BibleWay
⌕

← People

Person · Tribe of Benjamin

Michal

Woman living at the time of United Monarchy

Michal, the younger daughter of King Saul, became David's wife and helped him escape from Saul's attempts to kill him.

🗺 Places mentioned alongside Michal on the map →

Michal was the younger daughter of King Saul and became the first wife of David, Israel's future king. She first appears in the genealogy of Saul (1Sa.14.49) and is later mentioned as loving David (1Sa.18.20). Saul, seeking to ensnare David, offered Michal's hand in marriage, demanding a bride price of 100 Philistine foreskins. David fulfilled this requirement, and Michal became his wife (1Sa.18.27-28). When Saul attempted to kill David, Michal helped him escape through a window and deceived Saul's messengers by placing an idol in David's bed (1Sa.19.11-17). During David's exile, Saul gave Michal in marriage to Palti (1Sa.25.44). After Saul's death, David demanded that Michal be returned to him as a condition for peace with Abner (2Sa.3.13-14). Later, when David danced before the ark of the Lord, Michal despised him in her heart (2Sa.6.16; 1Ch.15.29). She confronted David, criticizing his behavior, but David rebuked her (2Sa.6.20-21). As a result, Michal remained childless until her death (2Sa.6.23). Michal's story illustrates the complex relationships and conflicts within Saul's family and the early years of David's rise to power.

Family

Father
Saul
Mother
Ahinoam
Siblings
JonathanAbinadabMalchi-shuaMerabIsh-boshethArmoniMephibosheth
Spouses and partners
DavidPalti

Connections

Part of: Kings, prophets and the house of David

Saul, Michal and David: a marriage caught in politics

FamilyStated in the text

Michal loved David; Saul gave her to him hoping the bride-price would get him killed by the Philistines, then later saved David by her ruse. Saul gave her to Palti; David demanded her back through Abner before becoming king, and she later despised him for dancing before the ark.

SaulKing of Israel,MichalSaul's daughterDavidKing of Judah
Where the text shows it: 1 Sam 18:20-27 — Bride-price of Philistine foreskins1 Sam 19:11-17 — Michal helps David escape1 Sam 25:44 — Saul gives Michal to Palti2 Sam 3:13-16 — David reclaims Michal2 Sam 6:16-23 — Michal despises David

Sources: 1 Sam 18:20-27 · 1 Sam 19:11-17 · 1 Sam 25:44 · 2 Sam 3:13-16 · 2 Sam 6:16-23

More background: search Wikipedia ↗

Bible dictionary

Michal Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

Rivulet, or who as God?, the younger of Saul’s two daughters by his wife Ahinoam (1 Sam. 14:49, 50). “Attracted by the graces of his person and the gallantry of his conduct, she fell in love with David and became his wife” (18:20-28). She showed her affection for him by promoting his escape to Naioth when Saul sought his life (1 Sam. 19:12-17. Comp. Ps. 59. See TERAPHIM). After this she did not see David for many years. Meanwhile she was given in marriage to another man, Phalti or Phaltiel of Gallim (1 Sam. 25:44), but David afterwards formally reclaimed her as his lawful wife (2 Sam. 3:13-16). The relation between her and David soon after this was altered. They became alienated from each other. This happened on that memorable day when the ark was brought up in great triumph from its temporary resting-place to the Holy City. In David’s conduct on that occasion she saw nothing but a needless humiliation of the royal dignity (1 Chr. 15:29). She remained childless, and thus the races of David and Saul were not mixed. In 2 Sam. 21:8 her name again occurs, but the name Merab should probably be here substituted for Michal (comp. 1 Sam. 18:19).

Read the full entry →

Michal Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(who is like God?), the younger of Saul’s two daughters, (1 Samuel 14:49) who married David. The price fixed on Michal’s hand was no less than the slaughter of a hundred Philistines. David by a brilliant feat doubled the tale of victims, and Michal became his wife. Shortly afterward she saved David from the assassins whom her father had sent to take his life. (1 Samuel 19:11-17) When the rupture between Saul and David had become open and incurable, she was married to another man, Phalti or Phaltiel of Gallim. (1 Samuel 25:44) After the death of her father and brothers at Gilboa, David compelled her new husband to surrender Michal to him. (2 Samuel 3:13-16) How Michal comported herself in the altered circumstances of David’s household we are not told; but it is plain from the subsequent occurrences that something had happened to alter the relations of herself and David, for on the day of David’s greatest triumph, when he brought the ark of Jehovah to Jerusalem, we are told that “she despised him in her heart.” All intercourse between her and David ceased from that date. (2 Samuel 6:20-23) Her name appears, (2 Samuel 21:8) as the mother of five of the grandchildren of Saul.

Read the full entry →

Michal Hitchcock Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

who is perfect?

Read the full entry →

Michal Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

MI'CHAL, the second daughter of Saul, 1 Sam 14:49, and the wife of David, who paid in dowry one hundred slaughtered Philistines. She was passionately devoted to her young husband, and once saved him from the fury of her father. During David's exile she was married to another man, Phalti, 1 Sam 25:44; 2 Sam 3:15, with whom she lived for ten years. After the accession of David to the throne she was restored to him, 2 Sam 3:13-14, but an estrangement soon took place between them, and on the occasion of the greatest triumph of David's life - the bringing up of the ark to Jerusalem - it came to an open rupture between them, after which her name does not again occur. 2 Sam 6:2.

Read the full entry →

Michal Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

MI'CHAL, the second daughter of Saul, 1 Sam 14:49, and the wife of David, who paid in dowry one hundred slaughtered Philistines. She was passionately devoted to her young husband, and once saved him from the fury of her father. During David's exile she was married to another man, Phalti, 1 Sam 25:44; 2 Sam 3:15, with whom she lived for ten years. After the accession of David to the throne she was restored to him, 2 Sam 3:13-14, but an estrangement soon took place between them, and on the occasion of the greatest triumph

of David's life - the bringing up of the ark to Jerusalem - it came to an open rupture between them, after which her name does not again occur. 2 Sam 6:2.

Read the full entry →

Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.

Where Michal appears

16 verses in 3 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H4324

1 Samuel9
2 Samuel6
1 Chronicles1

Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.