Goodmorning everyone. Today I would like to talk about a couple who shoud have been included with the other great stories of love between couples in the bible. But because of sin and resentment, this couple now fall into the category of the greatest love story never told. When we think of great love stories in the bible we are reminded of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, Boaz and Ruth, and Joseph and Mary. But there is one other couple that should have made this list but didn't because one member of the couple abandoned their first love. I am speaking today of David and Michal. Michal, if you'll recall, was Saul's youngest daughter. Saul had offered his oldest daughter in marraige to David but David had rejected that idea because he wanted Michal. Lets look at some scripture today and see what happened to get this story into the greatest love story never told.
1 Sam 18:17-19
17 Saul said to David, "Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the LORD." For Saul said to himself, "I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!"
18 But David said to Saul, "Who am I, and what is my family or my father's clan in Israel, that I should become the king's son-in-law?" 19 So when the time came for Merab, Saul's daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.
I can't really proove this from the scripture but it makes sense to me that David already had his eye on Michal and that is why he rejected Saul's offer to marry Merab. This is signifigant because in the first place, it was customary for the oldest daughter to marry first. Secondly, David could have been killed for rejecting the offer of King Saul's gift. So as you can see, we are setting the stage for a great love story.
1 Sam 18:20-25 20 Now Saul's daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. 21 "I will give her to him," he thought, "so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law."
22 Then Saul ordered his attendants: "Speak to David privately and say, 'Look, the king is pleased with you, and his attendants all like you; now become his son-in-law.'"
23 They repeated these words to David. But David said, "Do you think it is a small matter to become the king's son-in-law? I'm only a poor man and little known."
24 When Saul's servants told him what David had said, 25 Saul replied, "Say to David, 'The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.'" Saul's plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
We see from this passage that the feeling was definately mutual on Michals part. David seems hesitant at first thinking that he cannot afford the price of a kings daughter but when he is told what that price is, he agrees. Now I'd like to say right here, if my father-in-law had demanded that price for my wife.......well, I don't think we'd be married today. I love her..............but! Well anyway, you get the idea. Let's move on to the third act of love between theese two.
1 Sam 19:11-16
11 Saul sent men to David's house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, warned him, "If you don't run for your life tonight, tomorrow you'll be killed." 12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. 13 Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats' hair at the head.
14 When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, "He is ill."
15 Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, "Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him." 16 But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats' hair.
Michal, in this passage has deceived her father, the King, for the sake of her husband, David. Even though she was the King's daughter, she could have been executed for lying to the King, yet she was willing to do so out of her love for David. Let's move on to the next act of love.
2 Sam 3:13-14
13 "Good," said David. "I will make an agreement with you. But I demand one thing of you: Do not come into my presence unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come to see me." 14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, demanding, "Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins."
Michal has been carried off and given to another man by her father, Saul. Possibly in retaliation for Michal lying to him to protect David. David here, could have rejected Michal because she had been with another man, but David loved her so much, he chose to reddem her instead.
Now we jump ahead about twenty years but something has changed between David and Michal.
2 Sam 6:16
16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
How did we go from everything that happened before to this? What changed in the heart of Michal that she would begin to despise the man who had rejected aKings offer,payed such a hugh price for her, andhad redeemed her from another man. Had she abandoned her first love? I'm not sure we will ever know all the reasons for her change of heart. But we can draw the parallells between her and her Father, Saul. They, at first,both loved David and then when then rejected him, they both forfeited their place in the kingdom. This is how the story of David and Michal became the greatest love story never told.
The lesson we can draw from this is; are we sure that our love for Jesus is not waxing cold. Are we growing to despise the things of God that once thrilled us? Is our relationship with Him just as passionate as when we first believed? Let's all check these areas of our walk with God to make sure we never become part of the greatest love story never told.
Blessings.....Pastorjim
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Mere religion is just hanging around the cross.......True Christianity is getting on the cross.
Beautiful story that I need to look at in greater depth. Do you see some types and shadows here of "the Bride" and the "Bridegroom" and the marriage to come?
Thank you for sharing, this is something I will need to look into in more depth as well. But from what I have read or shall I say retained from the bible is that a lot of people despised David, not specifically him, but his connection with God. His ease in worship, his trust in God, and how easily he accepted God and through that had such a close relationship with him.
But now I am intruiged and will have to look intoit some more.
The greatest love story never told.
