And Michal Saul's daughter loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing was right in his sight.
Saul had already promised his older daughter Merab to David, then gave her to another man. Now he hears that his younger daughter Michal has fallen for David, and the news pleases him — though not for the reason a father might expect.
This is not Saul's first offer of a daughter. The earlier one was a trap dressed as an honour — and God turned it to David's gain.
Every step Saul took to humble David became only a means in God's hands. God used it to fit David all the more for the kingdom. Saul said to David, "Here is my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you as a wife; only be valiant for me and fight the LORD's battles." This was a mere pretence. "For Saul said, 'Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.'" It only gave David the chance for fresh victories… But there was no truth or conscience toward God in Saul. He had no care for David, and no regard for the promise a king had made.
Michal's love was real. Saul saw an opening in it.
Michal, Saul's second daughter, loves David. Saul tells himself: "I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be upon him" (v. 21). In his thinking this marriage is a new way of getting rid of his future son-in-law. He hides his intent. He orders his servants to speak to David in secret: "Behold, the king delights in you, and all his servants love you" (v. 22). He pretends to feel affection toward him, to push the son of Jesse to his destruction all the more surely.
Saul's plan backfired. The marriage he meant as a trap ended up shielding David.
Michal loved David. She proved her love by saving his life: her plan let David escape the men Saul sent to kill him. In New Testament language she cared for her husband's interests (1 Cor. 7:34).
Several people in this chapter love David: the nation, Saul's servants, Saul himself for a while, Michal, and Jonathan. Not all of these loves are worth the same.
The daughters of Israel, the people, and Saul's servants love David because he rescued them. Even Saul, at one moment (1 Sam. 16:21), "loved David greatly," because of the relief he brings him in his sufferings. Michal loves David according to nature — which does not stop her from despising him later on (2 Sam. 6:16). Last of all, Jonathan loves him with the only love that is true, good, and lasting. He loves him as his own soul. He cherishes him for who David is in himself.
Years later David danced before the ark. The same woman despised him, and Scripture stops calling her his wife.
David humbled himself to be one of that holy gathering. He joined that service, so acceptable and pleasing to God. But one person was watching, and her heart was not in tune with it… The ark of God does not have the first place in her soul. So Scripture calls her here not the wife of David, but Saul's daughter. In her father's time the ark was never thought of, and she, brought up in that neglect, gives no thought to the ark now. For though she loved David (1 Samuel 18:20), she had no heart for God; she was still Saul's daughter. The closest earthly ties with the saints of God cannot bring the unrenewed heart into communion with Him.
Natural love is not worthless. But it has a limit.
God honours the place of natural feelings and responsibilities. But they should never come before the spiritual… Michal was ready to help David on the natural level, but not on the spiritual level.
Commentators also see a larger picture here. David shrinks from the honour, meets every condition, and wins a bride.
With fitting modesty, David shrinks from the honour of being linked to the king. Yet he meets every condition, and in the end Saul gives him his second daughter as his bride. This is a very faint foreshadowing, may we not say, of the Church, given to our Lord as the result of His glorious victory. "Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it."
- Love offered. Michal's love for David was real, not pretended, and she later risked herself to save his life.
- Love exploited. The news pleased Saul, but not for his daughter's sake. He meant her as a snare, hoping the Philistines would do what his own hand would not.
- Love overruled. Every scheme Saul aimed at David only gave him fresh victories. The trap became the marriage that protected him.
- Love measured. Michal's love was natural. Jonathan loved David for who he was. Chapter 18 sets the two side by side, and only one lasts.
- Love outlasted. When the ark came home she was still called Saul's daughter — closeness to God's people is not the same as a heart for God.
And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be upon him. And Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law a second time.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Saul commanded his servants, Speak with David secretly, saying, Behold, the king has delight in thee, and all his servants love thee now therefore be the king's son-in-law.
Saul wants David dead, but not by his own hand. So he drops open violence and sends his servants with a warm, private word about the king's delight in him. Why would a king who wants a man dead have him flattered? And why did David, who had every reason for suspicion, answer as he did?
The secret briefing of the servants is not a change of heart but a change of method. The compliment is the wrapping on a trap.
He hides his real purpose. He orders his servants to speak to David secretly. They are to say: "Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you." He pretends to feel affection for him, to push the son of Jesse to his destruction all the more surely.
The private tone is part of the act. David had one plain reason to doubt the message, yet he let it pass.
Deceitfully he commanded his servants to speak to David as though in private confidence. Saul thought very highly of him, they were to say, and would be glad to have him as a son-in-law. David should have suspected this, since Saul had promised him Merab and then not given her. But David did not question it. He thought himself unworthy to be the king's son-in-law, since he was a poor man with no reputation.
Saul's warm words are not free.
To trap David and destroy him, the king demanded a fresh price for his other daughter's hand.
David could have named every broken promise. He named none of them.
Not a word about the wrong that had been done to him before — not a syllable about Merab given to Adriel. Nothing about the king failing to keep his royal word in the hour of danger, so solemnly pledged in the valley of Elah, or personally renewed later still for fresh service.
That restraint is not weakness. It is what faith looks like when it deals with an authority that has failed.
The fact was that David, looking to God, was far more jealous for the king's honour than the king himself. So it always is, and should be, wherever there is faith. God may still uphold something altogether unworthy of Himself or of His people. As long as He does, faith bears with it and openly pays all worthy respect. This is not folly; nor is it cringing, though it is far from this generation. It is faith.
Jealousy alone does not explain the scheming.
Saul only saw David. Satan saw in him a picture of Christ, who is the Son of David… Satan's opposition to Christ is the one thing that fully explains Saul's stubborn and unnatural desire to kill his daughter's husband. It began with jealousy. David's conduct was always submissive, and that alone was enough to have removed such a feeling, had jealousy been all. The feeling had no ground — and for that very reason its root ran deeper. Satan's cunning saw in the young man who killed Goliath the power of God, and the forefather of the One who would crush his head and conquer Death and Hell. That is why Saul's jealousy ripened into Satan's hatred.
The same trap works today, whenever praise comes from someone who wants something from you.
This is the same principle as bribery. Let the believer take care to avoid such trapping nets. Accepting flattery is accepting falsehood. Flattery is deceit: it is not even honestly meant, and it is not sober, real fact. Satan is extremely skilled in such methods.
- Bait. The secret message was pretence. Saul faked affection to drive David toward destruction.
- Price. Behind the warm words came a fresh demand, the real cost of the king's "delight."
- Silence. David never raised Merab or the promise broken in the valley of Elah. He answered only out of his own low view of himself.
- Faith. David guarded the king's honour better than the king did. That is not foolishness or grovelling. It is what faith does while God still upholds a failing thing.
- Guard. Flattery is deceit dressed as kindness, and Satan is skilled at using it. When praise comes with an errand attached, treat it as a net, not a gift.
And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, Is it a light thing in your eyes to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
Saul has just offered his younger daughter Michal to David. He sends his servants to tell him how pleased the king would be to have him in the family. His reply is not a bargain but a confession of what he thinks he is worth — and it comes from a man the king had already promised a royal bride once before.
The message carried to David sounded like warmth from the throne. Its real purpose was to get him killed. One commentator explains why Saul was pleased that his daughter loved David:
Saul was pleased about this, not because he thought of his daughter's happiness, but because this might lead to David's death. He wanted his own daughter to be a snare to David. He deceitfully ordered his servants to speak to David as though in private confidence. They were to say that Saul really thought very highly of David and would be glad to have him as a son-in-law. David should have suspected this, since Saul had promised him Merab and then not given her to him. But he never questioned it. He considered himself unworthy to be the king's son-in-law, a poor man of no reputation.
Another writer describes the message the servants carried:
In his thoughts this marriage is a new way of getting rid of his future son-in-law. He hides his real aim and orders his servants to speak to David secretly. They are to say that the king delights in him and that all his servants love him. He pretends to feel affection toward David, to push the son of Jesse to his destruction all the more surely.
The striking thing about David's answer is what it leaves out. One commentator lists the injuries David could have raised and did not:
Not a word about the previous wrong that had been done him — not a syllable about Merab given to Adriel — or of the king's having failed in his royal word during the hour of peril, so solemnly pledged in the valley of Elah, or personally renewed later still for fresh services.
David's low view of himself came with a high view of the throne — higher than the man sitting on it held. The same writer calls this faith, not weakness:
The fact was that David looked to God. He was far more jealous of the king's honour than the king himself was. It is always so, and should be, wherever there is faith. God sometimes upholds what is completely unworthy of Himself or His people. As long as He does, faith bears with it and openly pays all the respect that is due. This is not folly; nor is it cringing, even though it is far from this generation. It is faith.
David's humility did not soften Saul. It fed him. One writer sees the same blindness at work far beyond Saul:
David's great humility in the face of the king's proposals only moves Saul further along in his wicked plan. Man's hatred and pride never could understand the humility and the love of Christ.
The pattern runs through David's whole story. Even before this, the one God chose was the one nobody thought to call:
The Lord's anointed proved to be one who was regarded as of no account, for the young David was not even invited to meet the prophet. How suggestive of Him who was "despised and rejected by men"! Notice his occupation: he keeps the sheep. Again suggestive of our blessed Lord.
Another writer treats being nothing as something to want, not something to escape:
Oh, to be nothing! This is true liberty — true happiness — true moral elevation. What intense power of attraction there is in one who makes nothing of himself! On the other hand, how repulsive is a pushing, elbowing, self-exalting spirit! How completely unworthy of one bearing the name of Him who made Himself of no reputation!
- Trap. The warm message from the palace was bait. Saul meant his own daughter to be a snare and the Philistines to kill David.
- Poverty. David answered out of a real sense of being poor and of no reputation. He never suspected the trap, and never raised the broken promise about Merab.
- Silence. David named none of his grievances: the wrong done him, Merab given away, the king's word broken after the valley of Elah.
- Honour. David guarded Saul's honour more carefully than Saul did. Faith bears with what is unworthy and pays it real respect. That is not cringing.
- Christ. Hatred and pride could not read David's lowliness. They could not read the humility of Christ either — the One despised and rejected. To be nothing is true liberty, and the mark of those who bear His name.
And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner did David speak.
Saul has sent his servants to David with a secret offer: marriage into the royal family. Now they bring David's reply back to the king, and the whole chapter turns on this one line.
The servants were not neutral messengers. Saul told them what to say, and the warmth in their words was fake.
Michal, Saul's second daughter, loves David. Saul tells himself: "Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him" (v. 21). In his thoughts this union is a new means of getting rid of his future son-in-law. He hides his real intent and orders his servants to speak to David secretly, saying: "Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you" (v. 22). He pretends to feel affection toward him in order to push the son of Jesse to his destruction all the more surely.
David's answer mattered less for what it said than for what it left out. Saul had already promised him his older daughter Merab and then married her to another man.
And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, "Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king's son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?" Not a word about the wrong already done to him. Not a syllable about Merab, whom the king gave to Adriel. Nothing about the king breaking his royal promise in the hour of danger — the promise made so solemnly in the valley of Elah, and renewed in person later on for fresh service.
That restraint did nothing to soften the man who heard it reported.
David's great humility in the face of the king's proposals only moves Saul further along in his wicked plan. Man's hatred and pride never could understand the humility and the love of Christ.
David's reply was not weakness or flattery. It came from a man whose eye was on God.
The fact was that David, looking to God, cared far more for the king's honour than the king himself did. So it always is, and should be, wherever there is faith. As long as God sustains something completely unworthy of Himself or His people, faith puts up with it and openly pays all the respect due. This is not folly, my friends; nor is it cringing, even though it is rare in this generation. It is faith. And so Saul's servants told him how David had spoken.
Commentators differ on how to read David here. One writer thinks he should have seen the trap.
David should have suspected this, since Saul had promised him Merab and then not given her to him. But this raised no question in his mind. He considered himself unworthy to be the king's son-in-law, a poor man of no reputation (v.23).
The report was exactly the opening Saul wanted. He named a dowry meant to kill.
Saul, against all honesty and honour, gives Merab to Adriel. But he is still bent on David's destruction, so he offers him Michal as a snare. The price he sets is "a hundred foreskins of the Philistines." David agreed at once. He did not keep to the limit of the contract. Such is the greatness of his nature — he will be no man's debtor — that he goes beyond the condition and "killed two hundred of the Philistines." But the more we are above the spirit of the world, the more it will hate us. So Saul now "was David's enemy continually."
Ordinary envy dies down when the rival proves harmless. Saul's did not. One writer traces this to a source beyond Saul.
Saul only saw David. Satan saw in him the picture of Christ, who is the Son of David. If Satan could only destroy David, where would the Son be, and all the promises bound up in Him?… Satan's hostility to Christ is the only thing that fully explains Saul's stubborn and unnatural desire to kill his daughter's husband. It began with jealousy. But David's submission never changed, and that alone would have been quite enough to remove such a groundless feeling — groundless, and for that reason rooted all the deeper — had jealousy been all.
- Report. Saul scripted the servants' warm words. They covered his plan to let the Philistines kill David.
- Reply. David's answer named no grievance. Not Merab, not the broken promise from the valley of Elah — only his own low view of himself.
- Reason. That silence was not timidity. Faith looking to God guarded the king's honour better than the king did.
- Result. Saul turned the report into a death warrant. The price was a hundred Philistines; David paid two hundred and won the king's daughter.
- Root. Humility never disarms pride. Saul's hatred outlived every reason for it. The real contest was Satan against Christ.
And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David The king does not desire any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
Saul wants David dead, but not by his own hand. So he names a bride-price for Michal that sounds like patriotism — revenge on the king's enemies — but is meant to get David killed.
The condition Saul attaches to Michal's hand looks like a call to national service. Commentators read it as a trap. The demand itself would also enrage the Philistines against David.
The Satanic cunning the king shows here reveals his true character. He will expose David to all the dangers of constant warfare . By a special insult he will stir up the hatred of the Philistines against him, so that they will make every effort to put him to death. So while trying to avoid the blame for his death, Saul is plotting it.
Saul does not speak to David himself. He sends servants with warm words.
Michal, Saul's second daughter, loves David. Saul tells himself: "Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him" (v. 21). He hides his purpose and orders his servants to speak to David secretly, saying: "Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you" (v. 22). He pretends to feel affection for him, to push the son of Jesse more surely toward his destruction.
Why would a king hunt the man who had just rescued his nation? Commentators point to envy.
Envy here seems to grip Saul so terribly that it gains complete mastery over him. It leads him to try three times to murder David. Some people do not know how quickly and fatally the poison of envy works. To them it seems almost unbelievable that Saul could have sought to kill the very man who had just delivered Israel, and for such a small reason. Yet I am sure of this: anyone who knows anything of his own heart can trace the seeds of great crimes in the feelings that envy stirs.
David says yes to terms he must have suspected. The task itself made that possible.
David stays in his lowliness, and Merab is given to another. Michal gives Saul a more plausible opportunity. David was only required to destroy the power of the enemies of God's people, so he accepts Saul's proposal and succeeds.
Saul had already cheated David once: Merab, promised to him, went to another man.
The fact was that David looked to God. He cared far more for the king's honour than the king himself did. It is always so, and should be, wherever there is faith. As long as God upholds even what is quite unworthy of Himself or His people, faith bears with it and openly pays all proper respect. This is not folly, and it is not cringing. It is faith. So Saul's servants told him how David had spoken. Saul said, "Thus shall you say to David, 'The king desires no bride-price.'" What he wanted was the death of a hundred Philistines. Yet David's simple mind still clung to the king's honour. Saul had broken his word to David again and again, and still David did not sneer at it.
David does not just meet the terms. He goes past them. Success in the test does not soften Saul.
Still bent on David's destruction, Saul offers him Michal as a snare. The condition is that he bring as bride-price "a hundred foreskins of the Philistines." David agreed at once. He did not stop at the limit of the contract. True to the greatness of his nature — for he will be no man's debtor — he went beyond it and "killed two hundred of the Philistines." But the more we are above the spirit of the world, the more it will hate us. So Saul now "was David's enemy continually."
David wins his bride by defeating enemies. Commentators see a small hint of something far larger.
With fitting modesty, David shrinks from the honour of being joined to the king. Still, he fulfils all the conditions, and in the end Saul gives him his second daughter as a bride. Is this not a very faint picture of the Church, which is given to our Lord as the result of His glorious victory? "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."
- Envy plots. A trivial offence hardened into three attempts at murder; small jealousies carry the seeds of great crimes.
- Flattery baits. Saul sends servants with kind words about the king's delight in David. The warmth is fake, and it aims at his death.
- Faith accepts. The offer is not honest. David can still take it, because the work strikes the enemies of God's people.
- Obedience overshoots. He kills two hundred, not one hundred. He will be no man's debtor, and he never throws Saul's broken promise back at him.
- The snare fails. David comes home alive, with a bride — a distant picture of the Church won by Christ's victory. Saul only hates him more.
And his servants told David these words; and the thing was right in David's sight to be the king's son-in-law. And the days were not expired,
Saul has offered his daughter Michal to David, and the price he names is a hundred Philistine foreskins. The verse sets two minds side by side: a king planning a death, and a young man glad to be honoured.
The friendly message that reached David was staged. Saul chose both the messengers and the bait.
Michal, Saul's second daughter, loves David. Saul tells himself: "I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be upon him" (v. 21). In his thoughts this union is a new means of getting rid of his future son-in-law. He hides his real motive and orders his servants to speak to David secretly, saying: "Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you" (v. 22). He pretends to feel affection for him, to push the son of Jesse to his destruction all the more surely.
One writer sees the same tactic used later against Jesus by the Pharisees, the religious leaders of His day.
Does this not remind us of the spite of the Pharisees? They looked for every way to trap the Lord in His words. They wanted to turn others away from Him and, if possible, to expose Him to judgment from the Romans.
The king had broken his word to David before. None of that bitterness shows here.
The fact was that David, looking to God, cared far more for the king's honour than the king himself did. So it always is, and so it should be, wherever there is faith. As long as God upholds even what is completely unworthy of Himself or of His people, faith bears with it and openly pays all proper respect. This is not folly, nor is it cringing, though this generation is far from it. It is faith… "And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law." His simple mind still clung to the king's honour. The word so often broken in his own case drew no sneer from him. He feared God and the king. If the king really thought so of David, he valued it.
David's modesty had the opposite effect on Saul.
David's great humility in the face of the king's proposals only moves Saul further along in his wicked plan. Man's hatred and pride never could understand the humility and the love of Christ.
The verse ends by noting that the allotted days had not yet run out — and the next verse tells us why. David moved fast, and he did not stop at the number asked.
King Saul used this to his advantage. He told his servants to say that he needed no dowry except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. That did not guarantee the men would be killed, but this was clearly what Saul had in mind. He expected David to die while trying to kill so many. But David doubled the number to two hundred… Saul could hardly go back on his promise then, and he gave David Michal as his wife (v. 27).
Saul's plotting served a purpose he never intended.
But God took care of this. Every step Saul took to humble David, to show his own ill-feeling, or worse, became only a means in God's hands to fit David all the more for the kingdom… "For Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him." It only gave David opportunity for fresh victories.
David met the king's terms and won his bride. One writer sees a larger picture in it.
With becoming modesty, David shrinks back from the honour of being linked to the king. Yet he meets every condition, and in the end Saul gives him his second daughter as his bride. This is a very faint picture, may we not say, of the Church, which is given to our Lord as the result of His glorious victory. "Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her."
- The bait: Saul sent his flattering message in secret and hid his plan to get David killed.
- The blindness: Saul could scheme against David but never understand him. Pride cannot read humility.
- The gladness: David still valued the king's honour. Broken promises drew no bitter word from him.
- The overruling: every step Saul took to bring David down became, in God's hands, further training for the throne.
- The bride: Saul set his terms as a death sentence. David turned them into a victory and won his wife — a faint picture of the Church given to Christ through His triumph.
when David arose and went, he and his men, and smote of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they delivered them in full to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.
Saul offered David his daughter Michal for one price: a hundred Philistine foreskins. He hoped the errand would kill David; instead David came back with double, and the plot turned into a marriage.
The dowry was never about the price. It was about the journey to collect it.
King Saul used this to his advantage. He told his servants to say to David that he wanted no dowry except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. This did not guarantee that the men would die, but that was clearly what Saul had in mind. He expected the Philistines to kill David as he tried to kill so many of them. But David doubled the number to two hundred, killing the men and bringing their foreskins to Saul. Saul could hardly go back on his promise then, so he gave David Michal as his wife.
David does not haggle the price down, and he does not stop at the number Saul named.
Saul, against all honesty and honour, gives Merab to Adriel. But he is still set on destroying David, so he offers him Michal as a trap. The condition is that David bring a hundred foreskins of the Philistines as the dowry. David agreed at once. He did not stay inside the limit of the contract. Because of the greatness of his nature — he will be no man's debtor — he goes beyond the condition and "killed two hundred of the Philistines." But the more we rise above the spirit of the world, the more it will hate us.
David had every reason to be bitter. Saul had given the older daughter to another man. David says nothing about it.
The fact was that David, looking to God, cared more for the king's honour than the king himself did. It is always so, and should be so, wherever there is faith. As long as God keeps in place even what is completely unworthy of Himself or His people, faith puts up with it and freely pays all the respect due. This is not folly; nor is it cringing... His simple mind still held to the king's honour. The word so often broken in his own case provoked no sneer. He feared God and the king. If the king really thought of him that way, David valued it. That was the feeling of his generous heart.
The price Saul named is grim to modern ears. But it points to the one thing the Philistines lacked.
Notice how they are described — uncircumcised, people without the mark of covenant relationship with God, the covenant God made with Abraham... In spiritual terms, circumcision answers to that sentence of death on ourselves: we should not trust in ourselves, but in the living God... Uncircumcision answers in the same way to confidence in the flesh. And after all, what are the Philistines, for all their greatness, dug in on the shining heights of power and position? In the eyes of faith, what are they but people who have confidence in the flesh? They trust in human power, human wisdom, human forms, everything of man, and they leave God out.
Some writers read David here as a picture of Christ. He wins his bride by battle.
With fitting modesty, David shrinks from the honour of being linked to the king. But he meets all the conditions, and in the end Saul gives him his second daughter as his bride. This is a very faint picture, we might say, of the Church, given to our Lord as the result of His glorious victory. "Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her."
The plot and the outcome sit in one sentence. The errand meant to kill David is the errand that wins him the bride.
In the end the adversary's schemes fail. David wins the victory and receives the king's daughter as his wife, because the price asked of him for her is the destruction of the Lord's enemies.
- The price — Saul set the dowry at a hundred Philistines. He expected David to die collecting them.
- The payment — David brought two hundred. He would be no man's debtor, so he went past the terms instead of just meeting them.
- The posture — David paid the price and never threw Saul's broken promises back at him. Faith honours the throne even when the man on it has broken his word.
- The picture — The Philistines carry one label: uncircumcised, men who trust the flesh. The price David paid was their defeat.
- The prize — The trap became a wedding. Commentators see here a faint sketch of the Church given to Christ as the fruit of His victory.
And Saul saw and knew that Jehovah was with David; and Michal Saul's daughter loved him.
Saul gave his daughter Michal to David, hoping the Philistines would kill him. The plan failed. Instead the king was left with two facts he could not deny: God was with David, and his own daughter loved him. Neither one softened him.
The marriage was never a gift. Saul's own words explain what he meant Michal to be:
Michal, Saul's second daughter, loves David. Saul tells himself: "Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him" (v. 21). In his thoughts this union is a new means of getting rid of his future son-in-law. ... He pretends to feel affection toward him, to push the son of Jesse to his destruction all the more surely.
David met the offer with humility. That is exactly what hatred cannot handle:
David's great humility in the face of the king's proposals only moves Saul further along in his wicked plan. Man's hatred and pride never could understand the humility and the love of Christ.
The verse does not say Saul suspected. It says he saw and knew. One writer traces how that certainty grew step by step, and what it cost the king:
Saul sees more and more that the LORD is with David, and grows still more afraid of him. What a sad development of a sad state of soul! Yet Saul did have fine points of natural character, and at times they showed in better feelings. But God was not in them (1 Sam. 19)... Saul, being forsaken by God, cannot bear that He should be with David.
One commentator asks why the same facts hardened him, and points past Saul for the answer:
The king was closed to good and unrelenting toward David. How did this come about? Satan held him fast. The enemy took the very things that even nature would have respected and valued, and turned them only into food for his constant hatred and malice. Such is the power, such the way, of Satan.
Saul meant his daughter to be bait. She did not play the part he wrote for her:
The references in 1 Samuel 18:20, 28 are enough evidence that Michal, the daughter of Saul, really loved David. Her father, in his hatred of David, thought to use her as a snare that would cause David's downfall. His efforts failed. Michal loved David, and she proved it by saving his life. Her plan let David escape the men Saul sent to kill him.
The same writer follows her story further and finds a limit to that love:
How sad that her natural love blinded her eyes when David danced with all his might before the ark of the LORD (2 Samuel 6:12-16). Natural feelings and duties have a place that God honours, but they should never come before the spiritual. Michal was ready to help David on the natural level, but not on the spiritual level.
The chapter ends with the two men moving in opposite directions:
Though David was now Saul's son-in-law, this did not make Saul feel any more kindly toward him. Saul knew the LORD was with David, and he knew Michal loved him. That knowledge only increased his fear of David and his hostility toward him. Verse 30 notes that the Philistine commanders went out, clearly meaning to attack Israel. In each case David behaved himself more wisely than all Saul's servants, so that his name became highly esteemed.
Jealousy alone cannot explain a hatred this persistent. One writer looks further back for the cause:
Saul only saw David. Satan saw in him a picture of Christ, the Son of David... Only Satan's hostility to Christ fully explains Saul's constant, unnatural desire to kill his daughter's husband. It began with jealousy. David's conduct was always submissive, and if jealousy had been all, that alone would have been enough to clear away a feeling so groundless — and being groundless, it had all the deeper root... All through these scenes the real contest, if we may speak this way, is between two opposing powers: the power of God on one side, and the power of Satan on the other.
- Snare — Saul handed Michal over as a trap, to put David within reach of Philistine swords. The trap caught nothing.
- Sight — Saul did not lack evidence. He saw and knew God was with David. Because God had left him, that was the one thing he could not bear.
- Reversal — Blessing and affection would win most hearts. The enemy turned both into fuel for Saul's hatred.
- Love — Michal's love was genuine, and it saved David's life. But it helped him on the natural level only, never on the spiritual one.
- Result — Saul's fear hardened into settled hatred. David kept acting wisely, and his name only grew. Fighting God's choice never shrinks it.
And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was David's enemy continually.
Saul had tried to have the Philistines kill David, and the plan failed: David came home a winner and married the king's daughter. The proof that God was with David only made Saul more afraid, and turned him into an enemy for life.
Saul could see what God was doing, and he could see his daughter's love for David. Why did it make him worse instead of better?
No good could reach the king, and nothing could soften him toward David. How did this happen? Satan held him fast. The enemy took the very things that even nature would have respected and valued, and used them only to feed Saul's hatred and malice without end. Such is the power, such the way, of Satan.
Saul was not a man without good qualities. But something else was missing.
Saul sees more and more that the LORD is with David, and grows still more afraid of him. What a sad development of a sad state of soul! Yet Saul did not lack fine natural qualities, which showed themselves at times in better feelings. But God was not in them (1 Sam. 19)… Saul, being forsaken by God, cannot bear that He should be with David.
Saul's plans kept producing the opposite of what he wanted.
Then fear comes upon Saul. He realizes that the LORD is with David, and not with himself. So he gives David a lower post, away from his own presence. But this only brings David more before the people, and wins him their favour and acceptance. And Saul fears the more.
David had served Saul with the harp, with the sling, and with a dowry paid twice over. None of it softened the king.
Such bitter and undeserved hatred may surprise us. But it only shows us the malice of the worldly man who professes to serve God — malice that no amount of goodness or service will disarm.
The same writer turns from Saul to the reader:
But the more we are above the spirit of the world, the more it will hate us. And Saul now becomes "David's enemy continually." This faithful servant must have learned by now that all his goodness and service in the court had counted for nothing.
Jealousy alone cannot explain a hatred this long against a son-in-law who stayed submissive. One writer traces it to a deeper source.
Saul was his tool in his hatred of Christ. Saul only saw David. Satan saw in him the picture of Christ, who is the Son of David. If Satan could destroy David, where would the Son be, and all the promises bound up in Him?… It began with jealousy. But David's submissive conduct never wavered, and had jealousy been all, that would have been quite enough to remove a feeling so groundless — groundless, and for that very reason rooted deeper. Satan's wisdom saw the power of God in the young man who had killed Goliath. It saw the ancestor of the One who would crush Satan's head and conquer death and hell. That is why Saul's jealousy ripened into Satan's hatred. And all through these scenes the real contest is between the opposing forces — the power of God on one side, and, on the other, the power of Satan.
- Saw. Saul had the evidence in front of him: God with David, his own daughter loving David. It hardened him instead of humbling him. Light refused becomes fuel.
- Feared. Saul's fear grew because God had forsaken him. A man who has lost God's presence cannot bear to see it resting on someone else.
- Failed. Each move to sideline or destroy David only raised him higher before the people. So Saul feared the more.
- Hated. No amount of goodness or service disarmed Saul. David's loyalty earned him a permanent enemy. The more a life rises above the spirit of the world, the more that world hates it.
- Behind it all. A hatred this long points past Saul. Satan saw in David the ancestor of Christ, and the real contest running through these chapters is the power of God against the power of Satan.