Mikhal

Biblical Figures

Mikhal was a daughter of King Saul who also becomes the wife of King David. When her father seeks to kill her husband, she helps David escape. According to rabbinic midrash, she only gave birth to a child on the day of her death, suggesting she died in childbirth.

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Reclaiming Michal

TANAKH

After King Saul marries his daughter Michal to David, he comes to fear and hate David, chases him away, and re-marries Michal to another man. In these verses, after Saul's death and while David is ascending to power, David insists on reclaiming Michal as his wife.

He replied, “Good; I will make a pact with you. But I make one demand upon you: Do not appear before me unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come before me.” David also sent messengers to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, to say, “Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bride-price of one hundred Philistine foreskins.”

II Samuel 3:13-14

The Consequences of Criticism

COMMENTARY

Mikhal's lack of children until her death is seen as divine punishment for her criticism of David, highlighting the severe consequences of her actions. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's commentary explores the schism between David and Mikhal, emphasizing themes of respect, marital relationships, and divine punishment.

Mikhal daughter of Saul did not have a child until the day of her death. This was a divine punishment for her criticism of David, when she should have respected him for serving God with all his heart. Alternatively, this quarrel caused a schism between David and Mikhal, and the king, who had many other wives, subsequently kept his distance from her.

Steinsaltz on II Samuel 6:23

The Peril of Childbirth in Biblical Times

MIDRASH

A straightforward reading of the Biblical text could suggests that Mikhal never had any children. However the midrashic work Bereshit Rabbah understands the verse as implying that Mikhal died in childbirth, and connects her with other biblical figures who faced similar fates, highlighting the perilous nature of childbirth in ancient times.

“They traveled from Beit El, and it was still some distance to arrive at Efrat, and Rachel was in childbirth, and had difficulty in her childbirth” (Genesis 35:16).
“They traveled from Beit El, and it was still some distance [kivrat]” – Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said: It was at the time when the land is perforated like a sieve [kevara] and the grain [bar] is plentiful. The Rabbis say: It was when the grain [habar] is already [kevar] growing, the rainy season has passed, and the summer has not yet come…

Bereshit Rabbah 82:7

The Marriage of David and Michal

TOSEFTA

The legal and interpretative complexities surrounding David's marriage to Michal offer a fascinating glimpse into the rabbinic efforts to reconcile sometimes confusing biblical narratives with each other and with Jewish law. The Tosefta, a late 2nd-century compilation of Jewish oral law, delves into the intricate issues of marriage and lineage in the context of King David's life.

The students of Rabbi Yosei asked, How could David have married the sister of his wife (i.e., in apparent violation of Torah law, see Lev. 18:18)? He said to them, it was [only] after the death of Merav that he married [Michal]. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha says, [the reason is that] their betrothal was not fully valid, as it is said (2 Sam. 3:14), "[And David sent messengers to Ish-boshet son of Saul, saying,] 'Give me my wife, Michal, for whom I paid the marriage-price [of one hundred Philistine foreskins].'" Just as their betrothal was not fully valid, so too their marriage was not fully valid…

Tosefta Sotah 11:9

The Return of Mikhal

COMMENTARY

Mikhal's return to David is a story filled with political intrigue and deep emotional undercurrents. The Book of Samuel, part of the Hebrew Bible, provides a detailed contextualization of the negotiations, emotional reactions, and political implications surrounding Mikhal's return to David.

The report on the ongoing civil war is interrupted by the birth notice of David’s sons, six by six different wives. Indeed, sexual politics begins the chapter, with Avner sleeping with Sha’ul’s concubine Ritzpa, to the chagrin of Sha’ul’s son Ish-Boshet. This classic demonstration of political power enables Avner to negotiate with David, which obviously needs to be done, but the king will agree to a treaty only if his own former wife Mikhal, Sha’ul’s daughter, is returned to him. So, sandwiched in between the violence of the last chapter and the violence that is to come…

The Early Prophets, by Everett Fox, Samuel, Part IV; David's Rule Consolidated, Civil War; the Death of Avner 2

Her Punishment

MUSAR

Michal was punished for rebuking David for dancing before the Ark by not having children during her lifetime and dying in childbirth. In his 18th-century ethical work, Mesillat Yesharim, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto recalls the biblical story of Michal among other examples of how severely God punishes the very righteous for slight offenses.

Michal, for rebuking David for dancing outside before the Ark was punished by not having children during her lifetime and dying in childbirth (Shmuel II 6:20).

Mesillat Yesharim 4:27

Michal's Resourcefulness

SECOND TEMPLE

Michal's cleverness and resourcefulness in saving David's life highlight her significant role in the biblical narrative. Josephus, the 1st-century Jewish historian, provides additional context and details to the biblical story of David and Michal.

4. But at night the king sent officers, and commanded that he should be watched till the morning, lest he should get quite away, that he might come into the judgment-hall, and so might be delivered up, and condemned and slain. But when Michal, David's wife, the king's daughter, understood what her father designed, she came to her husband, as having small hopes of his deliverance, and as greatly concerned about her own life also, for she could not bear to live in case she were deprived of him; and she said, "Let not the sun find thee here when it rises, for if it do…

The Antiquities of the Jews 6:11:4