David was a man after God’s own heart and he was a genuine worshipper of God. Yet, this passage tragically indicates that he may have been a failing husband based on how Michal responded.
Content Summary
David made the second attempt to bring the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom by assigning the Levites to carry the ark of God. As the ark of God was being brought to Jerusalem, David was dancing and leaping with all his might. On the other hand, Michal despised David who was leaping and dancing, in her heart.
David and Michal: Failure as a Husband?
Being overwhelmed by the joy of bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem, David came to his household to bless them – only to be snubbed and greeted by mockery from one of his wives, Michal, daughter of Saul.
Michal made a mockery of David by saying, “how the king of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself!” (2 Samuel 6:20)
On the surface, her contempt of David resulted from David’s overly excessive and unrestrained dancing and leaping with joy. However, this was not likely the primary cause of Michal’s mockery and disdain of David in this passage. Her contempt was likely an expression of multiple complicated factors that attributed to Michal’s explicit disdain of David.
First, she failed to know the LORD God just as his father did. King Saul did not know the LORD. Likewise, Michal did not know the LORD. Therefore, she simply could not understand the extent of David’s joy, dancing and leaping when the ark of God was brought to Jerusalem.
Second, she might have been bitter that David’s love was divided among the nine wives and other concubines. Before coming back to David, she was a wife of Palitiel, and given that he followed her with tears all the way seemed to indicate that he loved her dearly. Michal was probably receiving 100% of Palitiel’s love (2 Samuel 3:15-16). When she was taken back to David again, she was only one of many wives. She might have felt unfulfilled in this marriage, might have become bitter over time, and started to build resentment toward David. Then, what was in her heart was simply expressed in words of mockery against David.
This is a bit tragic to see a divisive heart between a husband and a wife. In the Bible record, Michal was the only woman to be in love with David (1 Samuel 18:20). Yet, she came out to disdain David’s worship before God.
David’s Problem: Too Many Wives and Concubines
“A man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).”
Michal’s contempt reveals some of the dark side of David’s family. David was a man after God’s own heart. He was one of the most intimate person with God. He was a great warrior, general, and king. However, in management and leading his household, he did not seem to be a beloved husband (or father as revealed in the later chapters of 2 Samuel). David having too many wives, which God commanded not to do (Deuteronomy 17:17), may have been the root of many heart-wrenching events that broke out later in his life. There is no way for a man to be one flesh with many women. God designed one husband and one wife to be one flesh (Genesis 2:24).
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