribes of Israel and the clans of Judah” (EBi); but the idea that she had a son, Itream, and that her name became Egla (2 S. 3.5) by a process of corruption, has no foundation.
MB
Douglas, J. (2000). New Biblical Dictionary: First Edition. Miami: United Bible Societies.
Source: New Bible Dictionary