1 Samuel 19:11 Commentary and Bible Study

David goes home, and Saul has his house watched. Michal David’s wife seem to know better than her brother Jonathan what Saul is capable of. She can read the murderous intent in the placement of these men watching the house. But David is able to get out of a window, let down by Michal, and escape. The old writers all conclude that David's house was on the wall of the city. It doesn't have to be, but it is very likely, and so he is able to escape from those who watch him, through some sort of a window or access to the outside wall of the city. This is the beginning of a new phase in David’s life. From this point onwards he is going to be on the run from Saul, until the Lord removes Saul from being king. ‘Michal took an image, and laid in the bed.’ What was the bed? It was probably only a kind of palias on the floor, on a rich carpet of some kind. ‘And put a pillow of goat’s hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.’ By doing this she delayed the pursuit of her husband to enable him to escape. Saul sent messengers to take David and she said, he is sick and the messengers, the agents, the soldiers, went away. He is sick, they reported to Saul. Then go and get him, commands Saul. Bring him bodily in the bed – it must have been something readily transportable. Michal is not a good wife; she doesn't turn out well, but she loves David anyway in this early stage, and she is going to preserve him whatever it costs her when she has to face her father. She knew that they would come looking for him, and she took an image. We might well ask, what was she doing with an image? The Hebrew says, a teraphim. Did she have it in the cupboard? Was she a secret idol worshipper? Did David not know perhaps that his new wife had a huge man size idol, big enough to deceive people if it were put under the bed clothes in the place of a person? ‘And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?’ It was an extraordinary question to ask a wife who loved her husband, when she knew that her father intended to kill him. Saul is almost feeling sorry for himself that his own daughter will not assist in the murder of her husband for her father’s sake. The whole world must see things from his twisted point of view. As she has lied to protect David, she now lies to protect herself. ‘And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?’ She would rather destroy her husband’s good name, than his life. She was a woman of little principle or integrity, and an absent David was a handy person to blame to get her out of a tight spot. She would rather make out that she was on her father’s side. The lie had to be believable to Saul, for his rages made him a dangerous man to oppose. So that seems to have ended that confrontation.