Party w the Angels 4
Theme: Party with the angels
Title: Dance like David did
Sub title: A warrior and a princess
Notes provided by: Shona Smith
Today’s title is “Dance like David did”.
I am going to paint a picture of the lives of 2 Biblical Character lives so I have a subtitle A WARRIOR AND A PRINCESS
Then I will relate that back to our title “Dance Like David did” and finally the theme “Party with the angels”
A warrior
This guy was the youngest son of a large family of big brothers
He served his older brothers
He was left out of celebrations and had to be called in from work to an important event
He lived in caves
He played the harp and became known as a very skillful player – even to stilling demonic presences
Have you guessed who it is yet?
He was a shepherd boy
In those days shepherding was sometimes dangerous work - It seems he was on his own when he killed a bear with his bare hands, Killed a lion with his bare hands.
He was good looking
He was anointed
He was a singer, songwriter – the author of many of the Psalms in the Bible
He played his harp before a King
He got to live in the palace of the King
He slew Goliath when the rest of the trained warriors (including 3 brothers) were cowering and frozen in fear
He became very popular
He became a mighty warrior
He was humble eg: thinking he was not worthy of marrying a daughter of a King
He quickly executed on the agreed Bride price with the King – what’s a couple of hundred Philistine foreskins between warriors?
He believed God
David had hard times:
His brothers had attitudes towards him ( 1 Sam 17:28 Why did you come here? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart)
He had to escape the King’s presence when he was newly married
He was hunted for years like an animal by the King
He pretended to be mad allowing spittle to flow down on his beard
His wives and children were kidnapped by the enemy
His own army threatened to kill him – at Ziklag
He was an adulterer
He was a murderer
He lost a baby child
His daughter was raped
Some of his sons rose up against him to try to take the throne and kill him
He was a man of vision - The ark of the covenant
He was known as a “man after God’s own heart”.
He repented of his mistakes
You can find the story and references in 1st and 2nd Samuel starting at about 1 Samuel 13 and also in the books of Kings and Chronicles
A Princess
What girl doesn’t dream about being a princess? What Girl doesn’t dream about her handsome prince coming one day? Blame it on the movies from Snow White to Shrek, to Beauty and the Beast… all have the same storyline. The princess is always beautiful and the Prince handsome (in the case of Beauty and the Beast it didn’t start like that but ended that way eventually!!).
Michal was one such young girl. She was the youngest of a family of 5 to the same mother. She had 3 older brothers and an older sister called Merab. Besides that, there were various step-sisters and brothers. She became a real princess. Her father Saul was Israel’s first king and he was taller than everyone else and a handsome man. Whether she was born a princess or the transition took place when she was a child the Bible doesn’t say. It does say that her big brother Jonathan was a part of Saul’s army when Saul had been King for only 2 years (1 Samuel 13:1) so it is possible that she was a child at the time her father Saul became King.
What a great start to life for a young lady.
Who knows how close those 2 princesses were Merab and Michal? Did they talk to each other much? Did they both like the same boys? As a King’s daughter she along with Merab could possibly have the greatest choice for a partner in all the land.
(Merab was promised by Saul to David as a wife.
1 Sam 18:17 – 19 And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give you to wife: only be valiant for me, and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.
1 Samuel 18:19 But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife.
Someone was very happy about that and that someone was Michal!
1 Samuel 18: 20 And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.
She talked to someone/s and word got to her Dad. And he was in agreement!
She was getting just what she wanted!!
David married Michal …
1 Samuel 18 28 And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal Saul's daughter loved him.
Tensions were evident between Saul and David and they continued to get worse. Things got really bad after a near altercation where the King tried to pin David to the wall with his Javelin as David was playing the harp. And it was Michal who helped ensure David escaped that night. She lied to Saul her King and her father showing her love for David and putting him first.
1 Samuel 19: 11 Saul also sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If you don’t save your life to night, tomorrow you will be slain. 12 So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped. 13 And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. 15 And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. 16 And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster. 17 And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away my enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?
So this is big guys. In those days it was precarious to ever go against the King. Michal had her ‘tell tales’ in the palace for sure because she heard what the King was intent on and she saved her husband’s life.
Over the next couple of days, David hung low until Jonathan confirmed that his dad the King was intent on killing him. So David had to leave – and didn’t come back for many years until he was brought back as King.
Now for the tough stuff
Michal can only have had a short time of marriage to her handsome prince when all this took place. From this point the Bible is silent about her until King Saul died in the war with the Philistines.
Picture this with me. David had been away for some years, and had 2 wives by this time. On the death of Saul, Israel was quick to make him King in Hebron, Judah (but not all of Israel). He gained another 2 wives and had 6 sons. Eventually, talks of David becoming King of all Israel began and he was quick to ask for his wife Michal back.
2 Samuel 3: 14 And David sent messengers to Ishbosheth Saul's son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines. 15 And Ishbosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Phaltiel the son of Laish. 16 And her husband went with her along weeping behind her to Bahurim. Then said Abner unto him, Go, return. And he returned.
From this little snippet we see that Saul gave another man to Michal. Her second husband loved her very much. There is no mention of her feelings. She would have been powerless to rebel. So, she returned to her Prince – now King of Judah in very different circumstances. Once she was David’s only love. I can’t begin to imagine how all that stuff worked in those days but I can ONLY IMAGINE it had to be a HUGE adjustment to the princess Michal. There is no mention of how all his other wives and kids reacted to David’s first wife coming back either.
Fast forward a few years and David is now King of all of Israel. He set up a dwelling place for God so that he could bring the presence of God (by way of the Ark of the Covenant) to his beloved city… The story is in 2nd Samuel 6 – It must have been like a modern-day parade. Thousands of people were in the streets as the priests carried the golden Ark carefully – and according to all the rules of carriage. There were sacrifices made every 6 paces. Trumpets blasting, feasting, and dancing. He was a gatherer. Got everyone together to celebrate!
2 Samuel 6: 14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
Here we have the King dancing with freedom, U N D I G N I F I E D! Totally free.
Where was Michal during all of this?
ALL of Israel was there – except Michal! It would seem that Michal didn’t share his vision or love for God’s presence as she wasn’t even at the celebration! She was watching from a window of the palace!.
1 Chron 15:29 And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, that Michal, the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David dancing and playing: and she despised him in her heart. 23 Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.
The last mention of Michal
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah. 3 Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?” 4 And the Gibeonites said to him, “We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us.” So he said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” 5 Then they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel, 6 let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord chose.” And the king said, “I will give them.” 7 But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, and the five sons of [b]Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she [c]brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9 and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the Lord. So they fell, all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. 10 Now Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. And she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. 11 And David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 Then David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabesh Gilead who had stolen them from the street of [d]Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them up, after the Philistines had struck down Saul in Gilboa. 13 So he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there; and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. 14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. So they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land.
We see Rizpah mourning for her 2 sons and fighting off the vultures and beast for some days, maybe up to a week for all the 7 sons hanged. ( I found out on google that it can take as little as a week for the decomposition of all flesh takes place – depending on circumstances).
Where does Michal fit in in all of this?
Michal knew it was David who made that decision as to which of Saul’s sons would be hanged
Michal knew of David’s partiality for protecting his friend Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth – who by the way was lame.
Michel knew how many son's that were at David’s disposal BUT
David chose ALL 5 sons of ADRIEL the METHOLATITE to be hanged – Adriel was the very person who married Michal’s older sister MERAB. We don’t know what happened to Merab but it would seem that she may have died because it was MICHAL who looked after those very 5 sons and brought them up.
Imagine that for a moment.
Recap on the 2 lives relating to our topic and theme
THE WARRIOR in summary
David was brought up from humble beginnings. He learned to work hard and keep his place, even when elevated to play his harp before the King there isn’t anything in the scriptures to indicate he became proud. His Goliath experience brought notoriety and even then he didn’t think he deserved to marry a King’s daughter. But he did. He made mistakes, he tried to cover up some mistakes but he repented. We see he had a lifestyle of fasting and prayer for others. He loved being in the presence of God. Perhaps in his own eyes his biggest achievement may have been setting up a place of worship and bringing the Ark of the presence of God up to be near him. He was filled with joy so that he danced with all his might. He was free, unrestrained in his worship of God.
The Bible does say in the last days He will raise up the tabernacle of David. The tabernacle of David was a new order which allowed for music, singing, playing instruments, worshipping God 24/7, dancing and freedom!
Amos 9:11 and Acts 15:16
PRINCESS in summary
Michal started out as a princess and life was great. She got to marry a mighty warrior. But when they had barely become man and wife her husband had to flee from her father such was the jealousy and hatred her father felt towards David. Her second husband loved her deeply but she had to leave that all behind. Who knows if she was fully reinstated as a lover of David on her return. She was barren – this is in a time when having children was one of the key factors of self-worth in society for women. Her first love turned to hatred. She cared for 5 of her sister’s boys and she lost them all in one day.
She didn’t even attend the great joyous celebration of bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.
It would appear from reading between the lines that Michal died a bitter, lonely woman.
KEY SCRIPTURES
Galatians 6:7 “God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days that we might apply our hearts to wisdom”
BID
How have you lived your life to date?
How would you like your eulogy to be written?
Life is tough, good things happen to bad people, bad things happen to good people.
It is all about how you react to things that are thrown at you in life.
Prayer for those who haven’t made a decision for Jesus
Prayer for those who may have responded wrongly to events that affected them, a prayer of repentance