Desperate Housewife

Reflections on 1 Sam. 19:8-17

Michal was a desperate housewife trying to save her beloved husband from her insanely jealous father, King Saul. After Saul tried to kill David with his spear, David fled to his own house where Michal discovered that the door was being watched by Saul’s men. She urged David to leave and helped him escape through a window. Then in order to buy time for David, she used a household idol to make it look like someone was in bed and told Saul’s officers that David was ill. When Saul discovered her deception, Michal lied again telling Saul that she only let David leave because he had threatened to kill her.

MOTIVES. Michal’s lies differ significantly from Saul’s lie about wanting David to be his son-in-law. When Saul lied, he masked an evil motive and tried to put David in a situation where he would be killed. When Michal lied the first time, she was trying to save David’s life. When she lied the second time, she was merely trying to escape her father’s insane anger.

JUSTIFIABLE? It is easy to excuse Michal’s lies while condemning Saul’s because she had “justifiable” motives. Some would go so far as to say that when she lied the first time, she did not break the spirit of the Law because she did not testify “against” her neighbor. She was trying to help her neighbor, and it is hard to imagine what else Michal could have done but lie to buy more time for David to escape. Some would say she was justified in lying to an insanely angry person when she accused David of threatening to kill her. Indeed, a short time later he did try to kill Jonathan for excusing David from the new moon feast at Saul’s house (1 Sam. 20:33). Although she slandered David, she was not lying in a courtroom before impartial judges trying to pervert justice. She was trying to escape unjust anger.

PRIORITIES. Both lies showed Michal’s priorities. Her first lie show that she placed David before her father, but the second lie also showed that she placed herself before David because she was willing to slander him to save herself. Her slander brought into question the love Michal and David had for each other, and Saul eventually gave her to another man (see 1 Sam. 25:44). Furthermore, the item she used to deceive Saul’s soldiers revealed something of her broader priorities. Just as Rachel had brought a household idol into Jacob’s tent (Gen. 31:30-35), so Michal had brought a household idol into David’s house. She turned to this lifeless idol for help when Saul’s soldiers came to the house, but she lost the husband she loved. On the other hand, David trusted God, and God enabled him to escape.