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.