2 Samuel 6:16-23--David and Michal

2 Samuel 6:16-23
English Standard Version
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David and Michal
16 As the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart. 17 And they brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. 18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts 19 and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house.

20 And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” 21 And David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD—and I will celebrate before the LORD. 22 I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” 23 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

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We mentioned some of this passage in yesterday's article.  It's hard when the voices closest to you and that you love the most are telling you something different than the voice of the LORD and they try to turn your passion for the LORD to worship Him into something bad by accusing you of doing something to make them look bad or embarrass them.  Michal looked out her window (meaning she was not with David to go get the Ark, which I find a little interesting) and she saw David worshiping before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart (notice she is not referred to as David's wife, but as "the daughter of King Saul" here.  I think that's because the text intends for us to read "like father, like daughter" in that she now despises David just like her father did.  His was out of a lust for power and of jealousy.  Hers appears to be coming from a place of pride and self-centeredness).

David made a tent (a tabernacle) to place the Ark of the Covenant in.  I'm not sure if he reproduced the Tabernacle according to the specifications in the book of Exodus, but he at least did not abandon the Ark in someone's house for an extended period of time anymore.  Then David and the people offered their sacrifices and burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.  Then David blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Hosts.  All this that David did was the job of the High Priest, but we do not see anyone in that role currently in Israel, so it seems that LORD was okay with letting David fulfil these duties at this time, though it does point forward to another king who would be the Son of David who would not only be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but also our Great High Priest and who would make acceptable sacrifices of Himself that would satisfy the need for burnt offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings and fellowship/peace offerings.

David then distributed to all the people a portion of food:  a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.  This would have taken a lot to cook all this food and offer it to everyone, but this was a day of feasting and celebration that David wanted everyone to be able to participate in.  Then everyone returned to their homes.

David returned to his house intending to bless his household, but instead, he comes home to get an earful from Michal the daughter of King Saul.  She speaks sarcastically to him of how he honored himself today by uncovering himself and dancing before the LORD meaning that he should be ashamed of himself and how he looked and conducted himself (in her eyes).  There was nothing to be ashamed about, for he had committed no sin, as I explained yesterday.  If he had been committing sin in doing this, the LORD would have never accepted the sacrifice of praise that he was bringing.  Michal exposes her own heart here by projecting her own moral deficiencies onto the women who saw David that day and accused David as being, "One of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!"  There was no lust on the part of the onlookers towards David, and he had not done anything vulgar (he did not uncover his nakedness).  If anyone chose to undress him with their eyes (which is what it seems that Michal is accusing him of causing them to do), it was Michal who did so and saw something that wasn't there.  If David had actually acted in a way publicly that only should have been reserved for his wife, she might have good reason to be jealous, but he had not done so.  Also, David has always been this way since he was young, just read the Psalms and you will see that in many of these songs he sang to the LORD throughout his years, he spoke of very expressive praise and worship that included clapping ones hands, raising ones hands, and dancing before the LORD, and calling others to do the same.  David encourages us to worship the LORD with every kind of musical instrument too--wind instruments, string instruments, and percussion instruments are all listed in the many calls to worship that David makes, but David mostly wants the people to join in personally with their own voices and bodies as they respond to who the LORD is and what He has done for them personally and for the nation of Israel as well as what we know He is about to do as David speaks prophetically through the Psalms about the Messiah and how He will come to save Israel from her enemies, but also how He will save Israel from themselves, for sin is an enemy even more dangerous than the armies of all the pagan nations surrounding Israel.

​David responds to Michal and says, "It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD—and I will celebrate before the LORD. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor."  That says it all right there.  David says that he's not going to stop worshiping the LORD and if this embarrassed Michal, then she had better get ready to get really embarrassed when David goes all-out and abases himself in full-on worship before the LORD, because he has no respectable position as king or anything else when it comes to his position before the LORD--he is just another one of the LORD's humble servants.

The text then tells us how the LORD judged between Michal and David in this case.  The LORD caused Michal to be barren and have no children all of her days until she died.  We knew this would probably be the case because the LORD had promised that no one from the line of Saul would ever be on the throne again, but Saul tried to trick God in having Michal marry David so that maybe David would have children with Michal and maybe that grandchild of Saul would be the one to take the throne in the place of David.  That wasn't going to happen.  The LORD stops the line of Saul right here.  His sons are all dead now and now his daughters are dead too.  His brother Abner is dead, yet we will find that there is still on living male relative of King Saul left when we get further into the story.

For now though, the story is going to change pace and talk about David's desire to build a Temple for the LORD, because David doesn't want to live in a palace and have the LORD living in a tent.  David feels bad that to the person on the outside (especially a foreigner) it would look like the king's palace was the most prominent and important building in the city skyline, but David wants to fix all that and build a Temple for the LORD that would put even his own palace to shame.  The LORD will make a special covenant with David, but He is not going to let David build the Temple.  That task will be for one of David's sons (we know it will be Solomon), but that doesn't mean that David lets his dream die.  He will start collecting all the resources and materials necessary so that when the person who is to come after him who is to build this Temple comes to power, they have everything that they need already provided for them.